Won the aiptasia battle! But what are these?

[hilde123]

Finally, after a 6 month fight, I won the aiptasia battle in just one week. I added a Copperbanded Butterfly fish and a dozen peppermint shrimp, not sure which ate them but they're all gone and I'm tickled. I do however have some anenome (almost like aipasia) looking creatures that have gone unscaved. Anyone have any idea what these nasty creatures are and how to get rid of them?

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd317/hilde5962/DSCF2094.jpg

[gman0526]

Those look like majano anemones. Might want to try injecting them with vinegar or kalk juice and removing once dead.

[dnsfpl]

does copperband eat majano?

[jbird69]

I had a similar outbreak of majanos. Too bad they are neusence cause they look pretty cool. I used aiptasia control and killed them all with one application.

Jay

[Gdevine]

Majanos for sure. Pep's may eat them but not their main diet. The Butterfly won't eat them either. Aiptasia control is good stuff, just smother them.

Also, you seem to have a lot of green algae bubbles as well. This, aiptasia and majanos are all signs of a tank with way too many nutrients.

How are you maintaining your tank?

[hilde123]

The bubble algae kindove comes and goes, I lost most of the clean-up crew I added 2-1/2 years ago, but just added a bunch more hermits, crabs, snails, so I expect they will get it under control in short order. As far as nutrients not really sure, Nitrate is 0, and everything else seems dead on, I run a AquaC EV240 skimmer and a Aquazone Plus Ozone generator set at ORP of 380, I got it cranked down to 20mg/hr and ORP is running 350-360. It seems that whenever I start using DT's I get the bubble outbreak, maybe coincidence, maybe not. Do you know of any way to test for "nutrients"?

[hilde123]

Bump, Gdevine please respond, or anyone else

[MarkusII]

Hello,

Acreichthys tomentosus may eat manjanos...

regards

Markus

[Gdevine]

Aquarium husbandary is a complicated management process. Things like frequency and volume of regular water changes come to play along with things like skimming efficiency and use of phosphate reactors and their maintenance all are critical factors notwithstanding what you're feeding and how much you're feeding...

What is the flow like in your tank? How old are your pumps? When were they cleaned last?

I'd start with weekly water changes of 20%, then cleaning your skimmer cup and neck daily, turn up the pump on your skimmer and go aggressive (run wet for a while), run a phosphate reactor and change the GFO monthly, run some bags of ChemiPure and some carbon on top of that and change it monthly.

Do this as a base line and things will change for sure. From there, make adjustments as needed.

Just my $0.02

[hilde123]

Tank is a 180 gallon, flow is two MD-30RLXT in piggyback (return pumps), MD-70RLT on a closed loop running 4 penductors on an ocean motion 4 way, and 4 Hydro Korlia 4's. I would think that is plenty of flow but I could be wrong. As far as phosphate, I use RO DI makeup water and have been testing phosphate in the tank and are getting a zero reading, so I do not believe that is my problem. I run carbon 24/7 in the sump, changing once a month or so.

Also, is there any way to test for "nutirients" in the tank?

[kstallbe]

I am really not sure if the green bubble algae has anything to do with with "nutrients." If you are skimming and nitrates are at 0, then I would be hard pressed to say that is the issue.

I use emerald crabs to take care of my green bubble algae.

[sunfish11]

I really don't think majano anenomes are necessarily a tank maintenance issue. If you have one you will eventually get more in any tank. They are a hardy anenome. They simply catch solid food and split. The copperband will not eat them and the peppermints probably wont touch them either.

Valonia or bubble algea can grow in the most nutrient poor tanks. Emerald crabs might eat it but manual removal works for me. In a large tank certain tangs absolutely love it. Nasos and sailfins like it. I feed valonia from my overflows to my Naso as a treat.

Looking at the rock that has the majanos on it, it looks like it can be easily pulled out of the tank. I had a couple at one time and I pulled the rock and peeled them off it with my fingernails. Tweezers may work if you have no fingernails. The bases are thick and they were easy for me to peel, unlike aiptasia.

Lisa

[Brandon M]

If the majano anenomes are only in that one area I would just take that rock out and toss it. It's not worth attempting to get rid of them if they are just in that one spot.

[kstallbe]

I've gotten rid of lots of small pest anemones. Get a hypodermic syringe and inject it directly with pure vinegar. No need to throw out good rock or destroy/dismantle display. Plus, majanos don't really reproduce all that fast, definitely not like aptasia.