Mojano's in a Fish + softies tank?

[Misterchinn]

So I got some rocks from someone. They've got various zoanthids... with some mojano anemones mixed in.

I'm 99.9% sure I'm not going to add sps or lps since I am a noob and really want a hardy tank without having to do a lot of dosing and whatnot.

Question: I know mojanos are pests, but I don't mind the look of them. Are they mostly a nuisance and ugly? Or is there another reason why they are so dreaded? The only other corals I have are mushrooms. The only other livestock I plan to add is a cleaner shrimp.

Is Joe's Juice or a basic Kalk treatment the best way to get these?

[windupdevl]

I agree that they can be nice to look at, but from experience, they can get out of control very quickly. They do sting the mushrooms and coral you want and will eventually kill them. I had one majano that I let stay because I figured there was no real harm being done. Before I knew it, little babies were popping up all over my tank and now I am battling them. Do yourself a favor and nuke what you can find and keep up on it until they stop appearing. I'm using kalk paste in a syringe on mine, much like I do with my aptasia. Seems to work fairly well. HTH

[Falconeer]

I'm fairly sure that mojano, like aiptasia, will damage/kill other corals and take over your tank. Now, if your nutrient levels are in check and there aren't enough nutrients for the mojano to reproduce, then it's possible that they will stay in their current state.

I never read it, but I saw a user on here mention an article in which the author described having a single aiptasia in his tank for a year without it reproducing or without seeing any others.

I think kalk works on Mojano, I don't know about Joe's Juice and I know some of the treatments fo aiptasia do not work on mojano.

HTH,
Falc

[Misterchinn]

For the particulars on Kalk injection:

Any particular concentration of kalk? And like half a mL or so injected into it's feeding hole (don't know what to call it...)? Then wait until they detach and siphon them out?

Thanks... new to this.

[mskurdah]

I've always had good luck with peppermint shrimp eating them.

[Falconeer]

For the particulars on Kalk injection:

Any particular concentration of kalk? And like half a mL or so injected into it's feeding hole (don't know what to call it...)? Then wait until they detach and siphon them out?

Thanks... new to this.

Haha, it's mouth?
I'd help you out, but as much as I know what it is and when to use it, i've never had to use kalk on anything.

[sedor]

For the particulars on Kalk injection:

Any particular concentration of kalk? And like half a mL or so injected into it's feeding hole (don't know what to call it...)? Then wait until they detach and siphon them out?

Thanks... new to this.

No particular concentration needed, just make it quite thick but not to thick that you can squirt it out of a syringe. If you don't have a syringe, get one from a drug store. Just ask the pharmacist for an oral syringe for babies, it doesn't come with a needle of anything and no they aren't going to think your a heroin addict. Then just inject the anemone and it will literally dissolve. Keep in mind this isn't as easy as it sounds, normally 4 more will sprout in the spot where you killed one off. Its all about doing the kalk nuking everyday until they are gone, but don't overdo it on the kalk and stress your tank out. One syringe a day is almost pushing it.

[Misterchinn]

Haha, it's mouth?

Haha... ok... ok...Falc... you know what gets me sometimes is that I'm actually a biology teacher and so I'm kinda a stickler for correct terms. Technically they have mouth/anus combo's since they eat and expel waste out of the same hole that connects into a gastrovascular cavity... and I think there's an actual name for it... besides the "mouth/anus combo." So yeah... but you knew what I meant!

Ok, I got it, no mercy, all out war until it's gone... I'm still looking into other things like vinegar and Joe's Juice (which I heard was just Kalk+water) but seems like some swear by it. I can get syringes pretty easily at school or from my dad who's a dentist.

Thanks.

[Misterchinn]

oh dang... just saw this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1485631

I guess I've got no time to lose... I'm yanking that rock tomorrow and going with a vinegar/tweezer method. Though electrocuting them seems like fun!

[Misterchinn]

So I go in to my work, where my tank is located. Ready to do battle with the Mojano's. Everything looks good, the mushrooms I got yesterday are open and nice and flat. The zoathids are open and looking good. The mojanos' tentacles are picking stuff out of the water column...

But holy smokes, those mojanos are quick. One had already jumped to the rock next to the rock I had added... and another one had detached and found it's way to the top of the tank. Jeeze!

So tried injecting a little vinegar. Didn't seem to do much. So I went ahead and pull out the rock with the most offenders, and pulled them off with tweezers. Some cooperated and came off in one piece. Others, not so much. I got as many off as I could. I'm sure some were hiding.

Now I have to wait 3 days, 'cause our building is closed all weekend. I'm bracing myself for more removal duty on Monday. I hope I can get a handle of this and not let it get out of control. :hmm1:

[MandM]

If you keep at it you will win. Taking the rock out and removing them is my first choice but some will leave behind bits that will re-grow and some just hide.

MandM’s recipie for mojano or aptasia removal:

1/2oz liquid calcium supplement (I have some Kent's that I got free at a reef event) with about 1/4tsp of fine particle food mixed in. Cyclopeze works but I’ve had the best results with a squirt of the oyster eggs I have for feeding my corals.
Draw the mix up into a syringe or plastic pipet. A 10cc dental irrigation syringe is best, it has a bent pointy plastic tip that is easy to dose with.
This mix is watery so it’s easier to use in a syringe. Kalk powder will do the same job but because of the thickness, it’s hard to control the dosing and I’ve had blobs drift off onto corals and do damage.

Carefully and slowly feed the solution to the anemone. Be careful not to touch it, you don’t want to inject and make it retreat back into the rock. Just slowly release a bit of the solution near its mouth. Because of the food flavor, the anemone will gobble this stuff up, apparently not noticing the calcium. It will swell up after it’s ingested about 1cc. Give it several seconds and then remove it with tweezers. At this point, it is in such distress from the dose that it doesn’t react as fast and I find they give up and let go of the rock if I grab it at the base. If you don’t remove it, the anemone will eventually explode like they do with the Aptasia-X product. Although that’s very cool and satisfying to watch, I’d rather not have that happen in my tank. Anemones are quite toxic and if you are treating a large population, that’s a lot of dead anemone and anemone killing product loose in the tank.

[rgonzalez]

I bought Aiptasia-X and it killed all my Mojano's. But it sounds like the kalk works. Maybe the vinegar solution as well?

[Paul B]

I have a bunch of them and they don't bother me. If they annoy me, I just play Rap music, they hate it when I do that.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/urchsearch/Tank020.jpg

[rgonzalez]

I'm sure that they don't bother you - you're not being stung by their tentacles. :)

[Paul B]

That is true but I think theyre sting is overrated. As you can see I have corals in contact with them and they do not withdraw (or yell) I do kill them when I get too many but they all seem to disappear eventually.

[Lightsluvr]

Back to the thread topic, the advice given by wind, sedor and M&M is spot on. Unlike Aiptasia, Majanos have no known natural predators and will mulitply rapidly under the right conditions.
I have seen tanks overrun with them (and aiptasia) in which finally nothing else survived. They are not to be taken lightly unless you really want a Majano tank. Use the kalk paste suggestion and do NOT try to remove them with tweezers. Let the Kalk burn them into oblivion.
If you are lucky enough to be able to remove the entire rock, several reefers who I respect have actually used a propane torch to burn the darn things off the rock... in any case, you have to get down to the animal deep in the hole in the rock. Whether you use chemicals (kalk) or flame... you need to be persistent.
Good luck.
JME.

LL