250 Gallon Starphire tank

[littlesilvermax]

I posted this elsewhere but maybe more will see it here:
I have these stupid little pest anenomes, they are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. They are not aptasia, or majenos.
I have had them for about 2 years, but now there are a couple hundred of them.

I have tried kalking them, it works, kinda, but there is no way that I could get them all. I can't reach all over the back of my rocks, let alone see back there.
Any ideas what fish or invert might eat these?
I have a CBB from Flatlanders, that is in QT as we speak. The CBB eats aptasia, but I can't seem to get him to eat these things.

[Delphinus]

Not a clue, but sure resembles a baby hellfire anemone (Thalassianthus aster). I don't know if that's what they are though.

I hate to say this but I would be leery of any biological control. First of all, in my experience, that tends to not work so good anyhow. What seems to work for others never works for me. ("My peppermints ate my aiptasia within 30 seconds of adding them to the tank! No scratch that! They had the aiptasia under control before I even put them in the tank! Yeah yeah!" <---- That's NEVER happened to me.)

But secondly, in your case, I'd be more concerned about whatever eats that -- will probably eat all kinds of other things you'd rather not have eaten.

OTOH, I had a xanthid crab wipe out entire colonies of zoos before I realized what was happening ... and yet he never ate the ONE AND ONLY AIPTASIA in that tank. So things have a way of knowing what costs more and those are the things they'll go to first.

Anyhow point of all this is ... I wouldn't be surprised if manual intervention if your best bet.

Edit: I googled it and hellfire anemone isn't right but the species name looks right. Turns out hellfire is a slightly different looking beast. But yours really do look like that Thalassianthus aster.

[littlesilvermax]

I have had biological controls that work.

I will be selling many of my zoos, and the ones left can be eaten, doesn't bother me. My clams will go in my sump as a filter, so the only thing left is my SPS and a couple of LPS. I will put in the tank whatever doesn't eat them.

[Doug]

It sure looks like the xenia Marc mentioned on RC, but I would assume thats not what it is. Or looks like a fern type red turf algae I have seen, but then one can see the base portion thats attached to a rock. Has me stumped. Marc,s suggestion about asking Borneman or Shimek over at MD, may help.

Tony, the copperband is an aiptasia eater or at least was before I spoiled him. I would think it still would seek them out. I know Ben has put some in the tank that currently holds the copperband but he has not ate any. It never ate any type of zoo,s. I even have some pest types on some rock and it never looked at them either.

[WWWD]

Originally Posted by littlesilvermax

Important Notice!!!!!!!!


This winter when I redo my flow patterns in my tank I am thinking about getting rid of many zoos. Anybody want to buy all my starboard off of me? It would include about 4 square feet of zoos!!!!

Obviously I cannot just sell little bits at a time. I need to know if I should order new starboard to replace the old stuff.

If somebody is just starting up a tank and wants an instant easy to care for zoo bottom this may be you ticket!

Zoos are almost indestructible.

You should be able to pull them off the starboard very easily with a razor blade underneath like your peeling a sticker. Also if the zoos on the rocks are in mats they can also be removed with a bit more effort. If you start in one area with some metal tongs you can carefully pull entire mats of them free. I ended up doing this with some seriously overgrowning zoos. One issue is that pulling to many zoos free at once can release a lot of toxin into the water column so you should do it in stages. i ended up need eye protection as well as some of them ended up being squirters.

[littlesilvermax]

I have fragged the zoos many times bbefore off of the starboard.

The ones that were stuck to coraline came off real easy, others took A LOT of work to get off.

I have a few locals that want it I think.

[Delphinus]

I was just thinking that if it's not aiptasia, finding something to eat it might mean something else is at risk as well. Although it sounds like the occasional nipped zoo isn't going to cause him any lost sleep..

Doesn't really look like xenia to me. It's the little bead like tentacles, .. well that and it doesn't spread like any xenia or anthellia I've ever seen.

My only real point is that you have to take what you're given when you try biological controls. Some will work, some may work but cause other problems.

It's worth trying a biological control, I'm just saying that "sometimes" if you want a job done right you have to do it yourself! There aren't too many magic silver bullets out there Hopefully something works for you though.

Another thing you might want to try, Littlesilvermax, is a cowry. There are some that are predatory towards soft corals. Just remove whatever you don't want eaten. I have one and the tank it's in is devoid of soft corals, including the plague mushrooms that I have been unable to eradicate in nearly ten years of trying.

Originally Posted by Doug

It sure looks like the xenia Marc mentioned on RC, but I would assume thats not what it is. Or looks like a fern type red turf algae I have seen, but then one can see the base portion thats attached to a rock. Has me stumped. Marc,s suggestion about asking Borneman or Shimek over at MD, may help.

Tony, the copperband is an aiptasia eater or at least was before I spoiled him. I would think it still would seek them out. I know Ben has put some in the tank that currently holds the copperband but he has not ate any. It never ate any type of zoo,s. I even have some pest types on some rock and it never looked at them either.

[WWWD]

Originally Posted by littlesilvermax

I posted this elsewhere but maybe more will see it here:
I have these stupid little pest anenomes, they are about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. They are not aptasia, or majenos.
I have had them for about 2 years, but now there are a couple hundred of them.

I have tried kalking them, it works, kinda, but there is no way that I could get them all. I can't reach all over the back of my rocks, let alone see back there.
Any ideas what fish or invert might eat these?
I have a CBB from Flatlanders, that is in QT as we speak. The CBB eats aptasia, but I can't seem to get him to eat these things.

That almost looks like Anthelia, it's look to leafy to be aptasia.

[littlesilvermax]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

a cowry.

I might just try that.

I think I will try it first in QT and see if whatever biological control works, then if it does I will put some clams, zoos, LPS in there and see what they do to them.

Thanks.

[kari]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I have one and the tank it's in is devoid of soft corals, including the plague mushrooms that I have been unable to eradicate in nearly ten years of trying.

Really? They eat mushrooms? That's the best news I have heard in almost ten years.



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