+Razor Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I have had my tank set up and running/cycling for 6 days now. I have this white sponge in there that was attached to the rock when I bought it. Should I remove the sponge? Is he dead and causing problems? The wife likes him in there, but we don't want to have problems down the road. I also have this small green anemone that is slowly moving down my rock. I don't expect him to live through the cycle. Any thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Sponges are always welcome in my book if they survive the cycle. If it starts to turn black/brown you can brush it off with a toothbrush. I'd guess the nem is a Majano and I would kill it till it is dead then kill it some more then space it through an airlock then nuke it from orbit just to be sure. More info from wetwebmedia at http://www.wetwebmed...nemoniafaqs.htm and melv's reef http://www.melevsree...not/majano.html Its too bad they breed so much. I think they are pretty but they will take over your tank if you let them. The main problem is that the common items that work on aptasia 'nems just don't seem to effect the majano. I followed the boiling RO in a syringe method on the one I ever saw in my tank and it did seem to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 Anyone else have any suggestions about this sponge and anemone for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzobob Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Zarathustra2's right about the sponge, nothing bad there. If it lives keep it. As far as the anemone it may be a majano. From the picture I couldn't tell. Majano's have a greenish cast and yes they can be an issue. As suggested wet web media is an excellent if disorganized source for information. Another good reference for majano's is http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/bta/not/majano.html. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Maybe Gabriel will chime in on the 'nem. He knows about majanos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate1 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Can you get a better pic of the nem? It dosen't look like a mojano to me, but when in doubt get it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 Well, I'm not taking any chances with this guy. I plucked him out and now he's sitting in small container inside the tank. I'm trying to decide what to do with him right now. I also have one of those Aiptasia anemone's I'm trying to pull out with a pair of tweesers. There are also two small star fish in the tank. One is black with 5 legs, one is white with 6 legs... The white one is gone for now, but I'm sure he'll show up again sometime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I've got the same sponge growing in my tank. It's not a problem, only issue is that mine grows long tendrils toward my power head and occasionally breaks off into it. I have seen one of the pieces take root, but the tendrils keep growing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 The best thing I have found for aptasia is Aptasia-X. Picked it up at aquatec for a good price. Go through and kill them all then get a couple of real peppermint shrimp and I just don't see them anymore. The asterina stars are 99% harmless. If you see one with two long legs and brown in color, looks like a vampire, those eat zoas. General concensus is that the rest are harmless. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/asterinafaqs.htm The GARF info is a bit out of date and very alarmistic but it has pictures of the "bad" one. http://www.garf.org/STAR/starfish.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnoburns Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 Shawn, Becareful with the tweezer method of removing aiptasi. Tearing aiptasia has been know to promote it spreading. I'd use something like aiptasi-X or lemon juice. Pepermint shrimp are also a great way to go, but I've only had luck with them eating small ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 I think I have exhausted all attempts with the tweezers anyways! I'm glad you told me about the speading, so now I'll know to really look out. I just tried about 15 minutes ago with my new 12" long tweezers and it didn't work... this is a small one. This is the only brown aiptsia I've found so far. I'm going to try the lemon juice now, see if that works until I can get the aiptasia-X. Do I need to inject the anemone with the juice or just get to eat it by squirting some near it? I got rid of green anemone already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 If the lemon juice doesn't work I would recommend mixing kalkwasser with boiling water and then use a needle and a syringe and directly inject the little booger. Then get a few pep' shrimp to keep them gone, but the only problem with pep' shrimp is that only a small percentage will actually eat aiptasia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 is it too early to add a pep shrimp? won't he just die during the cycle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Yeah you need to wait until your tank finishes cycling before adding any shrimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnoburns Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I think I have exhausted all attempts with the tweezers anyways! I'm glad you told me about the speading, so now I'll know to really look out. I just tried about 15 minutes ago with my new 12" long tweezers and it didn't work... this is a small one. This is the only brown aiptsia I've found so far. I'm going to try the lemon juice now, see if that works until I can get the aiptasia-X. Do I need to inject the anemone with the juice or just get to eat it by squirting some near it? I got rid of green anemone already. You need to inject the lemon juice with a syringe in the base of the anemone. It is a little tricky at first as they will shrink away from the syringe and the lemon juice. I belive they shrink away from the lemon juice on their own because of the acid. I didn't know where to get syringes, so I went by the pharmacy at Walmart. I don't know much about needles so I explained my needs to the pharmacist. After a puzzled look, they suggested I use needles for diabetics as they are very thin. I think it was about $1.50 for a bag of 10. You can probably get them at any pharmacy. I read this method in an online thread a while back. It worked for me (I had 3 big aiptasia in a 24 gallon tank). I remeber in the thread there was some concern for the extra acid in the tank, but since you are still cycling it shouldn't matter much at all. If someone else is reading this and wants to try it, don't go crazy with the lemon juice and it should be fine. And as always if you do go crazy, do a water change to dilute the acid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnoburns Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Yeah you need to wait until your tank finishes cycling before adding any shrimp. Agreed, wait for the cycling to finish before adding livestock. Sorry, I forgot you were still cycling when I made first post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 Well, I will be going to go get the syringe tomorrow and kill this little clear aiptasia before he spreads. I also found 5 little snails out this evening working on the rocks. I have hundreds of small feather dusters popping up too. Will I loose all of these creatures as the cycle progresses on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Man, sounds like you got a very live piece of live rock. Usually you will get some die off but enough will live to re-colonize. Also, you'll want to ID the snails. There are some bad ones. http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=362. Also, wetwebmedia was invaluable for me as far as IDing hitchhikers. http://wetwebmedia.com/LR,LS/HH%20PPT%20Pitch%20Cells/HHProsConsart.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbrougher Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I've had alot of these same creatures. Most died off, but are slowly coming back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 Well, I just injected that brown aiptasia anemone with lemon juice so we'll see if that kills it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill B Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I have read these posts several times and just had to make a comment: there is something very irreverent, to me, about the attitude of "If you're not sure what it is, kill it." I would agree that perhaps you should isolate it, till you can get a better guess what it is and kill it if necessary. I do understand there are definitely some undesirable hitchhikers. However, as I have heard Mike mention before there are also some rare and/or beneficial hitchhikers which you'll never have a chance to buy. Mostly though, it just seems like a very reckless disregard for the nature, we are taking from the sea. btw - I think you should kill aptasia. I think you should kill majano. My guess is that is not a majano. This is not necessarily good as most anemones do sting to some degree. Sponges I know even less about. I wasn't aware they were in the 'kill it' category - in fact I thought they were generally beneficial filter feeders. JMO Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 I sent the pics of the majano anemone to another source and was given the same response. So I isolated him. The aiptasia anemone I was 100% sure that was what it was so I didn't even bother posting a picture of it, I just needed some nooby info on. The sponge I was inquiring about because I don't know what they are exactly capable of doing to the water chemistry if they are dead. Will they slowly rot away and cause major problems down the road, or will they be fine, recover and contine doing their filtering. I ask this because the LR this sponge was on was out of the water for about 3 hours. I have read a whole lot of information on saltwater/reef keeping over the past several years, but alot of the information is conflicting between sources. I thought someone on this site I trust might give me some personal experience, which I got. I have identified the snails now and they aren't going to be placed on the "Kill it" list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 What kind of snail was it? I did a quick search and did not find a good match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Razor Posted July 16, 2009 Author Share Posted July 16, 2009 The snails are Collonista snails... aka mini-turbo snails Here's a link to them: http://www.gastropods.com/1/Shell_26361.shtml It sounds like I'm gonna be over ran with them shortly so after my tank gets going I'll give them away to who ever wants them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Will be happy to give some mini ceriths in exchange. I have way too many of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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