Glass anemones... HELP!

[ukdan]

I had a closer look at what i thought to be feather duster worms, turns out they're glass anemones. Has anyone had any experience with these? are they as bad as people make out? I went to my lfs to find out more and it turns out they have an infestation! (i purchased my entire 22kg of rock from them)
Also, Will i get coraline algae under t8 lighting? I'll be upgrading to tmc leds as soon as i can afford them but that could take a while!
My aquarium has been running for about 11 weeks

Any advice would be brilliant!

 

[Zer0]

They absolutely are as bad as people make them out to be. They sting and kill most all coral, and they spread like wildfire. Literally. One day you could have one, and the next you have 5 or 6. It's intense how quick they spread, and once they take over your tank, it's hard to get control. You will absolutely want to kill any that you see now. However, if there are a lot of them, you will want to only kill a few, and then spread out the amount you kill over a few days. Using too much of the Aiptasia killing products all at once could mess with your water chemistry.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i have lots of coralline algae growing under my 18 inch T8. its not so much the light output as it is how long the light is on and the stability of the alkalinity and the amount of magnesium and calcium that are in the water to help grow it.

introduce a coralline algae sourse and dadd purple up to the water if you want to speed up the growth. mine over time developed it and a few days ago i let my light cycle slide a little bit and soem of it began to disappear but is now returning

 

[ukdan]

Thanks for the quick response! Guys down the lfs suggested pouring boiling water over the affected rocks (which were of a pretty poor quality when i bought them so don't want to kill off whats moved in!) or buying an aiptasia eating file fish... i was tempted by this but not sure. i've heard they tend to eat most corals? and what happens when he runs out of aipasia to eat?!

 

[Gti_Leo]

are you sure they are glass anemones and not feather dusters?? do you have close up pictures of them?

 

[Zer0]

Yeah i'm interested to see a close up picture of them as well.

As for the file fish, they are not very hardy, they need a perfect acclimation method otherwise they could become stressed and die, and then yes, once they run out of aiptasia to eat, you will have to give it away or it will die. That's their main food source. They do not eat anything else i believe. And i'm not so sure you would want to supplement aiptasia in a tank with your nice coral lol. I would not suggest the filefish. You can eradicate them with different methods that tend to be more effective.

 

[Gti_Leo]

unless you supplement them in a mini tank and keep the file fish in there. you could just move your LR in the one tank till its clean then move it back, and put anoteh rock in till its clean and move it back. then just get the smallest rock you can to supplement aiptasia for the filefish to eat and keep living, if you have another outbreak the fish is still around to eat it all

 

[ukdan]

Aiptasia

This is the best i could get, it's the biggest of about 4 i've found (about 1" across). They are all in awkward positions for photos!



What would you suggest i use?

 

[Zer0]

Yeah that's definitely aiptasia. You could try something like Aiptasia-X or lemon juice.

I got these from Innovator's signature and these methods are great aiptasia removal methods:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o5/C3ntury/AiptasiaRemoval.jpg
Mrs. Wages® Pickling Lime 16 oz. (454g)

You just use a syringe and mrswages pickling lime juice and squirt it over the aiptasia, just like you would with the other aiptasia removal products.

 

[ukdan]

Thanks for the advice guys, appreciated! Think i'll try the lemon juice tomorrow. The one i took the pic of is getting a bit close to my favourite peice of xenia!

 

[ukdan]

i have lots of coralline algae growing under my 18 inch T8. its not so much the light output as it is how long the light is on and the stability of the alkalinity and the amount of magnesium and calcium that are in the water to help grow it.

introduce a coralline algae sourse and dadd purple up to the water if you want to speed up the growth. mine over time developed it and a few days ago i let my light cycle slide a little bit and soem of it began to disappear but is now returning

I have my lights on a 12 hour cycle... Is this too much/little?

 

[Zer0]

I think 12 hours is too long, as most people including myself keep them on a cycle for only 7-8 hours. That's really all you need. However, T8 lights are pretty outdated in the reefing world, and are not very strong compared to most of the newer lights like T5HO, Metal Halide, VHO's, and LED's. I think you should look in to upgrading your lights. Just something to think about...

 

[ukdan]

Hey all, the anemone problem is solved. I ended up using aiptasia-x. Brilliant stuff. Applied it one evening and it wiped them out over night! Was a little concerned after getting some (lots!) on my xenia but all is fine.

 

[ukdan]

.....and my lights are now on for 8 hours, cheers zero!