[michael fruth]

Hi

im a 12 year old begginner with a 55 gal tank. i have 3 dozen crabs, 6 snails, a sailfin tang, a firefish, a royal gramma, and a alge eating goby. i have a box flter, aprotein skimmer, and a nice light. there are these little anemomes that are brownish red. they are reproducing rapidly and i dont want them to hurt my oter inhabitants. also i dont know what fish i should get next.
HELP

[RyanG]

They are probably aiptasia. Do you have any pictures of them? Try to get rid of them ASAP. They will grow and destroy anything that they touch.
You can either buy a Berghia verrucicornis (nudi branch) to get rid of them. Or inject them with boiling hot water.

[michael fruth]

No but you are right those are it how do i get rid of them i read on the iternet that if you scrape them off the rock they will leave remains and reproduce faster

[michael fruth]

thanks alot Ryan im going to try to get rid of them right know

[michael fruth]

wait do i put the boiling water in the tank or do i take the rock ther on then boil them

[RyanG]

No you buy a medical syringe (the kind you would get a shot with) and then boil water, then load the boiling water into the syringe.

[innovativecreations]

I have the same problem in my tank, and there are probably 20 of them in my tank now, and until I joined this forum, thought they were nice. I just yesterday watched one of them consume a large stick of fish food, to my amazement! So...can we pull or scrape these off of the rocks or will that indeed cause them to multiply?!?

[RyanG]

Pulling or scraping them off will cause them to multiply. Boiling hot water and loading it in a syringe and injecting them with that will get rid of them. Or buying a nudi branch (Berghia verrucicornis) will eat them. However if you decide to go the nudi branch route the nudi branch will starve to death since it only feeds on that one type of anemone.

[innovativecreations]

Thanks for the info, now I know what I have to do tonight!

[Kevin W]

has anyone heard of joes juice its to get rid of these pests the local pet store has it and use it often you inject the aiptasia with a syringe with alittle joes juice and it kills them fast??? i have never used in a reef tank

[RyanG]

Joes Juice works, but you will have to do a 25% water change and continue until your levels go back to normal levels.

Hot water is a simple, easy method.

[thetoanster]

I've used it and it didn't seem to work for me. I mixed up a strong mixture of kalkwalser and injected it directly into them with a syringe and that killed them immediately. Much like the hot water which is probably safer if you can keep the water hot long enough. Be carefull if you use this method you dont want to much of this in your tank. Do a few at a time not all in one dosing. And when using either method try not to touch them with the syring as they will close up and will not take it. If you get as close as you can with out touching them and squirt just a tiny bit into the center of them they will think it is food and take it all in. Good luck

[CaseyH]

I had a few of these on my live rock, and I read about using lemon juice. You have to wait until they are wide open and big enough to inject with a syringe (aim for their base). It took a few tries, but I got them. It worked really well.

[mark.ladue]

i have used the juice it works, you have to shut down your pumps then use the syringe with the litttle nozzel that comes with, they dissapear, and it should not cause damage to other inhabitants, basically it is concentrated salt

[RyanG]

Injecting the pest with Kalk is another good method that works.

[medic]

what about peppermint shrimp? I was told that as long they are small the shrimp will eat them.

[RyanG]

Yes peppermint shrimp will eat them as well. They are a natural predator, much like the nudi branch.

[pmv315]

where do you buy a Berghia verrucicornis i have never seen one at any of the fish stores i have been to. i have just recently been trying to convert my fish only with live rock to a reef tank and i let them over run my tank. I have been trying to kill them Joe's juice I've used three bottles already i go in once a week but their is just to many i think i might need a dozen of those nudi branch things you were talking about. so were do i get them, how much, and will the harm my fish. Also when they eat all the aptasia and they die will the be harmful to my tank. I have 75 gal with 100lb of live rock 4 clown fish, blue tang, coral beauty, diamond golby.

[NYreefNoob]

ok the dreaded aptasia. boiling water works sometime's you have to be fast and inject it directly into the head of it. or you could rip or just miss it. if tank is still new. i would take and get a 5 gallon bucket of freshwater and let the rock sit in it for 2 days. definately gets rid of it. might kill off some of the rock, but most cure it now formula's dont work all the time

[Froike]

I read that Chelmons (Chelmon rostratus) may eat Aptasia as well. Of course,
you don't have to worry about them starving afterwards. Theoretically, they are fairly reef safe Chaetodons.

[NYreefNoob]

i do believe a butterflies copper band eats it also

[Rmorris24]

a while back i had the same problem buy 1 or 2 peppermint shrimp they eat them, they will be gone in a week or two.