Brown Rock Coral

[Jake]

I have one rock from the previous owner that has many brown looking polyps. I have heard that these are nusiance polyps. I have used Joe's Juice 3 or 4 times but they keep coming back. I use joe's to control them in other parts of the tank but this rock will not give in.

What is the best way to eliminate them from this rock? Can I move the rock to the sump, will they die without light? Remove the rock and let it dry out? Then put back into sump? Thoughts?

 

[lcstorc]

That depends entirely on what they are. Sounds like you have been treating them as aiptasia. Are you sure that is what they are? Aiptasia are a small anemone. If you touch it, it will retract almost immediately. If that is what you have then a drop of Joe's in the mouth (center) should do the trick. You do need to treat each anemone for it to work. They also spread very rapidly. Other people use lemmon juice or boiling water but in all cases the key is to get it in the mouth.

 

[Jake]

I will try to post a picture, but I was told by the LFS that they were not aiptasia. They do however retract into the rock when touched.

 

[lcstorc]

Here are pics of some aiptasia.

 

[Jake]

Thanks for the pics Lynn. I don't think that is what they are. They look a little different and are not as long. Attached is a photo from week 1 of the rock in question.

 

[BigAl07]

Looks like it could be Majano Anemone.

Check out these
http://www.pirx.com/gallery/albums/cnidarians/majano.jpg

 

[Jake]

Thanks Al, but I don't think that is it.
Here is a link that looks like it (below). Brown Cup Coral. But I am not sure. Either way they seem to be fast growers, hardy, and not that attractive. So I would like to remove them from this rock. Thoughts?

SIMoN -- Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

 

[Lakmo99]

If the rock isnt holding up your aquascape, or it doesnt have anything imprortant growing on it, I say just leave it outside in the sun for a couple days, rinse it off, and then put it back in the tank. No use in spending time trying to kill each individual polyp if you can take it out of the tank...

 

[sebastian]

if you want to kill it (????????) with out removing rock and killing coraline algae you can take syrange and put some strong calcium solution and inject it in to "that thing"...small amout of high conc. of callcium will do the job:nopity: witout changing calcium level in the tank....DON'T inject hole big syr....just alittle bit:bluenod:

 

[lcstorc]

I would try Joe's Juice on it. Not sure it will work but it's good to keep around anyway.

 

[Jake]

OK thanks for the replies. I have used Joes juice and it has become another monthly chore, it keeps coming back. So I guess I will put the rock outside for a couple days. When I return it to my tank should I put it in the sump for awhile? Will I get a chemistry spike? I currently have about 75-100lbs of rock in a 75 gal tank. Most of the rock including this one has been in tanks > 5yrs.

 

[JWarren]

Looks like Majano to me as well. I am dealing with a few of them right now. Kalkwasser kicks their butt real good! You kinda gotta shrink them away. I have not found anything that kills them outright and hot water kinda melts them, then they spread all over the tank. That's been my experience with them in the past anyway.

 

[Jake]

Well Big Al and JWarren, after additional research I am starting to lean towards some type of pest anemone maybe a type of majano as you suggest.

Either way, these things are going.... terminator time.....

That main colony rock is coming out for a bask in the sun and I will go back to a weekly shot of Joe's until I beat them. (I hope)

When re-introducing the rock to my system will it likely cause a small cycle? Is there a prefered method to bring in one new dead rock?

 

[lcstorc]

If it is dried in the sun it will then become base rock. As long as you have enough LR in the tank (which it sounds like you do) then you should not have any problem. If you were going to see any kind of spike it would be from removing the piece of LR not when adding the base into the tank.

 

[Jake]

Thanks Lynn. The more I search the tank the worse I am feeling. I pulled out the one rock tonight and then after checking around the tank I found three different varieties growing. One that I am convinced is Majano Anemone, one that is composed of very fine material, and one hidden patch 1" by 1" behind my main rock aquascape similar to the picture. RRRRRR.... glad I am learning about them now when I still stand a chance at containing them. The members of this site have been a great help.