Grab bag identification.

[hmotorsol]

got a rock frag with 5 different frags of corals i will post pics tomorrow.

The ones im most interested in are the white polyps that are clustered like zoas and have the same shape. some wierd finger coral and multiple other zoas i think i seen and maybe some feather dusters.
i will have to wait till they all start to come out and find out what i got.

so fun with random stuff lol (kinda dangerous though)(maybe).

[Solareclipsed]

Where did you get a grab bag frags at?

[hmotorsol]

Bert's it was in the small frag tank. has multiple polyps and some kind of what looks to be anenomes.









Alright here are the pictures i know some of the things aren't out yet but the ones i have no clue about are the brown fingery things shimmer a green hue to them when the light hits them right and i know its not a very good pic of the white items i was talking about. hopefully its good enough to get a general idea.

[ADMIN]

If I were you I would not put that rock in my tank. Those look like a form of invasive anemone. In fact I have some in my tank and in time they will take over if that's what they are. I have been trying to find a way to kill them for a year or so now. Mine are greenish with pink tips but I have seen them several colors. I hope I'm wrong on that diagnoses though, I wouldn't wish them on anyone.

[hmotorsol]

the white or the brown ones?

[ADMIN]

Brown ones, those other things are zoas that have lost there zooxanthellae, give them light and they should recover, but I dont know if its worth the risk. If you could isolate this rock in a seperate tank you could maybe rescue some of them in time but be careful.

[hmotorsol]

I wonder if boiling water will kill the anemones i have insulin syringes. i heard u can kill aptasia with that method and not harm the water.

[ADMIN]

I wonder if boiling water will kill the anemones i have insulin syringes. i heard u can kill aptasia with that method and not harm the water.

LOL yeh I heard that too, heres the truth to that though, anything you inject them with will cause them to explode, any remains (and there are a lot) can become an entire new creature. in other words you can turn one single aptasia into a dozen. The only thing you can do that will kill them off is to cover them in a kalkwasser based solution (paste) this will burn them up, DO NOT INJECT THEM thats important. Now the bad news, sometimes they come back and you need to do this many times. Now the really bad news, it only works on aptasia, to date I have found nothing to kill these things and have only succeeded in proving they multiply quickly when stressed. I would take aptasia any day over them.

[hmotorsol]

looks like a hammer and chisel to frag the rock and take out the bad while trying not to harm the good. luckily this isnt a very holey rock so no place for them to retreat. more of a branch actually.

[ADMIN]

do it

[Watership]

I used to have a couple of those things. I just took some marine "glue" for sticking coral onto rocks and the like and after poking them so they retract i put some glue over their hole. never came back. is this not a good thing to do?

[Solareclipsed]

I dont know if it is good to do but it sure is funny.

[ADMIN]

I used to have a rock that looked like reef putty, everytime I sealed one off another sprang out. Over time coraline will encrust the putty but they are still alive and if there is a way out they will find it. In short they are evil.

[daviddelp09]

what if you isolated the rock in a different tank with several peppermint shrimp of a copperbanded butterfly and let them eat them.

[L0S3R]

They are Mojano anemones. Yes they are evil little bast**** but they arent QUITE as bad as aptasia in regards to duplicating. They WILL spread and they WILL take over your tank if they are not eradicated.

Like Ron said injecting them does not work unless you use the really expensive stuff because it causes them to melt. But thats not a guarantee. Majanos dont react to everything the same as aptasia. I dont believe peppermint shrimp will eat them. It has been heard of copperband butterfly fish eating them but not always.

The kalkpaste is your best bet. Turn all flow off and then apply the paste (wear gloves or it will burn you) leave it on for a couple minutes before turning your flow back on.

You can cover them in the paste then cover that in putty if you like.

The best way to get rid of those guys would be removing the rock, drying it out for a week, bleaching it and then drying it out another week.

I have read of a guy who freshwater soaked his rocks for 24hours then dried them out for a week outside. When he put them back in his tanks they came back out of the rock.

Good luck. They suck. I have a couple in my 2g that I havent been able to remove.

[hmotorsol]

there are a ton of zoas on the rock so i dont want to kill every thing. im still thinking about fragging the rock luckily 3 of the 4 are in the same spot. but how do u frag zoas i have a few that have came off the rock and i stuck them in a big hole so they can hopefully attach. i guess i will have a few casulties. any tips will be appreciated on how do the fragging there are not many if any holes it looks like a piece of branch. thanks for the help.

[hmotorsol]

ok found an item have u ever heard of AIPTASIA CONTROL by Blue Life
any one ever heard of it. says it works for majano too.

[ADMIN]

Like I said, I have literally tried everything on them. Be careful with the aiptasia solutions out there most of them just cause the things to spread.

how do u frag zoas i have a few that have came off the rock and i stuck them in a big hole so they can hopefully attach.

I hate fragging zoas and it's a real ordeal for me.

Be careful, if you have never fragged zoas there are a few things you need to know. Number one they contain a powerful neurotoxin called Palytoxins these are extremely dangerous. There are many legends of animals drinking zoa water and falling over, yet I have never personally seen any one or any thing die from this.

What I have seen is several people including Barry get infected with chemical conjunctivitis after handling zoas, and other coral without washing hands. This is a form of pink eye and you will require medical attention to heal it. Also there is a much reported metal taste present in the mouth after poisoning, this is the tell tale sign of minor palytoxin poisoning according to some. If it were more death would follow quickly.

To avoid problems, always wash your hands after handling coral and wear gloves and facial protection. Most coral can cause problems not just zoas, but zoas have the potential to cause a lot more than others. Yes in theory they can and likely will kill you if ingested.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palytoxin

How to frag zoas, peel them off rock (KEEP EYES AND MOUTH CLOSED OR COVERED), do not cut into them and glue them to plug. Let them heal and in a few weeks they should be fine.

[ADMIN2]

Be careful, if you have never fragged zoas there are a few things you need to know. Number one they contain a powerful neurotoxin called Palytoxins these are extremely dangerous. There are many legends of animals drinking zoa water and falling over, yet I have never personally seen any one or any thing die from this.

I love to drink it. If you rub the juice in your eyes it will make you feel like Jimi Hendrix when he set his guitar on fire.
If you cant handle it you shouldnt be fraggin them imo.

[ADMIN2]

Why not get a few peppermint shrimp to eat up your aptasia?

[Solareclipsed]

You know the funny thing about that Phil. Last time I was over your place and we were fraggin those ones, I didnt wash my hands and about half way home my eyes started burning like crap. I was like oh I forgot to wash my hands and my eyes hurt for a couple hours. Luckily I had drops at the house and put them in when I got home which burnt even more.

[L0S3R]

They are majanos not aptasia thats the problem. Most people dont have any luck with peppermints eating them. I know my peppermint wouldnt eat the majanos in my 2g, he ate the aptasia but never touched those little devils.

[ADMIN2]

Yeh, I did not look close enough. I dont know if peps will eat them or not. Best bet would probably be kalk paste I guess.

[hmotorsol]

ok quick question more and more zoas are popping up just want to see if u could give me some identifications on them.

I think these are dragoneye's



Not sure about these though



Here is a better picture of the ones that have lost there color.


Thanks for the help.

[ADMIN]

Looks like they are opening up. Top is a rgde
radioactive green dragon eye
middle is to early to tell looks like a eagle eye sort of but pro a wwm lookalike
wammin watermelon.
Last one is any ones guess still to bleached out but prob dark green to brown palys.

[L0S3R]

I agree with Ron with all of the above.

I still say you should take an AK-47 followed by a grenade and a flamethrower to that rock lol.

I hope you can get them off there.

[hmotorsol]

ya i want the zoas but dont want an infestation. Everything except the infested rock is in the 44 gallon tank. so far everything is ok and my purple fire fish is roaming around and the zebra dartfish are doing decent together i still have to watch them though. ok enough being side tracked how much light do the mojano need to survive. I am thinking that getting some dark plastic and covering it might make it detach and go on top of the item and then discard the item. how long will the zoas survive with no light .

[L0S3R]

the majano will last longer than the zoas, most of these pest anemones are actually from deeper dirtier water, some even live under rocks in the ocean so they can stay in the dirt.

They dont need light they actually prefer the dark. They are nonphotosynthetic, which means the light is very very minimal if any supplement at all they feed off of particles in the water and the critters in the tank.

[hmotorsol]

i guess the 10 gallon will be hosting that rock then until we can come up with something. i think fragging as much of the zoa population off the rock as possible is the only way to go but it shouldn't my first fragging experience.

[cdeboard]

It shouldnt be too bad.. if the rock is brittle enough you can just break chunks of the rock off with the zoas on them. They will make it. Thats how I frag my zoas.