Aiptasia and starfish?

TB Nano · Nov 7, 2018

Looking for some help from the group. I picked up some live rock from the LFS 5 weeks ago when I set up my tank and I noticed a few of what I think is Aiptasia show up after I set it up. Can anyone confirm if this is the case? Also, I assume the top of the picture is a mushroom of some sort? Finally to the left of the picture by that circle opening there appears to be a star fish of some sort? I haven’t seen him at all in the 5 weeks until last night.

Crabs McJones · Nov 7, 2018

Majano anemone, pest and a serpent/brittle starfish, the starfish is good

dwolson · Nov 7, 2018

Brital star. A good guy. I don't see any aptaisia in this pic but my eyes aren't the greatest.

mta_morrow · Nov 7, 2018

Crabs Mcjones said:
Majano anemone, pest and a serpent/brittle starfish, the starfish is good

Exactly what he said^^^^^^

TB Nano · Nov 7, 2018

Do I need to remove it and if so what is the best way? As far as the star fish should I feed him anything special? I assume he came with the rock and has made it through the cycle period so he must be pretty strong and self sufficient.

Crabs McJones · Nov 7, 2018

TB Nano said:
Do I need to remove it and if so what is the best way? As far as the star fish should I feed him anything special? I assume he came with the rock and has made it through the cycle period so he must be pretty strong and self sufficient.

The starfish will scavenge leftovers and detritus. The anemone you'll want to remove before it spreads. Best way is to remove the rock, scrape it off as best you can, and then put superglue or epoxy or kalk paste over the spot where it was to prevent it from growing back

cromag27 · Nov 7, 2018

well, “pest” is a subjective word. i happen to like majanos.

but they reproduce via fission which means they can spread fast. peppermint shrimp and some dwarf angels will eat them. if you have just one it might be easiest to take the rock out and scrape it off. then use a brush and scrub that area really well peroxide, then rinse it off. the balancing act is that you don’t want to disturb the other life on the rock.

Oscaror · Nov 7, 2018

TB Nano said:
Looking for some help from the group. I picked up some live rock from the LFS 5 weeks ago when I set up my tank and I noticed a few of what I think is Aiptasia show up after I set it up. Can anyone confirm if this is the case? Also, I assume the top of the picture is a mushroom of some sort? Finally to the left of the picture by that circle opening there appears to be a star fish of some sort? I haven’t seen him at all in the 5 weeks until last night.

Majano anemone: Bad
Brittle starfish: Good
Mushroom: Ricordea Yuma

TB Nano · Nov 7, 2018

Thanks everyone. So 2 out of 3 are good

Would something like Aiptasia X work on the Majano?

Teri NewbieReefer · Nov 7, 2018

Hi and Welcome to R2R! Congrats, you got a great looking mushroom out of the live rock and a brittle star, too!
The guys and gals on here can really help you - they know what they are talking about, so listen to them and you will do fine.

Rcpilot · Nov 7, 2018

I'd sacrifice the rock. It looks like a small piece.

Chip uder the foot of the ricordia with a screwdriver. Pop off a tiny chunk of rock so the foot stays attached.

Throw the rest of that rock in the garbage... or set it outside to dry out and bake in the sun for a year or two -- then hose it off and toss it back in the tank.

Swoody · Nov 7, 2018

I think I also see a vermatid snail to the left of the Ricordia. which IMO is worse than any Majano or Aiptasia....

Katrina71 · Nov 7, 2018

Snap off the vermatid with your thumb and cover with glue.

TB Nano · Nov 7, 2018

Swoody said:
I think I also see a vermatid snail to the left of the Ricordia. which IMO is worse than any Majano or Aiptasia....

Are you referring to the small purple ish thing sticking up? What kind of problems do they cause?

Swoody · Nov 7, 2018

TB Nano said:
Are you referring to the small purple ish thing sticking up? What kind of problems do they cause?

I am.... get it off and out or you will have thousands of them as in my tank! Pretty much impossible to eradicate once they are established.

TB Nano · Nov 7, 2018

Swoody said:
I am.... get it off and out or you will have thousands of them as in my tank! Pretty much impossible to eradicate once they are established.

I did some more research on them and I know there are a few others, I have seen the “string” of mucus when I clean my tank. I guess I know what I am doing later. Thanks for pointing that out! Things I wish I would have known before picking up the live rock from the LFS.

Swoody · Nov 7, 2018

TB Nano said:
I did some more research on them and I know there are a few others, I have seen the “string” of mucus when I clean my tank. I guess I know what I am doing later. Thanks for pointing that out! Things I wish I would have known before picking up the live rock from the LFS.

I don’t know what I’m going to do in mine... they are everywhere but I can’t see replacing all of my rock work ie..filtration from my tank and if I do it a bit at a time they will just re-infest the new rock before I get all the old out....ughhhhh

davocean · Nov 7, 2018

If the majano is on a small rock I would pull the rock and probably discard it

TB Nano · Nov 7, 2018

davocean said:
If the majano is on a small rock I would pull the rock and probably discard it

I have about 6 of them spread around on all of my rock now that I can see, probably more growing...Maybe I will try the peppermint shrimp option.

davocean · Nov 7, 2018

I've never dealt w/ the vermitted snails, but I know majanos are pretty difficult to get rid of.
I have seen people using majano wands to zap them, not sure if that totally removes them or not.

I've not seen or heard of peppermints eating them, but maybe, more so people use them to rid aptasia, and even that has mixed results.

Don't want to bum you out, but if I saw a majano on any rock in my tank, that rock would be removed asap.

I know Melev was using the majano wand, maybe check his site or search that out, or maybe someone will chime in on those