Glass Anemone??

[JON]

I have these things that recentyl appeared on my live rock. They are slowly spreading. Someone finally identified them as glass anemones. I searched for them and it sounds like I do not want them in my tank. Should I get a Peppermint shrimp to control these guys or are they okay to have?

[OrionGirl]

Glass anemone are the same thing as aiptasia, and they will spread. If this is in a reef tank, you'll want to remove them because of the threat they pose to your corals.

If you can find a peppermint shrimp, and it is compatible with the other members of the tank, they will take care of the small ones. If you have any large ones, you'll need to treat them with kalkwasser (create a soupy paste and inject it into the trunk), or boiling water. Do not try removing them manually--this will result in them spreading.

We have a few in our FO, and they've increased their numbers a bit, but nothing overwhelming. Since a shrimp is out of the question in this tank, we'll being using kalkwasser sometime in the next few weeks.

[votek]

Orion, will a FW or High salinity dip do any good with them?

I have them too, and I'm plannig on doing some corals in the future. I wasnt aware of the danger they cause, so this is deffinately good information for me.

[BrianH]

I second OG's suggestions. Dipping in FW or high salinity will kill other beneficial organisms on the LR and may not kill the aiptasia. Many people have gotten aiptasia on uncured LR sjipped without water. If they can survive that, they'll probably survive the dips.

Brian