What are these little anemones?

[joss]

They are only about the size of a pencil erasure, and light reddish brown.

I didn't find anything in the pest section that really described them. They are not green at all, like majano, and do not have long tentacles like aptasia.
Tank is new, I've had it going about 3 weeks.

[fishboyt]

Where did you get them?

[DustinB]

It sort of looks like a majano. They do not have to be green to be majano. Just like a green bubble tip anemone, it can be all shades of green or brown. It all depends on the lighting and environment.

[DustinB]

I've heard that they are not as harmful as aiptasia, but they spread like crazy and will take over.

[joss]

They hitchhiked in on some live rock.... so, if I want to get any soft corals (mushroom, hammer) at some point in the future, they gotta go away?
Is there anything I could get that will eat them? They are kinda cool, but if they are pests...they will have to go.
I have 3 Damsel fish, and a small false percula, and two very small hermit crabs. The fish have been added slowly over nearly 4 weeks, and are doing great.
The tank is a 15 gallon tall Eclipse. I've been doing 25% water changes
twice/week, have Purigen in the filter, and set up a little hob with chaeto-algae with a light-source. For the tank I have a Coralife 50/50 quad light.
I'm an African cichlid keeper/breeder (I have 12 freshwater tanks) but this is my first little experiment with salt water.

[DustinB]

I have never had them, but I have read a little about them. I believe almost all anemones can kill corals if they decide to move and touch the corals, but with these they multiply so much they crowd the tank. I believe they are hard to get rid of. Here is one forum talking about them: http://aquaticconnection.org/how-to-...mones-t91.html

I would try to search and read what other people have said about them and how they got rid of them.

[joss]

I think they are a majano anemone, although brown, not green. I'm not in a hurry to get any corals, so I guess I can start picking them off the rocks before I get thousands of them.

[joss]

Well, I decided to take drastic measures, since I have heard stories of how hard it is to get rid of the majanos. I took the two pieces of rock they were on, and it is sitting in the hot sun on top of my fence. I've been checking the rock still in the tank for any signs of them, so far, none.
How long should I leave the two rocks in the sun before I start over "curing" it?

[tang-chaser]

aww you needed to research stuff before doing anything drastic. If you took them out and put them in the sun, your just killing everything on the rock. You need to put the rock in a separate container or tank with a circulating pump, Keep covered and dont let any light in for a week or two. It will kill the anemone (because its light dependant, and food dependant). everything will die off the rock except the good bactieria. If you take the rock out and leave in the sun, its no longer live rock and has no biological value. It has to be re cured.

[tang-chaser]

by the way, how you cure rocks is in a tub of salt water in the dark with a skimmer and pump and wait for the ammonia level to spike and then drop back to untraceable amounts. Im just trying to help you. Theres alot of stuff online that people write that have no clue what there talking about. Always reserch and get an idea or answer then research what that answer or idea again for a second opinion. Theres tons of missleading crap online. Dont worrie we have all done stupid stuff before knowing more about the hobby. Salt water is a constant learning experience. If you ever have a queston just ask.

[joss]

Hey, thanks! I have had all sorts of advice about getting rid of the majanos, one person told me that he had to burn them off with a propane torch! Since I haven't gotten any soft corals or zoanths, yet, I just decided to put them in the sun, although it almost broke my heart to find some little tiny feather dusters on one of the rocks! No body told me that putting them in the dark for a couple of weeks would kill the anemones, all I heard was how bad it is to have an infestation of them!
Oh well. I am going to go get the rocks off the fence, put them in a tub of SW and try to re-cure them.
While that is going on, I'm going to set up a sump for the tank, it'll be almost as many gallons as the tank itself.
This SW thing is so expensive, I want to get everything just right before putting anymore livestock in there.

[joss]

Thanks so much for the advice, much appreciated! I'm sure I will be asking more questions as time goes on!

[tang-chaser]

hey if your tank isnt cycled yet and you have nothing in it you can put the rocks back in the tank. There is going to be some biological die off on the rock that will drive up the ammonia level to help cycle the tank.

[joss]

Well, the majanos seem to gone.....
The "nuked" rock is back in the tank, I've added some peppermint shrimp someone caught at Port A and gave me, and some snails....
Seems to be going OK.

[i_am_poor]

You did the right thing by drying that rock because it would take about 6 months to kill those anemones even without light. I scrubbed my rocks, rinse with fresh water and let sit in a dark container for 3 months and some were still alive. These arent the $50 RBTAs.