Is this Aiptasia?!?!

[Mark18]

Hi

Picked a tank up at yesterday, thought these were just a polyp type thing but after reading through some forum posts on here, hoping it isn’t Aiptasia! There are probably 50 dotted around the various rock pieces. Size range 5mm to 50mm outside diameter.

[WV Reefer]

8 minutes ago, Mark18 said:

Hi

Picked a tank up at yesterday, thought these were just a polyp type thing but after reading through some forum posts on here, hoping it isn’t Aiptasia! There are probably 50 dotted around the various rock pieces. Size range 5mm to 50mm outside diameter.

 

It is. 🙁

Time to murder them.  

[Mark18]

Damn, not such a good buy after all!! 

 

Concerned about doing it directly in display tank given it’s only 14g and upsetting the balance.

 

If I transfer individual rock pieces to a bucket of tank water and inject with lemon juice or boiling water before returning to display tank, should I wait for pest to fully die off before returning rock due to elevated nitrate levels that would be caused?

 

Which is better lemon juice or boiling water given it’s unlikely to be boiling by the time I inject it in pest.

 

how much fluid 1ml?

 

[WV Reefer]

23 minutes ago, Mark18 said:

Damn, not such a good buy after all!! 

 

Concerned about doing it directly in display tank given it’s only 14g and upsetting the balance.

 

If I transfer individual rock pieces to a bucket of tank water and inject with lemon juice or boiling water before returning to display tank, should I wait for pest to fully die off before returning rock due to elevated nitrate levels that would be caused?

 

Which is better lemon juice or boiling water given it’s unlikely to be boiling by the time I inject it in pest.

 

how much fluid 1ml?

 

 

I would remove each rock and shoot it full of hot water, lemon juice or whatever. Then try to blow the aiptasia off in the bucket. Sometimes if you do it just right the whole thing will let go. 

[Superdave]

ID is correct.  

 

Personally, if you do not have expensive corals on the rock(s), I would just toss whole "infected" pieces.  Just like corals, they can spread and there are tiny new ones you cannot yet see.  If I am reading your posts correctly, they are in a sump?  If that is the case, I would just cut your loses and toss it all..

[Mark18]

No, rocks are in display tank. Did think about discarding but majority have nice purple algae which I quite like. I think I will try a rock tomorrow after I pick up a syringe. 

 

If I discard all the rocks. What is the likelihood  of spores remaining in the tank and infecting any new rock?

[Mark18]

51 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Then try to blow the aiptasia off

@WV Reefer how do I do that exactly?!?

[Superdave]

From my experience, they are only on the rocks.  Once rocks are gone, aiptasia are gone.  

 

I can appreciate you want to keep the rocks.  Maybe separate infected rocks to one side of tank if you want to try some remedies.  

 

And it definitely is possible to attack/kill them and keep the rock; I dont want to paint too much of a doom and gloom picture.  I am just giving my personal opinion~  

 

There are some shrimp that eat them--always good to try the natural route.  Some LFS will take back lifestock if you dont want the particular shrimp long term.  Even if you dont get all of any of any your money back, it is basically the same (dollar wise) as buying treatments. 

 

Good luck!  

 

 

[Superdave]

I really am not reading your posts--lazy Sunday morning brain!!  

 

If you have dozens (close to 50) aiptasia, that sure is a lot to individually treat.  From what I have experienced and read on this forum, most people deal with a small number of them, as in the single digits.  

 

Again, if I was in this position, I don't think the hassle is worth whatever you spent on the rocks.  Sure they look nice with the coraline, but you can find that again and it will develop over time anyways in your tank.  There are plenty of aspects to the hobby where you can tinker/learn by trial and error; new rock for a 14 gallon tank won't be that much.  You can then confidently move forward and not have to waste any time.  

 

Good luck!

[WV Reefer]

32 minutes ago, Mark18 said:

@WV Reefer how do I do that exactly?!?

 

I  inject them and then wait a few minutes.  Then I try to turkey baste them from their spot. Sometimes they will roll right out and you can suck them up. 

 

The sad thing is no matter what you do at this point, they will come back. But it is possible to knock them back to manageable levels.  

[Frag Factory]

If you don't have coral yet, pick up a file fish to eat them and go wild with Joes Juice (not AipX, it's awful).

 

You could also boil the rock and just start from fresh.

[Mark18]

Thanks for the reply’s, very much appreciated. Thinking of starting a fresh given the extent of the population.

 

I read on gumtree some body local to my home is dismantling their set up and has various sized rocks and frags ranging from au$20-$100. Will check out this week. Attached some pics of wants for sale. I think the large rocks will be too big for my tank.

[Superdave]

Those rocks look amazing to me.  You get nice, large pieces with nice established corals.  I would ditch your apitasia rocks ASAP and be all over this opportunity for the following reasons:  

 

--you get new rock, free of your current pest (look carefully all over these new rocks before buying.  As in, take 10 minutes and stare carefully!)  

--you get established biological culture of the rocks (these are big for they will have nice cultures for you)

--you get very nice looking coral colonies.  Many people wait years to develop colonies like these

--you get huge rocks; this makes cleaning sand very easy.  Pull out the rock (place in separate container) and siphon/blow up sand and replace rock.  I have too many small pieces and it really is a pain to clean;  you can always cut/drill/break into smaller pieces if need be

 

As I write, I see the last picture have something funny looking that may be aiptaisa.  Perhaps it is just pic or lighting, but there is something I circled in red.  

 

And are you in Australia by the way?  

 

Good luck and keep everyone posted!  

[monkeytrumpets]

Dealing with one or two aiptasia isn't too bad, but if you have a mess of them, and there aren't coral colonies on the rock that you are trying to keep, you'll probably end up tearing less of your hair out by just ditching the affected rock.

 

1 hour ago, Superdave said:

Those rocks look amazing to me.  You get nice, large pieces with nice established corals.  I would ditch your apitasia rocks ASAP and be all over this opportunity for the following reasons:  

 

--you get new rock, free of your current pest (look carefully all over these new rocks before buying.  As in, take 10 minutes and stare carefully!)  

--you get established biological culture of the rocks (these are big for they will have nice cultures for you)

--you get very nice looking coral colonies.  Many people wait years to develop colonies like these

--you get huge rocks; this makes cleaning sand very easy.  Pull out the rock (place in separate container) and siphon/blow up sand and replace rock.  I have too many small pieces and it really is a pain to clean;  you can always cut/drill/break into smaller pieces if need be

 

As I write, I see the last picture have something funny looking that may be aiptaisa.  Perhaps it is just pic or lighting, but there is something I circled in red.  

 

And are you in Australia by the way?  

 

Good luck and keep everyone posted!  

All of this ^^^ 🙂

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

You could take the peppermint shrimp approach, but you have to be careful of them sometimes.

[Mark18]

Hi

Unfortunetly by the time I got to guys tank to view  rock he had sold the main piece I was hoping to buy, in saying that it may have been too big for my nano anyhow. Secured a smaller piece with 50 zoas, heaps of star polyps and very large green morph, plus another couple of small pieces with stars and an sps. 

 

The guy had an amazing set up, fully automated from chilling, water changes, to dosing. Been established 5 years.

 

Also bought 2 litres of Sera Siporax 25mm noodles from his sump. I’ll make a ss316 cage and put it in the rear sump my my display.

 

Collecting the rocks in a day or 2 may ask for some sand as well. 

 

@Superdave yes I saw the same in the photo! I pointed it out and he said use this... a bottle of aiptasia x! I couldn’t see any of the critters on my rock. 

 

Ill take mine out later and give the clowns a plant pot is something whilst I wait to collect the rock.

 

PS yes in I’m Australia!

 

PPS Should I be concerned this tank has Aiptasia and I’m buying rock from it ?!?

[Superdave]

Sounds like you still got a great piece of rock!

 

One (or even a few) aiptasia can be addrrsssed without too much trouble. Would be good to keep an eye on rock (examine them every week or so) to make sure no new ones creep up. They start really tiny/small so easy to miss them. 

 

Post some pics of new rock in your tank when you can!

[blasterman]

I've had aiptasia decimate softie tanks. Once you start getting enough of them they start to poison the water column and other corals will suffer. 

 

I've tried everything including peppermint shrimp and high powered lasers. An insulin syringe and an injection of vinegar is the most practical method I've found to kill them. Kalk paste or lemon juice also work, but light acids like lemon juice or vinegar are just easier to work with and just as effective. I rarely see them come back after a vinegar injection, although there will always be some in spore form. So, you'll need repeated passes to kill them all.

[Mark18]

Have removed contaminated rock. Thinking of boiling it up and keep on hand for base rock.

@Frag Factory how would I need to boil rock for to be confident aiptasia been removed....5 minutes??

[BlennyBoi]

yep, aiptasia. you could try aiptasia x, copperband butterfly or peppermint shrimp

[Superdave]

Boiling for 5 minutes, then leaving outside to dry (completely) in the sun for a few days would take care of it.  Probably don't even need to boil if you leave outside but sure can't hurt. 

[Frag Factory]

56 minutes ago, Mark18 said:

Have removed contaminated rock. Thinking of boiling it up and keep on hand for base rock.

@Frag Factory how would I need to boil rock for to be confident aiptasia been removed....5 minutes??

Yeah that should work

[Sancho]

1 hour ago, Mark18 said:

Have removed contaminated rock. Thinking of boiling it up and keep on hand for base rock.

@Frag Factory how would I need to boil rock for to be confident aiptasia been removed....5 minutes??

 

1 hour ago, Superdave said:

Boiling for 5 minutes, then leaving outside to dry (completely) in the sun for a few days would take care of it.  Probably don't even need to boil if you leave outside but sure can't hurt. 

No don’t boil your rock....aiptasia is controllable no need to nuke the rock....that and there’s the possibility of Paly toxin poisoning. 

[Mark18]

Looks like I’m cooking up Aiptasia soup for dinner!

[BlennyBoi]

On 3/28/2019 at 10:18 AM, Mark18 said:

Looks like I’m cooking up Aiptasia soup for dinner!

ooh sounds delicious! 😂