Aiptasia free tank?

[edolan]

I am really new to reefkeeping. I have my first corals in quarantine and I am already battling aiptasia. Is this normal? The local guy I bought the corals from said he had aiptasia but got it under control. Obviously not. Does anyone have any advice on a better source for aiptasia free coral? Are there reputable stores online that I could feel pretty sure would be aiptasia free? Or is this a losing battle that I have to learn to live with? Thanks in advance for your responses.

Eric

 

[Martini5788]

I am really new to reefkeeping. I have my first corals in quarantine and I am already battling aiptasia. Is this normal? The local guy I bought the corals from said he had aiptasia but got it under control. Obviously not. Does anyone have any advice on a better source for aiptasia free coral? Are there reputable stores online that I could feel pretty sure would be aiptasia free? Or is this a losing battle that I have to learn to live with? Thanks in advance for your responses.



Eric

It's just one of those things. I constantly battle aiptasia. If you have a bunch, look into getting a berghia nudibranch, but they only eat aiptasia and will starve to death once they are gone. Or get a bunch of peppermint shrimp and see if those do it.

 

[edolan]

So does anyone not have aiptasia?

 

[pyithar]

if you use all dry rocks and don't let the small rocks that are attached to the new corals get into the system, your tank can be aiptasia free.

 

[btb72]

if you use all dry rocks and don't let the small rocks that are attached to the new corals get into the system, your tank can be aiptasia free.

That's why I am starting with all dry rock

 

[jeff240gallon]

Dry rock is awesome, just pick a good seeding rock, don't over feed corals, and peppermint shrimp usually take care of it within month or two


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[CStrickland]

So does anyone not have aiptasia?

I don't have aiptasia.
I started with dry rock. When I add a coral I don't use the plug they come on, I break the coral itself off and stick it onto a piece of my rock that's small enough to move around until I find its happy place. I have had a little aip start to grow out from under the coral or between the polyps. I cover it with a blob of a paste of pickling lime and rodi. So far so good.

I think aiptasia is pretty easy to keep out, or manage a small amount. Once it gets out of hand you probs need some thing that eats it, and then it's always in the tank. It's def not the worst problem you can have though, compared to other bad hitchikers.

 

[edolan]

Thanks for the responses. So aiptasia will not attach itself to coral itself? What about the encrusting base of green star polyp? I also have a dragon soul favia which is encrusting. I tried to remove it from its base but gave up thought I was hurting it to much. I cut off as much of the base as I could but of course aiptasia is showing up on the little bit of base I did not remove.

 

[pauls]

Syringe, lemon juice and shoot it in the hole killing Aptasia. WORKS !!!!

 

[johnike]

So does anyone not have aiptasia?

I embrace mine, and nurture it.
:wave:

 

[johnike]

Thanks for the responses. So aiptasia will not attach itself to coral itself? What about the encrusting base of green star polyp? I also have a dragon soul favia which is encrusting. I tried to remove it from its base but gave up thought I was hurting it to much. I cut off as much of the base as I could but of course aiptasia is showing up on the little bit of base I did not remove.

It won't attach to the coral itself.
Don't try to remove it by cutting, it will only spread.
Many methods of eradication, all that work in their own circumstances.

Raccoon Butterfly 100% guarantee
Berghia Nudibranchs
Kalk/lime sludge
Commercially available preparations
Peppermint shrimp
Matted Filefish

 

[Sonyardo]

I had aptasia and was able to eradicate them from the system. The best method i found was boiling water with a turkey baster. There's something about a face full of scalding water that makes them loose their will to live. I tried several other solutions over time but they always would slowly come back. I haven't seen one in several years.

 

[billdogg]

I haven't had one in my systems in the last 20+ years. IMHO, the key is inspecting every addition and taking care if any BEFORE you put the new coral?clam?rock into your tank. The last clam i bought had 5 or 6. I used a syringe and boiling water to carefully cook them before putting the clam into the tank.

FWIW - the ONLY method I have ever used is a syringe and boiling water. I have found it to be 100% effective 100% of the time. It can be a bit tedious if there are a lot of them, but it works, and without adding any chemical that might throw off basic parameters. Way back in the day - early 90's - they showed up in my 60g cube. Not knowing any better, I thought they were just another freebie hitchhiker. By the time I figured out differently, there were literally thousands, covering every square inch of rock and a good portion of the glass. It took me a couple months of daily syringe use, but I got them all.

 

[JammyBirch]

So does anyone not have aiptasia?

I do not have Aiptasia, dry base rock. For frags I don't fix them to the scape until I'm sure they are free of stuff I don't want. I've had it in my tank from frags before, I just take the frag out and apply Kalk paste to the spot, it basically seals it in and presto no more Aiptasia.

 

[BrianKC]

I have found Divers Den coral from Live Aquaria to always be pest free. Even so, I inspect each piece closely and do as others have said and remove frags from the plugs/rock they came in on and reattach to my own rock.


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[edolan]

Thanks guys. I have had my tank running for three months and I am very thankful that I did enough research to set up a quarantine tank. So far in that 3 months I have had one fish that I highly suspected of having ich. I told the lfs where I purchased him and they graciously took him back. I dumped my quarantine tank and thoroughly cleaned and cycled it before I tried again. This time I got a very young clown fish about 3/4" that had a nip in his tail. Being very new I didn't realize before it was severe that it had turned into tail rot to the point the lfs told me they would of euthanized him. I took it as a learning experience and treated him first with melafix and then furan 2. I am happy to say he is fully recovered and doing well in main tank. I thought finally I can get some coral now that my quarantine tank is not holding fish. Well my very first coral purchases and I find aiptasia. It has been quite the learning curve for me. I keep hanging onto the thin thread of hope that some day I will be able to have a tank as beautiful as the ones I see here on reef central. Thanks for all your input and I will try to keep calm and carry on until the aiptasia is under control. Here's to looking forward to the day I get to add my first coral to my tank.:beer:

 

[Bent]

I ain't got no aptasia.

 

[gallegos]

I quarantine all my livestock including corals to make sure they are not introduced

 

[tzylak]

I got one large mother of an aiptasia and one Peppermint shrimp. The shrimp leaves the mother alone for it to multiply. He readily eats the offspring. It's a symbiotic relationship. Beautiful.

 

[heathlindner25]

I'm a couple years short of a decade in, and I have never had aptasia. Knock on wood.
You want something scarier than that ,look up bryopsis...... that I've had for over 7 years...lol