Is it possible for aiptasia to appear from seemingly nothing? I have an 8 month old tank that is nearly fully established (rock is fully green, and has a bunch of purple spots) and had added no live rock or coral since april. when doing a water change recently, I noticed on the base of my HOB protein skimmers pump, there was a tiny aiptasia growing on it, yet there was none anywhere else that I could find. The last coral I added had no aiptasta, and the others I had checked when I bought them with none on them too.
aiptasia out of nowhere
- Thread starter Shad_023
- Start date
nfrench2100
New member
Do you dip every coral before introducing to your DT? Do you use QT at all to monitor new corals?
Sometimes even dips don't work, especially on aptaisia. If I had to take a guess, it most likely came in on new coral. My DT has been up and running since November of last year and fortunately, I've managed to keep any and all aptaisia free from my tank. I dip every single coral prior to introduction to my DT and very closely inspect everything. I had a frag of zoas about 9 months ago that I dipped and closely inspected before placing in DT. Low and behold, a few days later, I saw an aptaisia blending perfectly in with my zoas. Immediately pulled it from the tank, hit it with some Joes Juice, took a scalpel to it and eradicated it. Make sure you get that aptaisia off where it is and you should be fine
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sometimes even dips don't work, especially on aptaisia. If I had to take a guess, it most likely came in on new coral. My DT has been up and running since November of last year and fortunately, I've managed to keep any and all aptaisia free from my tank. I dip every single coral prior to introduction to my DT and very closely inspect everything. I had a frag of zoas about 9 months ago that I dipped and closely inspected before placing in DT. Low and behold, a few days later, I saw an aptaisia blending perfectly in with my zoas. Immediately pulled it from the tank, hit it with some Joes Juice, took a scalpel to it and eradicated it. Make sure you get that aptaisia off where it is and you should be fine
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
windlasher
New member
Dipping in general does not kill aphasia...Dipping kills bugs and other pests, but not aptasia. Yes, you added it when you put something into the tank. It was tiny, you didn't see it, such is life, there will be more. You have two choices, Nuke any that you see and stay ahead of it, OR, Buy, some peppermint shrimp, and they will stay ahead of it for you.
brett559
New member
Add a bunch of peppermint shrimp now. They're good at finding the little ones and keeping them at bay. Once you have aiptasia, you will ALWAYS have it. The pepps will keep it under control. That was the only thing that worked for me in my last tank. I had to get rid of wrasses and hogfish to keep the pepps, but it was worth it.
Good luck.
Good luck.
LPS_Blasto
New member
Just because you can't SEE an aiptasia doesn't mean they aren't there. They are babies at some point in life, correct? They can hang on a frag plug and be the size of a pen head. They can be down inside a tiny hole in a rock... anywhere.
RioReefr
New member
Damn, isn't that the truth !
I was looking at a small live rock that was covered in coralline algae that I got at a LFS months ago. Just today at the peak intensity of my lights I was amazed at the half-dozen of tiny, tiny little aipstasia. When I blew some water at them, it was quite amazing that they can close up to literally pin-size.
I think a good method is to shoot very hot water at them using a syringe with no needle, then when they shrivel up, use the plunger pulling back to suck it up.
As others have said, peppermint shrimp work really well. Unfortunately, the pep I had he got eaten by hawkfish when introduced to the tank. I like shrimp, but like the hawkfish more.
LPS_Blasto
New member
I've only seen 3 in my tanks in the past. Granted, I've been out of the hobby for 6yrs and just getting back in. I was always pretty good about QT with new rocks and corals in a little 5g tank I had set up on my office desk. A simple power compact light and a HOB refugium did the filtration.
On the aiptasia I encountered, i went a bit overboard. I used a cordless hammer drill and a masonry bit. Cut their foot off the rock with a razor blade. Ground the rest off with a dremel wheel, and drilled a hole in the rock at least an inch or 2 deep. Fill with epoxy and let it dry.
Those rocks went back into the 5g QT tank. They sat there until I was convinced nothing nasty was gonna crawl or grow out of them.
If you dont have a QT tank and you're buying new corals... cut the rock or plug away from the coral and throw it away. Then dip or treat in your preferred manner before introduction to your tank. Better an irritated coral than a tank full of nasties.
On the aiptasia I encountered, i went a bit overboard. I used a cordless hammer drill and a masonry bit. Cut their foot off the rock with a razor blade. Ground the rest off with a dremel wheel, and drilled a hole in the rock at least an inch or 2 deep. Fill with epoxy and let it dry.
Those rocks went back into the 5g QT tank. They sat there until I was convinced nothing nasty was gonna crawl or grow out of them.
If you dont have a QT tank and you're buying new corals... cut the rock or plug away from the coral and throw it away. Then dip or treat in your preferred manner before introduction to your tank. Better an irritated coral than a tank full of nasties.
Similar threads
