Aiptasia Warning (possibly from meeting)

[sequential]

I'm not sure if JonTarutis is the person who kindly shared his chaeto with me or not, but I thought I'd let those who have the same chaeto know that after 24 hours of it being in my refugium, my chaeto was crawling with aiptasia.

I'm not 100% possitive that this hitchhiked in on the chaeto, but I haven't added anything new to my fuge in a few weeks or seen aiptasia anywhere else in my tank or fuge, so it's the most likely candidate.

Check your tanks. No hard feelings to whomever was so generous with the their chaeto, but I did want others to be on the look out just in case.

 

[ctopal]

I got some chaeto from Jon and just thought I had polyps from my new live rock that traveled up the glass, didn't know what aiptasia looked like. But I looked up pictures and I definitely have that in my fuge. Are they okay to stay there or should I remove them? If so do I just do this by hand. And now looking at the picture I realize that I have a couple of them that came in on pieces of coral in my main tank. Do I just take a tweazer to them?

Thanks,
Christine

 

[cmhollis]

Christine,

Tweezers won't remove aiptasia. They will just retract within themselves. If you can get a syringe, make a thick slurry using kalk and RO/DI, and inject that directly into the little bugger. If you don't have a syringe, then just make a thick kalk paste, remove the piece of rock form the water, and cover it with the paste.

 

[amcarrig]

Ya know, aiptasia in a refugium isn't all that bad. Some folks even put them in there on purpose for nutrient control

 

[msman825]

if there little throw some peppermint shrimp in there

 

[capthtfd]

what are they?

 

[msman825]

bump,amcarrig wont that seed your tank with them??

 

[amcarrig]

As long as the population is kept under control and peppermint shrimp are kept in the main tank to take care of any spores or pieces of the anemone, it shouldn't be a problem. It's been done by several folks in the hobby already. It's not something I'd be interested in trying but it is something that would cause me to not freak out much if I had a few aiptasia in my fuge If you're really concerned about them though, throw some peppermint shrimp in there but keep in mind that they will also eat your pods.

 

[cmhollis]

Capthtfd,

Aiptasia is a clear little anemone that can spread very rapidly. They can also sting surrounding neighbors causing a die off.

Here is a photo:

It's a bad photo, but you can get an idea of what it looks like.

Mike

 

[Shark Bait100]

I agree withg amcarrig, in the fuge, its nothing to worry about. If you can't controll them in your display, that's another story. Every reef will have aptasis introduced sometime, its up the aquarist to have things in place to deal with them, peppermints, nudis or CBB.

 

[kroe]

Could you take the chaeto out and freshwater dip it? That should make the aiptasia bail (or if you leave it long enough die). It will wipe out any other inverts in the chaeto, but I bet the chaeto itself would survive just fine.

Disclaimer: I have never tried this before, just an idea.

 

[km133688]

apatisia are mean and aggressive. they sting hard and fast.

 

[ctopal]

Wow, thanks for all the info. For the ones living on my fuge glass I'm going to try and get off with a razor blade cause they have nowhere to go. Shrimp get eaten in my tank, not sure by what, so I'm going to have to remove them by hand in my main tank. I definitely have one living in a dead polyp of my sun coral (I thought it was a bleached out polyp that stayed out all the time I'm going to try and cut that tube off of the colony, do you think I can do that without hurting the colony? I'm going to try and post a pic later of my red star polyp rock with zoas on it, for an ID. I may have some on that, they are brown, I just thought they were renegade looking zoas.

If I have to go the injection route, will Mrs. Wages pickling lime work, that's what I use instead of kalk.

 

[Ancient Storm]

I found a couple aptasia in some chaeto i traded for at a meeting a few months ago.....I immediately removed them manually. I also have injected them and a majarno hitchhiker I found. That works like a charm. I haven't had any Aptasia problems except on hitchhikers using these removal methods.

 

[cougaran]

I had a couple of them too come in on some cheato, but it was no big deal I just used a turkey baster and sucked them up. Of course they were on cheato so it made it fairly easy.

 

[PL-Reef]

ctopal ( sorry off topic) but did you get the mrs. wages picklling lime localy? if so where? thanks

 

[capthtfd]

Thanks for the response cmhollis Hey kroe I might be looking for some frags soon I will call you when I,m ready if thats ok with you, you could tell me what you have for 260 cp lighting
Kevin

 

[mr pink floyd]

I got some from jon, its goign in my sump tonight if i go to HD to get plumbing, or tomorrow if i dont go tonight

 

[cato]

How big and where were they. I got some of the chaeto from Jon but I don't see anything. Then again I've yet to see any in my tank thus far. (knock on wood)

 

[JonTarutis]

Get out the pitchforks and torches! Burn me at the cross..... To be honest it is possible for aiptasia to hitchhike onto the chaeto ball, although this was not my intent. All the chaeto that I produce grows in a fuge with some asst'd live rock chunks and a steini pseudochromis... nothing else. It is possible that there are some aiptasia living around the backsides of the rocks but honestly I have never had an issue with them. In the past I've dissolved some calcium hydroxide in HOT water and sprayed the offending subject with the milky solution. Freshwater baths WILL NOT kill aiptasia... I've dropped infested rocks in pH ? fresh water for 30 minutes... as soon as they hit saltwater they spring back to life.
In the future you may want to swish chaeto in fresh salt water or fresh for that matter to dislodge anything that is in there... bristleworms, etc. Remember this stuff is treating as a waste product for me and I cannot guarantee it is lab grade material. I guess I should pick through it extra carefully before I bag it up, drive across the state and deliver it for free.
BTW Mrs. Wages can be bought anywhere that sells canning supplies. Agway is usually a good place to start.