How to get rid of hitchhikers

[ibrat82]

So I purchased a scoly coral today brought it home and dipped it in coral revive for 20 minutes. A few worms were found. But after putting it in my tank and inspecting it when lights were out I saw a few feather dusters coming out of the rocks and then saw something that looked like aptasia. So I pulled the coral out and is sitting in a bucket with heater till I figure out what to do tomorrow morning as its really late at night. How can I get rid of these hitchhikers? I mean did dip it and swirled water around constantly for 20 minutes to try and get rid of all hitchhikers but clearly it didn't work as well as I would've hoped.

What else can I do? And have I compromised my tank by putting in a coral with aptasia. It was in there for 5 hours.

 

[Sk8r]

They're absolutely no big deal. Most worms are good. There are things that eat aiptasia. I always have a few---have a few now. Periodically I get something that eats them, in which case I count them as free shrimp food or fish food. Feather dusters are harmless. I must have a hundred in my sump, and maybe as many somewhere in the downflow. They're filter feeders, and help clean up a tank. I have something on my front glass right now I absolutely can't id, after decades at marine, but frankly, it's cool. If it turns out to be a problem, I'm pretty sure I can deal with it.

 

[ibrat82]

Since I have aptasia only on the scoly and it looks like there 3 or 4 small polyps what the best way to kill it? I've read everything from lemon juice to kalk paste?

I want to make sure this coral is pest free before putting it back in my tank.

 

[Kardjunkie]

I bought a used tank that was infested with Aiptasia and used Aiptasia-Cand Aiptasia-RX and had them all gone in a couple of weeks and haven't came back yet. Personally I would dip in Bayer and rinse of course, and put back in DT. Get some Aiptasia-X and have fun watching the Aiptasia die.

Just my personal opinion and I am a noob so take it for what it is worth, which is probably not a lot.

 

[Fitz19d]

Depending on the rock. I've had success in small quantities with cutting a divot out of the rock taking rock and aiptasia away at same time kind of like a tree ball.

 

[CStrickland]

I wouldn't worry about feather dusters. For aiptasia I've had good results with kalk paste. I do it right in the display, use a syringe without a needle to squirt a glob over any baby aiptasia that sprout on the plug. Don't get it on the coral flesh though. If it's hard to reach you can take the frag out of the water for a sec so it rectracts to get a clear shot at the aiptasia. What you don't want to do to aiptasia is smash them up. Like if you try to grind, scrape, or cut it and leave any behind they will spread. That's why most of the treatments are burning it with acid that covers it or is injected inside, to kill it in place; or removing the rock itself.

 

[cloak]

Depending on the location of the Aiptaisa on the skeleton you might be able to burn it off with a cigarette lighter. This only takes a few seconds to do. GL.