How to kill a single aiptasia tucked under monti cap frag?

9

930Reef

New member
Hi, all. I have a single baby aiptasia tucked right under a new-ish Monti cap frag that I glued in. I had one other aiptasia that hitchhiked in, but I could remove that rock and simply cut him away, including the nub of rock he was on.

This rock, though, is a base holding up a structure. Can't remove it.

I'd love to not have to remove the monti first, as he's finally beginning to encrust on the rock.

Angle is weird to get an aiptasia-x syringe on. Also, would my monti be in any danger from the aiptasia x goo?

Anything else I can do to get rid of him? If it helps, I have easy access to real syringes (I'm diabetic), and can maybe inject more easily with one of those (they're smaller.)

Or, should I just figure out a way to get the aiptasia x on him? Thanks in advance for any ideas. Picture is below. If, for some reason, you think it's not an aiptasia, let me know, but I thought that's what it was. Circled in the pic.

For scale, the monti frag is about the size of a silver dollar.
 

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Honestly your best bet is to Aiptasia X that bad boy. I do believe the kit comes with an angled needle that might work here.


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I use kalk paste, in an old test kit syringe. The aiptasia seems to be below the Monti which makes this better to avoid harming the Monti. If aiptasia x or Kalkpaste get on the Monti, you will get a dead spot. If you have one aiptasia, you probably have many more that you can't see. Stay on top of it. I see them best after lights out. I have a blue led flashlight I use for night hunting.


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hbrochs said:
I use kalk paste, in an old test kit syringe. The aiptasia seems to be below the Monti which makes this better to avoid harming the Monti. If aiptasia x or Kalkpaste get on the Monti, you will get a dead spot. If you have one aiptasia, you probably have many more that you can't see. Stay on top of it. I see them best after lights out. I have a blue led flashlight I use for night hunting.


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Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.

I'm pretty sure I know where/when the aiptasia came in ( a rock w/ some euphyllia I bought from a guy breaking down his tank), so hopefully it hasn't spread too much. Though since this isn't that rock, it's clearly spreading.

I'll grab some Aiptasia-x from local LFS today and give it a shot.

Red LED flashlight will work to find them instead of blue?

Thanks! I'll update once I attempt.
 
Where it’s at, you could also jam some putty over it, completely covering the hole and the holes around it. The monti will grow over the putty after a while. I tried aiptasia x and after a few weeks they just came back.
 
Crooked Reef said:
Where it's at, you could also jam some putty over it, completely covering the hole and the holes around it. The monti will grow over the putty after a while. I tried aiptasia x and after a few weeks they just came back.
Click to expand...

Oooh. Another good idea. Off to LFS. Going to decide which way to go first. :)
 
hbrochs said:
I use kalk paste, in an old test kit syringe. The aiptasia seems to be below the Monti which makes this better to avoid harming the Monti. If aiptasia x or Kalkpaste get on the Monti, you will get a dead spot. If you have one aiptasia, you probably have many more that you can't see. Stay on top of it. I see them best after lights out. I have a blue led flashlight I use for night hunting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure aiptasia come in nothing less than pairs. If you've found one you can see, there are surely many more you can't. I don't say this to be discouraging, only to suggest that you may need to think of aiptasia as a long term maintenance issue rather than, 'how do I kill this one aiptasia to live happily ever after?' I've have luck with aiptasia eating filefish, peppermint shrimp (sometimes), aiptasia X and kalk paste.

Overall, the 'chemical' solutions have the advantage of being highly 'targeted' (you may find a file fish or peppermints bothering things other than aiptasia). The disadvantage of the chemicals is it you must apply them to each aiptasia and, if you slack off for a while, they can get out of control.

I'm starting a new tank right now and plan to do my best to keep aiptasia and bubble algae out of the tank. Neither drive me too crazy in my main tank but, life would be easier if I didn't have them.

Good luck.

Matt
 
shaginwagon13 said:
That's why you get a Berghia Nudibranchs. ALL they eat and only eat is Aiptasia.

http://www.reefaquarium.com/2013/berghia-aeolidiella-nudibranch-natural-aiptasia-control/
Click to expand...

They seem like an ideal solution. I tried them once without success. Likely some form of user error (or the wrasse I had in the tank). Do they completely eliminate the aiptasia? I assumed the aiptasia would survive in places the nudibranchs couldn't get, the nudibranchs would starve after cleaning up the accessible aiptasia, and the aiptasia would return over time. But, I never got that far into my experiment with them.

Matt
 
I recently tried Peppermint Shrimp when Aptasia got in my frag tank, I put 3 in and the few small baby nems were gone overnight, Then they ate a beautiful 3 head Aussie Gold Hammer frag,at least 10 Candycane heads and are picking at the few SPS frags in there (Looks like STN but was not present until after shrimp put in) Anyways that tank is going to be cleaned,sterilized,dried out and may be used as a HT if fish ever need a Copper treatment. The shrimp.... They will be going on a road trip next time we go visit Mom and Lil' Sis, To meet her Puffer!
 
Smokey Stover said:
I recently tried Peppermint Shrimp when Aptasia got in my frag tank, I put 3 in and the few small baby nems were gone overnight, Then they ate a beautiful 3 head Aussie Gold Hammer frag,at least 10 Candycane heads and are picking at the few SPS frags in there (Looks like STN but was not present until after shrimp put in) Anyways that tank is going to be cleaned,sterilized,dried out and may be used as a HT if fish ever need a Copper treatment. The shrimp.... They will be going on a road trip next time we go visit Mom and Lil' Sis, To meet her Puffer!
Click to expand...

Agreed, peps good for bad anenome aptasia but can be a problem for good anenomes like BTA. It's just a bigger supper. And true, they can attack things that may look like an anenome...
I notice more problems when they get in the 2-3 inch range.
 
With aiptasia x it spreads like wild fire

I found one in my tank so used two little fishes aquastik with super glue gel

It comes in two different colors-

80ac305dab6f6cd9ebdda18239a60890.jpg



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I'm surprised to hear how many issues people have with AX. I've never had these problems.


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Sooooo,

tried aiptasia x today on it. The curved tip of the syringe worked well to get under the monti cap. It was a couple of hours ago, and the aiptasia that I targeted seems to be gone. I'll keep an eye out at night for others hiding and try to target before trying anything more large-scale (pep shrimp, etc.) I have two great rainbow btas that have just settled in, and I'd like to try and avoid having another invert bother them.

Funny thing: my skunk shrimp seemed to clean up the area an hour or so after the application. Picked clean at this point; plus AX says it just breaks down. I wonder if shrimp helped it along.

Thanks all, for the help. I'll keep updating here if/when the problem takes off again.

Unrelated: after 7 months in the hobby, I picked up a larger tank today. Surprised I made it this long. Uh-oh.......

:)
 
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