Will raw tap water kill Aiptasia?

[mattsilvester]

Hi All,

MY tank is plagued. I've stripped it down with the intent of letting it dry for 48 hours to kill any aiptasia. But it is a Red Sea Max, so the rear sump is tricky and I am concerned that it will not fully dry out. I Also can't seem to thoroughly clean it. So, I was going to fill it with tap water with all pumps running for a few days to flush it out.

Will that work?

Note. I'll be starting from scratch with livestock and rock etc. and screening and managing pests properly this time. Lesson learned!

Thanks.

Matt

 

[ThRoewer]

Aptasia are hard to kill and can come back from even the smallest cell cluster that survived. I had them come back from dried rock.
So I would add some bleach for good measure. You should also assume that some sit in the pipes and all other kinds of unlikely places. Running the whole system with tap water and bleach should take care of them all.

 

[mattsilvester]

Aptasia are hard to kill and can come back from even the smallest cell cluster that survived. I had them come back from dried rock.
So I would add some bleach for good measure. You should also assume that some sit in the pipes and all other kinds of unlikely places. Running the whole system with tap water and bleach should take care of them all.

Great! Thanks for your reply.

This is a bit of a silly question - but I have never used bleach in my aquarium. Do I just go to the store and buy an off-the-shelf bathroom cleaner bleach? Many of those are scented and have colour etc. - which I obviously don't want to use? Should the label say "pure bleach". What should I look for in the ingredients label?

 

[mattgumaer]

Not sure of a reliable way to tell what has been added to bleach. If you can't find a bleach that you're comfortable using, you might also consider hydrogen peroxide as an alternative but, I'm not sure about the required concentration.

Matt

 

[billdogg]

Straight up el cheapo bleach. Not "dripless". Go stare at the selections and read the labels. I get the Kroger brand. What you are looking for will almost certainly be the cheapest there.

 

[2000se]

Straight up el cheapo bleach. Not "dripless". Go stare at the selections and read the labels. I get the Kroger brand. What you are looking for will almost certainly be the cheapest there.

This. Not dripless. Standard bleach. Doesn't take a lot. I maybe used 1/4 gallon in my 65 when I did it last. And that was probably too much.

Interestingly enough, I had the tank running as it should but with only bleach water and it was rather calming. In fact, super calming to me. It was super clean. Just the water flow and lights dancing off the bottom and the room. No algae, no fuss...I was kinda bummed emptying it knowing that I was getting ready to make it dirty again.

 

[wildman926]

Get a matted file fish, and he will go to town eating them up. That has been my experience. They are also good for ridding tanks of mejano anemones.

 

[AlexR]

This is good info.

https://reefhacks.com/how-to-kill-aiptasia-anemones/

I personally would inject it with kalk paste. So nothing else would be harmed by accident.

 

[ThRoewer]

This is good info.

https://reefhacks.com/how-to-kill-aiptasia-anemones/

I personally would inject it with kalk paste. So nothing else would be harmed by accident.

Most direct methods to kill them only work on the ones you can see and reach, or the ones fish or shrimp can reach. But once Aptasia have settled in and have started to multiply in numbers you will have them everywhere in the system, including the equipment and piping. Even Berghia won't be able to find and devour every last Aptasia cell cluster that might be hiding somewhere.
So to truly, once and for all, rid the system of them you need to go for the nuclear option and bleach the whole system.

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[AlexR]

Most direct methods to kill them only work on the ones you can see and reach, or the ones fish or shrimp can reach. But once Aptasia have settled in and have started to multiply in numbers you will have them everywhere in the system, including the equipment and piping. Even Berghia won't be able to find and devour every last Aptasia cell cluster that might be hiding somewhere.
So to truly, once and for all, rid the system of them you need to go for the nuclear option and bleach the whole system.

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That sure is nuclear [emoji3518]
I understand wanting to get rid of them because they are a pest and unsightly. But what you can't see won't hurt you.
Just kill the ones you see and keep doing it until you are fed up enough to nuke everything because of aptasia. I would never do that.

 

[ThRoewer]

...
Just kill the ones you see and keep doing it until you are fed up enough to nuke everything because of aptasia. I would never do that.

I agree. But nuking an empty system (nothing other than water in it) is really not that big of a deal.
But I would never nuke my live rocks, especially not now when it is impossible to get "new" ones.
I usually hunt them to extinction as good as I can. If once in a while one might raise its ugly head I usually go after it with a vengeance. So far that worked for me with the regular (large) Aptasia.
But I had once a system, set up for pipefish, infected with a midget Aptasia species who's polyps never got any bigger than about 6 mm (1/4"). These suckers came with a nice red feather macro algae I bought of LiveAquaria. Mechanical removal didn't really work due to their size and insane numbers and not even Berghia would touch them. So in the end, since it was a system with exclusively man-made rocks, I nuked it. I just didn't want to take a chance that these might be spreading to any of my other systems.


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[mcgyvr]

Simply add a predator.. (Peppermint shrimp....matted filefish)..
IMO going nuclear over aiptasia is silly....
Its a usually harmless critter...nothing more than a perceived bad thing

 

[ViPeR_930]

Kalk and pep shrimp worked well for me.

 

[Joe0813]

Bergia nudibranchs only eat aiptasia

 

[ThRoewer]

I kind of feel many responding here either didn't read the original post or didn't fully understand the problem.

This wasn't about Aptasia control in a running tank but about how to sufficiently clean up an emptied out tank before restarting it. The particular issue was how make sure there would not be Aptasia left hiding in parts of the tank you either can't see or at least can't easily reach.
And in such a case bleaching the system is the simplest solution and the best course of action.

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[laverda]

I think what others are saying and I agree is; it is not worth going nuclear and destroying all the good bacteria, sponges and fauna on your live rock when their are other methods to rid the display of aptasia. The advantages of cured and cycled live rock out weigh the disaventages of a few aptasia. Aptasia are part of a natural echo system and help filter your water and benifical. Of course none of us like the look of them or the fact the irritate our corals.
I have all sorts of them in my overflow, but none in my display thanks to my file fish, my sump is free of them due to my peppermint shrimp in there.