Zoas and Aptasia

[Zalman]

So i have a colony of 30-40 fire and ice zoas and right in the middle a large aptasia just appeared. Not sure where it came from or how it got there, but now I have several Zoas that will not open. Any suggestions on how to remove it without harming the Zoas?

 

[agruetz]

Aptasia-x and a careful application should take care of it. Some times peppermint shrimp will eat them, it is hit or miss though, I managed to get one that eats the small ones so a combination of aptasia-x and the peppermint shrimp ridded my of the problem.

 

[Zalman]

Wont the aptasia x harm the zoas? I mean this thing is right in the middle of a colony.

 

[agruetz]

It comes out in almost a gluey gel. So if you are careful with it and only get it on the aptasia it should be ok. It does not take a huge amount to kill the aptasia.

 

[A. Grandis]

If the aiptasia is on the zoa flesh (between the polyps), siphon it out with an air line tube. Use a pointed knife to carefully help clean all the remaining slime of the pest from the zoa while siphoning.
If it's in a hole/on the rock between the polyps, do the same and use the knife to dig the hole while siphoning.
Do that in the tank with the pumps off, so the slime doesn't spread through the tank.
Make sure you get all the junk, if the aiptasia is in the hole.
Take your time, so you don't harm the zoa colony with the knife to avoid bacterial infection.
If you can't do that in the tank comfortably remove the colony and work on it in a bucket with tank water, then rinse if off if necessary with tap water, retuning the clone to the system.
I wouldn't use any aiptasia killer at all. It never eradicates them anyway, never!!
I've had close to 100% success with the technique posted above.
Hope that's the only one aiptasia you've got. Don't wait too long to act because they can spread really fast sometimes...

Good luck!!
Grandis.

 

[Zalman]

Ill try the air line siphon... i had none in my dt for months... then i pulled a piece of rock from my sump, which is kept in total darkness 24/7, for my dt... and it appears to have brought three aptasia with it... one of which has walked into the zoa colony. the rock has been in total darkness for 9 months.... these aptasia are pretty hardy.

 

[A. Grandis]

Yep, they can live looooooong time without any light.
That's one of the reasons why we call them pest!

Grandis.

 

[Zalman]

Or.... i could just starve my CBB for a day and let him devour them haha.

 

[a bag of it]

I recently had success with peppermint shrimp. completely gone in two days

 

[agruetz]

If the aiptasia is on the zoa flesh (between the polyps), siphon it out with an air line tube. Use a pointed knife to carefully help clean all the remaining slime of the pest from the zoa while siphoning.
If it's in a hole/on the rock between the polyps, do the same and use the knife to dig the hole while siphoning.
Do that in the tank with the pumps off, so the slime doesn't spread through the tank.
Make sure you get all the junk, if the aiptasia is in the hole.
Take your time, so you don't harm the zoa colony with the knife to avoid bacterial infection.
If you can't do that in the tank comfortably remove the colony and work on it in a bucket with tank water, then rinse if off if necessary with tap water, retuning the clone to the system.
I wouldn't use any aiptasia killer at all. It never eradicates them anyway, never!!
I've had close to 100% success with the technique posted above.
Hope that's the only one aiptasia you've got. Don't wait too long to act because they can spread really fast sometimes...

Good luck!!
Grandis.

Odd I had 100% kill rate on everyone I used aiptasia-x on. Seems like this could be more stressful for the tank/things on the rock. Just my 2 cents everyone has their own way of killing the pests.

 

[Zalman]

Ive had peppermint shrimp in my tank for awhile.... they went after aptasia in the begining but have become lazy and wait for me to feed.
as for aptasia x i have had mixed results. sometimes it works other times it takes a second dose. my fear was damaging the zoas since the aptasia setup shop right on the base of them.
i got lucky this time i guess... ive had the CBB in my tank for awhile and it has shown zero interest in the aptasia. then i miss one feeding and he eats all of them

 

[Clay4AU]

quarantine the zoas with a couple peppermint shrimp and it will be gone in no time

 

[Guygettnby]

aiptasia-x does work, most people just dont use it corectly. problem is if you dont use it corectly then you could do more harm then good.

best bet is if you can take the rock out of the tank either put it in a small tank with nothing but peppermint shrimp and dont feed them or try to remove the aiptasia using aiptasia-x or manually if possible . just be careful as using aiptaisa-x, joes juice, kalk paste or another product made for aiptasia removal will hurt the surronding zoas if they get covered.

 

[A. Grandis]

Hi,
I've seen lots of reports, yes...
My point here is that eventually the anemones will come back.
Not to judge the methods, no... Not to judge you...
As long as you keep the shrimps and keep killing them with Aiptasia-X, no problem.
If you are an exception to this you are very lucky or need to wait a little longer to verify.

I hope you're just very lucky! :thumbsup:

Grandis.

 

[Guygettnby]

Hi,
I've seen lots of reports, yes...
My point here is that eventually the anemones will come back.
Not to judge the methods, no... Not to judge you...
As long as you keep the shrimps and keep killing them with Aiptasia-X, no problem.
If you are an exception to this you are very lucky or need to wait a little longer to verify.

I hope you're just very lucky! :thumbsup:

Grandis.

peppermint shrimp are hit or miss. so keeping them all the time in some cases can be bad depending on what kind you get.

now as far as killing the aiptasia, i have been in this hobby for long enough to know that it does work if used properly and depending on what product/method you use.

will it come back? if used correctly it will not. but most people dont use any treatment right. they alow the aiptasia to spew spores out before the treatment is aplied, dont fully cover it, dont inject it or many other reasons.

there are many different ways to destroy the aiptasia and if done right they will go away. even manually scraping them off is not 100%... some will have good luck and some will not. there will always be reports/claims from both sides and i say do whatever works for you.

this is why i love reefcentral.. the fact that people can gain so much knowledge and be helped by so many people on different sides of the spectrum of this hobby

 

[KafudaFish]

I have used lime on a bamboo skewer to kill it in the middle of a frag.

1. turn off the flow
2. wet the skewer
3. roll in powder
4. figure out where the pest is, make the zoas retract
5. insert into pest, roll it, and pull it out
6. repeat if necessary, the pest will slime up making the paste stick better to the skewer
7. if some powder falls onto the zoas use your hand to sway it off.
8. turn power back on
9. leave the skewer against the front glass as a warning sign to all others and yell, "I own you!"

 

[A. Grandis]

I do believe the best and only 100% way to eliminate Aiptasia from any tank is still to make sure the pest is not introduced in that system or eliminated by scraping, As I've mentioned before.

All the times I've had problems with Aiptasia they were introduced to the tank when they came on algae or polyps. To scrape them off and siphoning at the same time was the only way I could eliminate them forever. If they get to a hole you need to dig it and make sure the pest os really gone.

All the other methods weren't worthy. I didn't try shrimps yet, but most of the people I've talked to say after a while, if the shrimps are gone, the pest comes back somehow. Perhaps they weren't long enough in the system! Same with butterfly fishes.

Yep, it's good to be here at ReefCentral! :dance:

Grandis.

 

[consumed corals]

I have used kalk paste with great results!
In the past when I had a copperband, he decimated the outbreak that I had when I picked him up!

 

[zaq11]

aptasia X usually work , be carefull to avoid gettin the zoas the aptasia X, you can try to remove the aptasia by blade if you can ,Copperband Butterflyfish can help .

 

[tmz]

I scrape them out carefully with a very small flat head screwdriver and blot the area with paper towel and rinse along the way in a cup of tank water. In tank ,I'd siphon. A precise application of kalk paste could work bu may harm surrounding polyps .