aiptasia removal by torch

[Troylee]

Oh, ok.

I just thought putting fire to rock was never a good idea. Like I said, I have no experience with this.

I mean if you’re outside with a weed burner cooking rocks it’s not a great idea.. I’ve torched little areas without harm thou.. using a chisel and hammer is the best removal of all of you can find them once you’ve pulled the rock.. it’s hard to find them cause they turn to jelly and almost clear

 

[VintageReefer]

I had out of control aiptasia problem. I put 14 berghia in my tank around Jan 30

A month goes by, I look with flashlight at night, never saw one berghia. 2 more weeks go by, I look almost every night, never see one. Ever.

Around week 6, I randomly check and I see a huge one and then over next few nights I start seeing more and more. And aiptasia is noticeably reducing. I now see tiny baby nudi and large ones. Took almost 2 months until this plan started to work

I honestly thought none of them made it and then one night I see one, and every night after I see lots

 

[Nerdist Aquarist]

Yeah, I definitely agree with the majority saying do not do it.
BUT, if you do please post a video!

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Yeah, I definitely agree with the majority saying do not do it.
BUT, if you do please post a video!

you guys talked me out of it. don't need another health problem.

 

[Ziggy17]

you guys talked me out of it. don't need another health problem.

Good call. Is there anything on the rock you want to keep? Giving it a freshwater bath will nuke any and all on the rock.

 

[Jmp998]

I had out of control aiptasia problem. I put 14 berghia in my tank around Jan 30

A month goes by, I look with flashlight at night, never saw one berghia. 2 more weeks go by, I look almost every night, never see one. Ever.

Around week 6, I randomly check and I see a huge one and then over next few nights I start seeing more and more. And aiptasia is noticeably reducing. I now see tiny baby nudi and large ones. Took almost 2 months until this plan started to work

I honestly thought none of them made it and then one night I see one, and every night after I see lots

Typical for Berghia. They are not an instant fix. They will always hide as much as possible. First eat aiptasia hidden in rocks, you never see the Berghia until they have to start moving out into the open to find food. They don’t always work (nothing does), but when they do it takes a couple months before you see progress then the aiptasia start disappearing as the Nudibranch numbers increase.

 

[Jmp998]

Good call. Is there anything on the rock you want to keep? Giving it a freshwater bath will nuke any and all on the rock.

It takes days for room temperature fresh water to kill aiptasia. This is a viable option, just make sure you do it long enough. A short freshwater bath (like a few hours or overnight) will kill most of the good stuff but leave many aiptasia behind.

 

[Ziggy17]

Agreed. 2-3 day bath/ soak will do it.

 

[Borat]

I would use a flamethrower instead, this will guarantee that no aiptasia survives..

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Unfortunately I gave my flame thrower to my neighbor many years ago. Was great at melting snow and ice.

 

[Ziggy17]

Elon may have a few extra laying around….

 

[kenchilada]

If the last few years have taught me anything, it’s that this world isn’t as dangerous as people tell you it is.

 

[dwarfseahorse]

This was the peppermint shrimp attempt if you can view it. The screams are video games, not for the shrimp.

Wow, that was not good. I don't know if you have an extra small tank but I tried putting things with aptasia in a seperate tank with Peppermint Shrimp and leaving it until the Peppermint Shrimp have eaten all the aptasia. I also learned from this group that sometimes there are some Peppermint Shrimp that won't eat aptasia so you simply got get a few new ones. That is probably the least expensive and less stressful way to go.

 

[drbark]

anyone have input on using a mini butane torch to burn aiptasia? I have a cooking torch and was thinking to just quickly pull the rock up, burn the aiptasia with a butane torch then just quickly replace it. are there any downsides to this? would the rock need to be rinsed before replacing? would think it would be better than kalk paste or F-Aiptasia in the water column or lemon juice.

lol and here I was thinking how does a torch coral eat aptasia.

 

[Medonna23]

anyone have input on using a mini butane torch to burn aiptasia? I have a cooking torch and was thinking to just quickly pull the rock up, burn the aiptasia with a butane torch then just quickly replace it. are there any downsides to this? would the rock need to be rinsed before replacing? would think it would be better than kalk paste or F-Aiptasia in the water column or lemon juice.

I am trying peppermint shrimp, if that don’t work going to those Borgia n, then maybe a file fish, them I will tri that xaiptashia!!!.

 

[drbark]

One thing I tried was the Molly Miller Blenny. I got 4 of them in my Red Sea 750 and they work really great. I used to have a couple of Filefish but they ate my Acanthophyllias. Expensive decision. These Blennies are a lot of fun also. One of them actually gets hand fed sometimes. He takes a piece of krill from me from time to time.

 

[MT. Reefer]

Get a Copperband. As long as you can get it to start eating regular food, you will have your aiptasia problem solved for a long time.

 

[KenBabich]

Here is a process that has been quite successful for me at removing aptasia. I remove the rock and use a syringe needle (the ones that came in my no longer used F-Apasia) to dig and scrape out/off the aptasia. Also have used the angled point of exact blade. Then carefully rinse the area with 90% alcohol: injecting it into the crevice or hole. Rinse with saltwater. I have towel underneath, bowls with the water and alcohol set up for easy logistics. Keep the rock angled so that the alcohol drips off and not over onto coral, or other rock real estate. The rinsing belief is to wash away any spores(?). Don’t be surprised if you see some bristle worms come out of the rock! Wear gloves and I protection. I have found this process to be much more effective and cleaner than using F-Aptasia or the one from Red Sea.

 

[dbaulch83]

I am trying peppermint shrimp, if that don’t work going to those Borgia n, then maybe a file fish, them I will tri that xaiptashia!!!.

Hey. Sadly lots of experience with this
If you have any pmints left, remove them before introducing the Berghia, they tend to hunt them out. Also in my experience the file fish does well with very small aips but very quickly moves attention to corals, mine demolished a stylo in 12 hours, then moved to zoas and lobos. If you put one in, be sure you can remove it later.
Two things have worked well for me. Set up a QT with ur choice of eater eg berghia and gradually rotate your rock into QT one by one. More work but you can keep up the appearance of your DT without risking the solution or your corals.
Second and my fav is set up a QT. Suspend the rock covered in aip over the water and allow to gradually dry. The aip and everything that can will walk/fall off seeking water. Leaving your rock clean and relatively unharmed.
Good Luck!