Aiptasia!

[JayA]

Getting ready to do my weekly water change and I found a small aiptasia attached to a zoa frag that is not glued. Best way to get rid of it?

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Getting ready to do my weekly water change and I found a small aiptasia attached to a zoa frag that is not glued. Best way to get rid of it?

Pull out the frag, cut it off with a sharp knife and put a dab of reef safe glue on it. Problem solved!

 

[JayA]

TY!

 

[attiland]

Getting ready to do my weekly water change and I found a small aiptasia attached to a zoa frag that is not glued. Best way to get rid of it?

Get the Zia off the plug put it on a rock scrap the frag plug or boil it

 

[JayA]

Get the Zia off the plug put it on a rock scrap the frag plug or boil it

As a newbie I have never yet removed anything from its plug. What is the process?

 

[attiland]

As a newbie I have never yet removed anything from its plug. What is the process?

I use a fine knife for this kind of jobs. Usually you can go under the glue layer.
you will be surprised how easy to dig into the actual plug itself.
If you are scared to do this I think somebody mentioned it already scrape of the aptasia an put some glue over it. The thing with aptasia it can rebuild itself from a couple of cells.

 

[JayA]

I use a fine knife for this kind of jobs. Usually you can go under the glue layer.
you will be surprised how easy to dig into the actual plug itself.
If you are scared to do this I think somebody mentioned it already scrape of the aptasia an put some glue over it. The thing with aptasia it can rebuild itself from a couple of cells.

Thanks, I am going to try one day removing a coral from a plug. for now I am planning the chop/scrape it off and place glue today.

 

[JayA]

So... I took the frag out of the tank and couldn't see the aiptasia. Even with a light and magnifier. I saw an area where something seemed to be retreating, I scraped and picked at the area, then threw a bunch of glue on it, and some of the polyps there. I am too scared to put it back in my tank, so it is in a bucket with fresh salt water for now. I do not have a quarantine and LFS closed on Mondays. What to do? keep it in the bucket until I can get some sort of quarantine tank, or just call it a total loss, ... or put it back in the tank and see what happens! I just don't want to have stressed it, but not killed it, and then end up with many more. All thoughts appreciated!

 

[Just John]

You can put it in a glass of water so you can see the frag from the side. If the aiptasia is there it should come out after a few minutes. The main concern is when you try to remove it at first it can squirt out "babies". If you have messed with it and just left some part of the aiptasia behind, the babies will be gone and it will just grow back. So, have a look and see what you think, then put it back. It's all good.

 

[Double monti 61]

At first I used aptasia x and was successful but eventually some appeared in an area I could not reach I purchased a peppermint shrimp from an online retailer and it actually eliminated them but I found another in a spot I could reach and for some reason it did not take interest in it and I used the aptasia x to get rid of it I would not call what is happening in my system an outbreak i monitor my system I believe catching them as soon as possible and taking steps to keep them in control or actually eliminating them is essential.