Is it? Is it......aptasia?

[arturoo1977]

I’ve been watching this rock for 3 days in a QT and never saw anything suspicious.
This morning I introduce it in DT and did some rescaping.
And first thing I notice when everything is set and done is this...

Please tell me Im imagining things....

 

[MikeIkerson]

You aren’t, looks like aiptasia to me.

 

[arturoo1977]

:mad:

 

[Crabby48]

Sorry. I got it from chaeto it wasonly in my fuge. I removed everything from the fuge and sump and cleaned with bleach. Started with new rock and macro. Within a few weeks it went to my display. Thinking of a CBB as the best removal as I try and kill them they multiply. Tried 6 peppermint shrimp and they got a few small ones but month later I’m down to 2 peppermint shrimp. Best guess LNH been eating the shrimp

 

[KJ]

Aptasia .

 

[Fish4udog]

Only have had luck with CBB over every other means of removal

 

[arturoo1977]

I took the rock out, scrape the spot with vinegar and a brush.
Back again to QT....

I tried to rinse the spot very well with salt water before return it to QT

 

[arturoo1977]

It seems like its gone from that spot. Although the coraline looks little discolored from vinager.
Yesterday I spend few hours watching it closely and didn’t see anything else.

So,how long should I keep it in QT?

 

[arturoo1977]

Hi all, same rock still in QT, different spot. I notice this thing today...

Very hard to take a good pic as its very small, transparent and moves a lot with water.
Its going out with vinager, just want to have a positive Id.
Thanks

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Hi all, same rock still in QT, different spot. I notice this thing today...

Very hard to take a good pic as its very small, transparent and moves a lot with water.
Its going out with vinager, just want to have a positive Id.
Thanks

Lol you are overreacting a bit. Bleaching out your sump? That’s over the moon ;Hilarious . That was an aptasia. There’s a lot easier and non invasive ways to get rid of them. Your new suspicions are not aptasia. That looks like a colonial hydroid. Much worse than aptasia ime. Could also be a harmless feather duster. Hard to tell from the picture.

 

[arturoo1977]

I suspect it could be a feather duster but the base was not rigid.
Any ways, its gone by now. Took the rock out of water, scrape the spot with vinegar and rinse it with salt water before return it to QT.

 

[DSC reef]

Hi all, same rock still in QT, different spot. I notice this thing today...

Very hard to take a good pic as its very small, transparent and moves a lot with water.
Its going out with vinager, just want to have a positive Id.
Thanks

That was a feather duster, good diversity for the tank.

 

[arturoo1977]

Im a little paranoid as my first batch of live rock had to be bleached before setup my new tank as it was infested with aiptasia.
So, feather dusters are soft when babys?

 

[arturoo1977]

After another days of observation, today I reintroduce the rock to my DT. I watched closely to find anything suspicious and nothing...
But guess what... after few hours inside DT, another dang aiptasia appears right in front of my eyes in a spot very close to first one.
This things are hidding during quarantine and appear at display.
As this is only 1, Im thinking of use lemon juice, what do you think?

 

[DSC reef]

Aptasia are hard to get rid of. I'd look into @Frank's Tanks F aptasia, pretty stellar reviews. Many years in this hobby I've tried everything from aptasia x, Joe's juice to vinegar and lemon juice. They all caused them to spread some where else. Kalk paste was hit and miss. I've even had aptasia survive 8 hours out of water like nothing happened.

 

[eggplantparrot]

I had good luck with a lighter and a thin wire. heat the wire orange hot and apply precision heat. pretty sure that kills all possible spores, works especially well if it's sucked into a hole in the rock

 

[JP&JL]

So I've used several different methods as well to kill Aiptasia and currently Aiptasia X from Red Sea is my go to. It works well but a lot of times it takes several tries at it. There is definitely a lot of technique and a little luck to make it work. In the event you decide to try it....
- Make sure you turn off all flow in tank before use and keep off for 15-20min after use even though it only recommends 10
- don't start pushing the fluid into the aiptasia right away. Get the end of the syringe in its mouth and as soon as it starts retracting you'll see the sides close around the syringe tip. Thats when you start pushing the liquid.
- follow the Aiptasia as deep as you can into its hole pushing more liquid the entire way....almost like you're the one pushing it in it's home so you dont loose contact with syringe to the aiptasia mouth

So full disclosure if you don't do all of that it won't work. Just try it again in a few days once the aiptasia comes back out. This product does work. Best of luck to you!

 

[bradt24]

Franks tanks f aiptasia is killer!

I have used it personally.

I had approximately 10-15, killed them.

Has been fine for several months.

Just noticed a couple now. Will order more.

In my opinion, once they are in the display, they are hard to completely eliminate unless you tear down the tank.

More of a management process really. But Frank’s product makes that management process easy.

 

[arturoo1977]

I took the rock out again and scrub the spot with vinegar and rinse it in rodi water.
Thing is, I really like this rock, its very nice in shape and full of life (too much it seems LOL) I hope thats enough.
I have ordered some aiptasia x, just in case.