My LFS has aptasia. How long should I wait?

[Rufus’ goofs]

Hopefully you never will, but the odds are against you[emoji6]

Possibly, but I’ll keep putting the effort in for now. It’s minimal and done me well over the years. Also I can’t imagine just not caring about what I introduce in my tank.

Happy reefing!

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

One of the lfs near me gets the occasional aiptasia. I got it in one of my displays from their live rock and again on a green star polyp. It's fairly easy to control manually, especially early on. Green hair algae is almost impossible to avoid because it spreads so easily.

I would be more worried about the root cause than potentially getting it in your tank. A lot of lfs run tap water and don't have large enough skimmers to remove enough nutrients to control gha. But allowing aiptasia to take over a tank would have me concerned about their level of maintenance all around.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

If it’s out of control there then what else is out of control? Think shipping costs are expensive? Wait till you’re knee deep in ich or nudis. QT tank and medicine and treatments and on and on.

Edit: Also those Aiptasia need complete removal. Do it wrong and they’ll come back as well as spread.

 

[ReeferReefer]

Hopefully you never will, but the odds are against you[emoji6]

With proper invert QT methods its not too hard to avoid.

 

[ReeferBean]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but you can get some peppermint shrimp and an acclimation box. When you purchase the coral, put the shrimp in the box with the coral and let them go to work before the coral goes into your display. Or just inspect the plug and cut or scrape off any aips, or remove from the plug and remount.

 

[Psychonaut]

Join a local reefing Facebook group. I’m in the same situation with a lack of a decent LFS. There are enough corals passed around between hobbyists for free or nearly free on m local group to keep me pretty busy. If there is something I literally can’t find I go to cherrycorals.com and place an order

 

[jrill]

With proper invert QT methods its not too hard to avoid.

True, but I think you'll find the vast majority Don't QT, especially when it comes to corals and inverts. I know I never have in 50 plus years of fish keeping.

 

[ReeferReefer]

True, but I think you'll find the vast majority Don't QT, especially when it comes to corals and inverts. I know I never have in 50 plus years of fish keeping.

I know most people will not QT inverts. I am just saying that there are simple tools and techniques available that allow us to minimize the risk of pests and disease.

It's not hard to set up a little 5g nano to observe inverts. I go 76 days since I am mainly trying to prevent ich and velvet. During that time the corals can be observed, cleaned and dipped many times.

 

[ahiggins]

Join a local reefing Facebook group. I’m in the same situation with a lack of a decent LFS. There are enough corals passed around between hobbyists for free or nearly free on m local group to keep me pretty busy. If there is something I literally can’t find I go to cherrycorals.com and place an order

Agreed. Todd keeps his tanks really clean and rarely do I find even algae on his plugs.

 

[ReeferReefer]

I will second using your local reef club.

I buy 90% of all my livestock and equipment there.

 

[Psychonaut]

If you DONT use a reef group, use cherry Corals trust me. Best prices, sent me a freebie, and as ahhigans mentioned, the cleanest coral I have ever bought. Wasn’t a thing floating around in the coral dip