Transferring corals from aiptasia tank

[jimmypencil]

I have a nice acan colony and a blasto colony that i want to transfer from my nano that has a bad aiptasia issue, to my new system. is this even worth trying? i find it hard to believe that i wont atleast transfer SOME aiptasia through the coral. What steps would you guys take? let me know! i was just gonna thouroughly inspect the corals, dip them, inspect again, and take a toothbrush over any hard surface on the coral.

 

[Gtinnel]

I moved some coral frags from my main display which had an aiptasia problem to a newer tank I set up. I carefully inspected all frags and added them to new frag plugs and still transferred aiptasia to the newer tank.
If you are determined to keep aiptasia out of your new system then I would recommend not transferring anything from the tank that has the aiptasia problem.

 

[muzikalmatt]

I have a nice acan colony and a blasto colony that i want to transfer from my nano that has a bad aiptasia issue, to my new system. is this even worth trying? i find it hard to believe that i wont atleast transfer SOME aiptasia through the coral. What steps would you guys take? let me know! i was just gonna thouroughly inspect the corals, dip them, inspect again, and take a toothbrush over any hard surface on the coral.

I think your plan sounds pretty solid given your constraints. Ideally you would put the corals into a separate QT tank for a few weeks to observe and see if any aiptasia or other pests show up, but that's not practical for most people. One other thing you might consider is removing the frag plug entirely as a lot of the pests (aiptasia included) will likely be hitch-hiking in on the frag plug. However, as @Gtinnel indicated, even with all of these precautions there's still a good chance something will make it through.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a nice acan colony and a blasto colony that i want to transfer from my nano that has a bad aiptasia issue, to my new system. is this even worth trying? i find it hard to believe that i wont atleast transfer SOME aiptasia through the coral. What steps would you guys take? let me know! i was just gonna thouroughly inspect the corals, dip them, inspect again, and take a toothbrush over any hard surface on the coral.

Best is to try and eradicate before transfer. While aptasia near impossible to get every single one, I utilize a Blue head Kleini Butterfly to eat them as they go after aptasia eagerly. I have not had aptasia in over 3 years with exception of find some in overflow a few months ago and attacked them with pipette squirting them with Kalkwasser paste

 

[jimmypencil]

I have a nice acan colony and a blasto colony that i want to transfer from my nano that has a bad aiptasia issue, to my new system. is this even worth trying? i find it hard to believe that i wont atleast transfer SOME aiptasia through the coral. What steps would you guys take? let me know! i was just gonna thouroughly inspect the corals, dip them, inspect again, and take a toothbrush over any hard surface on the cor

thanks for the replies you guys. neither coral has a frag, my acans are in the sand bed surrounded by aiptasia and my blasti skeleton is glued directly to the rock. im sure this is irrelevant. ill just play it safe i guess, but based on what yall said it sounds like no matter what the aiptasia are inbound at somepoint if i add corals lol.

 

[G Santana]

Get a small tank and qt them for months, observe them carefully. Aiptasia are not shy and if present they will show themselves.
Then get a couple of Berghia and let them do there thing. Qt in a small tank affords you the ability to watch for pests and use much less Berghia if they are in fact present saving you money.

Good luck.

 

[brandon429]

if you want to fallow prep some nudis/sounds good but this isn't the safe method for aiptasia control at all/adding animals then hoping they work and risking fish disease import. this is just a nano reef so that's not a problem, but as a blanket recommend skipping biosecurity preps can kill $$ fish in large tanks.

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

fixing our own aiptasia the second we see the very first one is the right way, direct means. ways that dont risk disease wipeout are best.



Jimmy

this is a high price to pay for skipping the surgical means discussed in your prior aiptasia posts, you're trying everything to the side of what works.

I truly think with the degree of aiptasia farmed in the prior tank you're about to be forced to control them directly in the new tank, in a few months. that was a massive infestation for sure based on your prior posts.

 

[brandon429]

-just gonna thouroughly inspect the corals, dip them, inspect again, and take a toothbrush over any hard surface on the coral.

that will spread aiptasia.

Disease ID

Showed up over night. Brook or velvet I’m guessing. Never dealt with either. I have no way to set up a qt in the next few days so I’m guessing it’s game over. Currently only spots/dusting appearance on the one clownfish (the darker one in the video). Lesson learned...

www.reef2reef.com

there was the biosecurity break.

 

[jimmypencil]

-just gonna thouroughly inspect the corals, dip them, inspect again, and take a toothbrush over any hard surface on the coral.

that will spread aiptasia.

Hey brandon, i did start a convo with you on here asking for in depth instruction for every step needed to totally eradicate aips from my system. i never got a response. the smaller system is a 13.5 AIO and the aiptasia are everywhere in the back chambers in places that seem physically impossible for me to "surgically remove" the aips. i agree that simply removing the substrate from the tank that any aiptasia is attached to will take care of that aiptasia. I just dont see how thats possibly on my system with the situation in the back compartments. Do you want me to take a screw drive and hammer to the skeleton of my acans and blastos? there are no visible aiptasia on either of those corals. i agree with your methodology but i dont see how it helps me in transferring a couple corals.