1 aiptasia in my zoas

TriggerFinger · Jun 4, 2020

I have one aiptasia popping out of my zoa frag. It looks to be growing out of the tissue that connects the zoas. If I superglue or epoxy over the aiptasia and consequently the connecting tissue, I assume that’s going to also kill the closest zoa polyps? will it kill the whole frag??
This is literally the only one I have (well, that I can see). It came in on a frag plug I received yesterday so good chance there will be more.
Any other suggestions?

Sipec · Jun 4, 2020

Smother in a containment mound of gel super glue, just make sure not to get any on the zoas
Nice zoas btw

andrewey · Jun 4, 2020

It's possible it will harm the closest zoa, depending on how well you apply the superglue, but in all likelyhood, the zoas will be unaffected if you smother it. Have you also considered injecting the mouth will kalk or a commercial preperation?

TriggerFinger · Jun 4, 2020

Thanks @Joey Bekius they are nice and I would like to keep them! Not at the expense of an aiptasia break out though.

@andrewey I had a small amount (3 that I could see) in a smaller tank last year and was lucky enough to get a peppermint shrimp that ate them. Both the peps I had are gone now so I haven’t tried any other methods. I do not have any aiptasia treatment stuff on hand, anything would have to be bought, syringe and all.

Would prefer super glue but if it’s going to kill the whole frag then I would just throw it in the trash for fear of the aiptasia spreading. You can see in the photo that the nearest polyps aren’t open so it does seem to be bothering them.

So conflicted...I looked over these plugs with a magnifying glass when they came in and that little bugger was very much hidden. All the polyps were closed up too, so I had a good view of in between them.

andrewey · Jun 4, 2020

I would be pretty shocked if your entire frag died from superglue. I can't give you a 100% certainty, but I superglue zoas all the time as part of my fragging and rarely if ever run into mortality issues in general, let alone ones I think I can attribute to the glue . The way I see it, you really have three choices- superglue the frag and keep a close eye on it, move that frag to a coral qt and monitor for additional aiptasia, or chuck the frag. If possible, I would go with the QT version to keep the nice zoas

This really sucks though- I'm sorry :/

Nemo1 · Jun 4, 2020

NT labs has a good product for getting rid of pest anemones, inject into mouth and within a few minutes it will be completely gone, bigger aiptasia may take 2 doses but from my experience it works really well, it comes with the little syringe attachment and so long you get it into the mouth of the anemone it won’t affect the zoa

Brandon.helvie · Jun 4, 2020

I had the same issue on a similar zoa. I covered it with super glue. It came back. I covered it again and haven’t seen it since. It made the colony look goofy originally but within 2 months the glue spot was covered when everything is open. Still visible when they shut at night but no more aptasia.

TriggerFinger · Jun 4, 2020

Thanks @andrewey im going to try to super glue and move the plug to my other tank to monitor. If that doesn’t work, I am really close to a company that breeds Berghia nudis, salty underground. So if they do spread at least it will be in a small tank.
Thanks @Brandon.helvie. I can live with seeing super glue

Gernader · Jun 4, 2020

If super glue doesn’t work, try using lemon juice and inject at its mouth

TriggerFinger · Jun 4, 2020

Gernader said:
If super glue doesn’t work, try using lemon juice and inject at its mouth

Thanks for the info. Do you know if it has to be real lemon juice or does the “juice” in the plastic lemons work?

Nemo1 · Jun 4, 2020

The juice in the plastic lemons works too, make sure not to use that much as it can change the ph fairly quick

Gernader · Jun 4, 2020

TriggerFinger said:
Thanks for the info. Do you know if it has to be real lemon juice or does the “juice” in the plastic lemons work?

Both works. Just don't use a lot of juice or you can put the frag in a separate container to not worry if you used too much.

TriggerFinger · Jun 4, 2020

Is there any coral dip known to kill aiptasia? What about peroxide?

Nemo1 · Jun 4, 2020

I have read that you can directly inject peroxide into the anemone but if it is in the main tank it isn’t a great idea

andrewey · Jun 4, 2020

From the testing I've done, Bayer or peroxide dips do not kill aiptasia (at least at concentrations or timeframes that wouldn't harm the coral). However, I do remember reports of people killing aiptasia by injecting peroxide into their mouths- I don't remember how effective it was, only that some people reported sucsess with higher concentration peroxides.