Aiptasia from tampabaysaltwater - not invasive?

Hal3134 · Sep 28, 2018

I received 50lbs of live rock from Tampabaysaltwater about 2 weeks ago. The customer service was great, and the rock has lots of life on it, which is why I bought it. I saw 3-4 porcelain crabs and a pistol shrimp so far as hitchhikers, several sponges and a variety of other things that I'm not entirely sure what they are.

Not unexpectedly, the rock also has a few aiptasia. So far I've counted 4. On Richard's website there's a note that the aiptasia from the gulf tends to be less invasive than aiptasia from elsewhere. Has anyone found this to be true/false?

I don't mind going in with a syringe of kalk paste if I need to, but I'd like to avoid it if I can. Thoughts?

alton · Sep 28, 2018

zap it as fast as you can.

kashman100 · Sep 28, 2018

I have had rock from there for 2 years. They dont spread

kashman100 · Sep 28, 2018

Do you have a pic. Mine were clear from there and were fine

Xylotrupes · Dec 14, 2018

there are different strains of Aiptasia some seem to favor sexual reproduction and some asexual reproduction In the laboratory we have the different strains and the ones from the gulf seem to favor sexual reproduction (they produce less pedal laccerates) however they still produce asexual pedal laccerates...
if you have a species that does not do asexual reproduction and you only have males or females in the tank they would not spread...
however I have never heard of a strain that completely relies on sexual reproduction....
it would be very interesting to have one of those for our laboratory though

Snookin · Dec 14, 2018

You will still want to remove them. I bought Tampabaysaltwater LR before and it is beautiful. But, there are huge amounts of hitchhikers that need to be dealt with before fish and corals can sustain. In 40lbs I found hundreds of gorilla crabs, 2 mantis shrimp, aiptaisa, multiple large flat worms that where killing cuc and more.

cromag27 · Dec 14, 2018

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-clean-old-rock-before-put-in-the-tank.209008/#post-2392229

jda · Dec 14, 2018

It is a bunch of garbage... kinda like saying that one kind of VD is less invasive than another. Don't believe that load of BS and get them out of there. If they are not truly aiptasia and are something else, then this could be different...

Peppermint shrimp are from that area and they were not made by nature to consume aiptasia if their food source was not prolific.

Hal3134 · Dec 14, 2018

Well I kalk pasted two that I saw and they seem to be gone. After I finished aquascaping I saw two more that I've ignored for the last few months. So far I don't see any new ones, and frankly are having a difficult time finding the old ones. No aiptasia eaters in my tank as far as I know.

On a different but related matter, I got a handful of snail hitchhikers on my 50 lbs or Tampabaysaltwater rock, had 2 porcelain crabs, and 1 pistol shrimp. I only see the snails. The others are MIA. And weirdly, I have yet to see a bristleworm. Could it be that I didn't get any?

User1 · Dec 14, 2018

Bristle are good to have. Some say no, some say yes. I'm in the yes camp - great asset on the cleanup crew.

Edit: Can't post about TBS without posting pics. You broke the law!!!!

Potatohead · Dec 14, 2018

cromag27 said:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-clean-old-rock-before-put-in-the-tank.209008/#post-2392229

Why in the world would you buy live rock only to give it an acid bath?

cromag27 · Dec 14, 2018

Potatohead said:
Why in the world would you buy live rock only to give it an acid bath?

to avoid this.

Snookin said:
You will still want to remove them. I bought Tampabaysaltwater LR before and it is beautiful. But, there are huge amounts of hitchhikers that need to be dealt with before fish and corals can sustain. In 40lbs I found hundreds of gorilla crabs, 2 mantis shrimp, aiptaisa, multiple large flat worms that where killing cuc and more.

Hal3134 · Dec 14, 2018

saf1 said:
Bristle are good to have. Some say no, some say yes. I'm in the yes camp - great asset on the cleanup crew.

Edit: Can't post about TBS without posting pics. You broke the law!!!!

Agree that bristleworms are good. I believe in biodiversity. I'm starting to wonder if I need to import some bristleworms. Sadly, they are not easy to purchase separate from rock, and I'm not really tied into a local reef club. The only place I've seen them is ipsf, but then you need to buy them as part of a larger "starter pack" with other items that I don't need.

And yes, sorry about the no pics, but to be truthful, the TBS rock was kind of dense and blocky, and so I generally hid it behind my Marshall Island rock which is full of crevices and irregular shaped. The TBS rock did come with a nice 4 inch multi branched, 1/2 inch thick orange digitata though.

cracker · Dec 14, 2018

I rally like TBS rock . Straight from the bag into a tank. Maybe not the display but another for a look over for anything rotting. Good way to look for unwanted pests . No curing necessary or wise in my OP. As for long curing let alone acid bath . I don't get it .