aiptasia

[reefmaster70]

Hi all, Ok, I have a friend giving me a clump of pulsing xenia and it's already attached to a nice piece of liverock. However, the rock also has some aiptasia on it. So my dilemma is, should I keep the nicely attached xenia attached to the rock it's growing on and treat the rock somehow, before putting it into my display tank, OR should I cut the xenia off and super glue it to one of my own rocks that is aiptasia free? Hoping to get some info as I am getting the rock today.

 

[Gman83]

Tough spot. If it were me, I would probably remove the xenia of the rock, and attach it to my own rock. I think doing anything other than that risk them getting into your system.

 

[Tahoe61]

I would never knowingly introduce any rock, coral or equipped that had Aiptasia to my tanks, regardless of if I attempted to treat said item prior to introduction.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

As gman said, its better to frag a piece of the coral and just add that into your tank. IMO

 

[reefmaster70]

As gman said, its better to frag a piece of the coral and just add that into your tank. IMO

Yeah, I am leaning that way. I NEVER want to knowingly add aiptasia into my tank. I am going to do a coral dip on it, cut the xenia off the rock and superglue the xenia to a new piece of my dry rock. I think that's the safest bet.

 

[reefmaster70]

Thanks everyone for your quick replies. I kept the original rock submerged in it's own bag of water, and took a pair of hemostats and slowly lifted one edge of the xenia. I grabbed the edge with my hemostats and was able to pull of a nice entire piece of xenia with it's mat attached, so I got what I wanted off the rock, I then was able to use some reef glue and glue it down to a piece of dry rock I had. It's now drip acclimating to my tank. I checked over the piece really well once back in the water for any signs of Aiptasia and didn't see any. I'll see how acclimation goes, and then into the tank.

 

[BryanM]

I'm uncomfortable fragging anything yet, so I probably would have used it as is and killed the aptasia in the tank... But I'm also currently having very good luck killing aptasia with joes juice and not seeing it spread.

 

[reefmaster70]

I'm uncomfortable fragging anything yet, so I probably would have used it as is and killed the aptasia in the tank... But I'm also currently having very good luck killing aptasia with joes juice and not seeing it spread.

Fragging isn't that difficult. Keep in mind, I am an experienced reef keeper, it's just been 20+ years since I last had a 120 gallon reef tank. I know fragging seems to be a daunting task when you first get the notion to do so, but you just have to take your time, and use sharp razors or a good pair of hemostats, some good reef glue, and pieces of liverock rubble or frag disks to put pieces on. Keep items submerged in your tank water as much as possible, and wear rubber gloves, as some items do release toxins, etc. It's really pretty simple.

 

[saltyfish24]

I would never knowingly introduce any rock, coral or equipped that had Aiptasia to my tanks, regardless of if I attempted to treat said item prior to introduction.

It's possible to know if there is aiptasia on a rock - like if you see it, it's obvious. But I'm not sure how you'd ever know if a coral piece doesn't have aiptasia. Like...you can't prove that it doesn't, just that you can't see any?

If you go with adding just the coral (and not the plug or rock it's attached to) - is that a pretty safe way of doing it? In that case, you're always operating under the "I don't see any aiptasia" philosophy. Even if the rock or system it was in had aiptasia, because you cut off the frag plug.

 

[Tahoe61]

It's possible to know if there is aiptasia on a rock - like if you see it, it's obvious. But I'm not sure how you'd ever know if a coral piece doesn't have aiptasia. Like...you can't prove that it doesn't, just that you can't see any?

If you go with adding just the coral (and not the plug or rock it's attached to) - is that a pretty safe way of doing it? In that case, you're always operating under the "I don't see any aiptasia" philosophy. Even if the rock or system it was in had aiptasia, because you cut off the frag plug.

I QT my corals now. I look for Aiptasia, Flatworms, Sea spiders, invasive algae. Nudibrach and other corals.
Having small tanks works in my favor as well. I can quickly and effectively deal with pest.
I am pretty picky and I have been through invasive pest a time or two.