Aptasia eradication in new setup?

[kashif]

I have a 25 Gallon tank that had been ignored for some time. It is full of Aptasia right now. I am planning to start over. New sand. New Rockscape and new water.
My question is, to which level should i clean the tank before starting over and making sure that none of the aptasia carry over.
- For how long should I keep the tank dry to make sure all aptasias and spores are dead.
- Should I wash it with citric acid?
- Should I run just rodi water without salt for few days to make sure no salinity will kill them?
- What about the tubing?
Or, am I overthinking this!

 

[brandon429]

My recommend:

We skip that plan

And instead rid your entire system of aiptasia using special manual means, not animals or injections, special manual means, and use that example in an article I've been trying to write for two years but everyone just wants to ditch and start over (then they catch it again soon having no removal practice)

In a nano it's flat out easy to rid the aiptasia and keep the entire system. We would still clean the system for best long term results but that's not the anemone kill part

If you do it this way you help reefing. To start over means they'll just win again one day.

 

[brandon429]

our hobby is absolutely stifled against aiptasia: they're 100% helpless, see any aiptasia help thread.

its a bunch of people telling the poster what worked in their tank, the poster applies the steps, and it doesn't work. the only way hobbyists know how to deal with it is via injections and animals, and that's why aiptasia persists as a top invasion risk even though they're actually a non issue when the right removal method is used, which we would easily apply to your tank.

starting your tank over risks dinos, and 6 more months of uglies, keeping your rocks and sand and simply killing aiptasia the right way, the way nobody consults in help threads, will help your tank and help the hobby by example and more importantly remove the option of starting over to address reefing challenges. your maturing rocks have lots of benefits if you keep them alive.

 

[JayM]

our hobby is absolutely stifled against aiptasia: they're 100% helpless, see any aiptasia help thread.

its a bunch of people telling the poster what worked in their tank, the poster applies the steps, and it doesn't work. the only way hobbyists know how to deal with it is via injections and animals, and that's why aiptasia persists as a top invasion risk even though they're actually a non issue when the right removal method is used, which we would easily apply to your tank.

starting your tank over risks dinos, and 6 more months of uglies, keeping your rocks and sand and simply killing aiptasia the right way, the way nobody consults in help threads, will help your tank and help the hobby by example and more importantly remove the option of starting over to address reefing challenges. your maturing rocks have lots of benefits if you keep them alive.

So what’s the right removal method?
I’ve got a small outbreak starting and would like to get it under control sooner rather than later.

 

[brandon429]

you take a tap hammer and a sharpened + cleaned flathead screwdriver and you divot out the aiptasias while the rock sits on the counter in the air. it leaves small divots like golf chips do, and in that hole you can plant a coral or leave it to seal over with coralline/reefy growths in time. there is no method that can beat this one, this is why trained pico reefers don't have aiptasia issues and larger tankers are absolutely helplessly felled by them. the larger the tank, the more excuses as to why someone can't remove a rock for simple reef dentistry.

I want to collect actual live-time work examples for an article and for 2 straight years, respondents are: nope, I'll keep the invasion lol. reef invasions are interesting psychology that's for sure, we're trained to succumb vs just simply be aiptasia free by 3 pm today. its the motivational part I'm always struggling with, the sales aspect on making the reef follow our commands vs back seating to what the reef does. actually being aiptasia free is easy, pico reefers do not have this issue as they're usually already trained on direct access tricks vs injections and animals. size of tank absolutely impacts invasion frequency in reefing, because the larger the tank the more excuses mount. the actual cure part is easy. the golf divot removes leftover pedal tissue and it's not that hard to rid them this way. Ive done it for 20 years like this, they never get past 1 anemone in my system before the hammer and sickel come out lol.

 

[brandon429]

they're not going to spread using this means


your system cannot catch fish disease using this means (inserting animals to hopefully kill aiptasia which they don't brings in disease it's a biosecurity risk Jay writes about)

an anemone simply cannot beat steel being applied the right way and these organisms can absolutely over power a reef if they're treated liberally vs a compliance-required attitude.

 

[JayM]

That definitely sounds like it’ll work, but 100% impractical for my situation. 90 gallon DT with Aiptasia on the main rock structure. I’ll cross my fingers and hope the Berghias are hungry.

 

[brandon429]

that is 100% how it always goes down, I expected that completely. I don't even expect the OP to follow suit, we are simply trained to take no indirect action at any time, but start overs are always accepted. getting action against aiptasia is just about impossible/its fascinating psychology.

 

[JayM]

that is 100% how it always goes down, I expected that completely. I don't even expect the OP to follow suit, we are simply trained to take no indirect action at any time, but start overs are always accepted. getting action against aiptasia is just about impossible/its fascinating psychology.

I had a few that took up residence on frag plugs. I pulled those and put the corals on new plugs and will definitely hammer the life out any that show up on stuff that can be removed without destroying the hardscape.

 

[kashif]

I think its impossible to get rid of them completely once they are in your system.
Trick is just to keep them in check which requires constant husbandry.
You can lag behind on it otherwise they just spread and spread.
Over the years I have tried so many methods with limited success. Trick is to be consistent with whichever method you choose.
- hot water syringe
- kalk
- lemon juice
- syringe suction
- file fish
- copperhead
- peppermint shrimp

And here we are, with a cute little aptasia smiling back at us in the middle on the night‍