Are my zoas dying

[newreeferr]

There some aptasia and algae and I have like brown hairs and aptasia in my other zoa rock. Someone said don’t pull aptasia off bc they can grow more. Would it be okay to completely take them out of the water and clean then of with some tweezers ? Then put them back in? Will that do any harm?

 

[OTReefer]

There some aptasia and algae and I have like brown hairs and aptasia in my other zoa rock. Someone said don’t pull aptasia off bc they can grow more. Would it be okay to completely take them out of the water and clean then of with some tweezers ? Then put them back in? Will that do any harm?

I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. What I’ve done in the past is pick up some syringes and inject them with a little lemon juice or peroxide outside of the tank. Also, the lysmata boggessi peppermint shrimp do a great job keeping them at bay. I have 6 peppermints in one of my tanks and I always have just a little aptasia but it’s never in the same spot. Sometimes I catch them snacking on them when the blues are on at night. Some places advertise their shrimp as peppermints that eat aptasia but if they are not lysmatas they will likely not touch them.

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

You won't be able to get the full aiptasia with tweezers. The aiptasia will just retract back into the crevice and you will miss some part of it - only to multiply back in a few days.

Biological methods are the best way to get rid of aiptasia on zoas like this and to permanently limit their numbers. If you can't then try Aiptasia-X. Aiptasia will certainly cause your zoas to retract and die.

I've had a lot of success in the past by setting up a 2-5 gallon tank for aiptasia eating nudibranchs - with a few frag plugs on the bottom for them to hide in. Every couple of days, when you see a zoa with aiptasia, move it into the nudibranch tank for a day or two and they will completely clear it of aiptasia. Of course this has the benefit of the nudis multiplying and you can sell them to local reefers too. This is my ideal method. (have to ensure no bristle worms on the zoas plug/frag as they eat the nudis! - Dip!)

Of course, this can be a bit more expensive and if you don't have a lot of infested zoa plugs maybe not worth it. Maybe just add the nudis to your tank directly and let them take care of the aiptasia problem directly in your tank. But you will probably never see the nudis again and they will die after all the aiptasia is gone. Also, if you have wrasses or a ton of bristle worms they will eat the nudis so that wouldn't work.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

why aren't you using kalkwasser! you shouldn't let them stay around, and definitely don't cut them up!

get rodi and kalk make a thick paste in a syringe with out the needle and turn off the flow and drop the paste on the aiptasia, they will not retract, they will dissolve and not come back. then use a air tube and suck out the dissolved left overs.

not sure why people leave them in thir tanks...when I see one it's gone that minute because they reproduce in two!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would just pull the frag, no zoa is worth aptasia. If you just look at aptasia the wrong way and it will spawn. If you try to kill it and miss it will spawn. If you do nothing it will spawn. Get rid of it before it multiplies