How to kill aiptasia in zoanthus colony?

BitFix

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My zoanthus came with a single aiptasia in the middle of the colony, what would be the best way to remove the anemone without hurting the colony? Is there any other safe treatment apart from aiptasia-X? (It's quite hard to find and expensive to buy where I live.

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Isaac Alves

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I'd try peppermint shrimp. Anything you do to that apitasia will just cause it to spread...even Apitasia-X. If you don't have any wrasses or predatory fish then you can get some apitasia eating nudibranchs.....get the large ones and it'll go away. Then quickly sell it to a fellow reefer.
 

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I'd try peppermint shrimp. Anything you do to that apitasia will just cause it to spread...even Apitasia-X. If you don't have any wrasses or predatory fish then you can get some apitasia eating nudibranchs.....get the large ones and it'll go away. Then quickly sell it to a fellow reefer.
Never had luck with peppermint shrimp sadly. Used apistasia-x for a while but couldnt keep up with the growth and used a copper band and that solved the issue super fast
 
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Never had luck with peppermint shrimp sadly. Used apistasia-x for a while but couldnt keep up with the growth and used a copper band and that solved the issue super fast
Unfortunately I can't really find aiptasia X for sale at a decent price near me (I live in South America). Do you know any other way that won't harm my colony? I've heard lemon juice and boiling water, but was afraid of hurting the zoanthus.
 

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Hello,

Supergluing over it works good, but I may hesitate since in the middle of a garden. Not sure if F-aptasia would be cost prohibitive like the X you mentioned.if you have kalk a strong solution fed right into its mouth may work, also give lemon juice a try. Some tried boiling water in a syringe but kinda scary in my opinion. Also if you can pull the colony out, scrape it off. Be careful to wear protective gear if pulling it out.
 

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Qt that frag some where in a bucket. bowl something with tank water. they move fast
I myself have made a mild bath of iodine make sure the zoas are closed and wait for aiptasia to close and pick at the base till it pops off and burn it , then soak the zoas in another different bucket of tank water, before you put back into tank give a good shake when pulling them out to dust off and aiptasia membrane. That is what I did knock wood never came back. But check with others here at R2R many options are available
 
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Qt that frag some where in a bucket. bowl something with tank water. they move fast
I myself have made a mild bath of iodine make sure the zoas are closed and wait for aiptasia to close and pick at the base till it pops off and burn it , then soak the zoas in another different bucket of tank water, before you put back into tank give a good shake when pulling them out to dust off and aiptasia membrane. That is what I did knock wood never came back. But check with others here at R2R many options are available
The base is in the middle of the zoanthus, so I can't really scrape of pull it.
 
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Hello,

Supergluing over it works good, but I may hesitate since in the middle of a garden. Not sure if F-aptasia would be cost prohibitive like the X you mentioned.if you have kalk a strong solution fed right into its mouth may work, also give lemon juice a try. Some tried boiling water in a syringe but kinda scary in my opinion. Also if you can pull the colony out, scrape it off. Be careful to wear protective gear if pulling it out.
I may try the superglue and just be careful not to glue any zoanthus. If that doesn't work, do you think lemon juice could hurt the coral?
 

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I’m trying a new method. Not sure if it’ll work. I had a zoa colony that exploded with aiptasia. It was stinging them and I wasn’t sure what to do. Aiptasia X makes them spread. I couldn’t find the right type of peppermint shrimp (need the exact type). So I did a freshwater dip. Lots of stuff fell off, mostly pods and I saw some aiptasia in the water. I have the zoas in QT now. Will wait and see what comes of it. Keep in mind, this was a last resort type of thing.
 

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The base is in the middle of the zoanthus, so I can't really scrape of pull it.
Let the zoas close up use a toothpicks get it out. Don’t be afraid to work on the frags they are hardy not delicate. Do you need a kick in the pants kiddingly. Care in removal not to spread membrane of aiptasia. I had to learn the hard way to work with corals I don’t know a coral doctor to take them to I don’t mean to be sounding harsh just the way I am from point to point. Good luck
 

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Let the zoas close up use a toothpicks get it out. Don’t be afraid to work on the frags they are hardy not delicate. Do you need a kick in the pants kiddingly. Care in removal not to spread membrane of aiptasia. I had to learn the hard way to work with corals I don’t know a coral doctor to take them to I don’t mean to be sounding harsh just the way I am from point to point. Good luck
If you mess with aiptasia in the tank, they release spores and spread VERY fast. Also, aiptasia shrink up and are hard to see and remove. I wish this method worked. Trust me, I’ve tried. Sometimes you think you’ve killed it and then a couple of days later they’re back. The only thing that truly worked for me was supergluing over the entire thing. But in a coral colony, this is impossible.
 

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If you mess with aiptasia in the tank, they release spores and spread VERY fast. Also, aiptasia shrink up and are hard to see and remove. I wish this method worked. Trust me, I’ve tried. Sometimes you think you’ve killed it and then a couple of days later they’re back. The only thing that truly worked for me was supergluing over the entire thing. But in a coral colony, this is impossible.
As per my first reply/ post qt it in a bucket get it out of the tank go back through the thread
 
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I’m trying a new method. Not sure if it’ll work. I had a zoa colony that exploded with aiptasia. It was stinging them and I wasn’t sure what to do. Aiptasia X makes them spread. I couldn’t find the right type of peppermint shrimp (need the exact type). So I did a freshwater dip. Lots of stuff fell off, mostly pods and I saw some aiptasia in the water. I have the zoas in QT now. Will wait and see what comes of it. Keep in mind, this was a last resort type of thing.
Honestly I was thinking about this. Since zoanthus are pretty resistant to freshwater, I was thinking if a freshwater dip would kill the anemone (as they're much more sensitive). The only reason I didn't try is because the colony is new and still getting acclimated.
 
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Let the zoas close up use a toothpicks get it out. Don’t be afraid to work on the frags they are hardy not delicate. Do you need a kick in the pants kiddingly. Care in removal not to spread membrane of aiptasia. I had to learn the hard way to work with corals I don’t know a coral doctor to take them to I don’t mean to be sounding harsh just the way I am from point to point. Good luck
I will see if I can get a toothpick to the base of the anemone. Thanks!
 

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That small problem can potentially become a big problem. You don’t want to take a chance that aiptasia will spread in your tank. I would remove those zoas and work on them outside the tank.
Put them in another container and observe them after you treat them.
Kalk paste can kill the aiptasia, but if you zap it in the tank there is a good chance it will spread.
All it takes is one zoa frag with a single aiptasia to ruin your tank.
 

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Dang! That's in a bad spot. I'd typically recommend Frank's Aiptasia Killer for something like that, but due to your location that may not be doable. I'd try one of the natural predators if possible.
 
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Dang! That's in a bad spot. I'd typically recommend Frank's Aiptasia Killer for something like that, but due to your location that may not be doable. I'd try one of the natural predators if possible.
Since my system is so small I could only have a peppermint shrimp or aiptasia eating nudibranchs. I was thinking about a peppermint shrimp, since cleaner shrimp are kinda rare, if possible I wanted to avoid the nudribranchs, so as not to starve them, since its only 1 aiptasia.
 

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Unfortunately I can't really find aiptasia X for sale at a decent price near me (I live in South America). Do you know any other way that won't harm my colony? I've heard lemon juice and boiling water, but was afraid of hurting the zoanthus.

Where do you live in South America? I'm not sure if Frank with @Frank's Tanks would be able to ship F-Aiptasia Killer there for a reasonable price, but if he can then that would be a great option to kill Aiptasia dead and not risk annoying it into reproducing like many remedies seem to do.
 

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F-Aiptasia Killer has been 100% effective for me so far, Aip-X was 50/50. I had one single aip in a PPE zoa colony. Took a chance;Nailbiting. Nuked the aip, but also burned 2 zoa polyps. They are recovering slowly, but definitely not ideal. Very interested to see what solution comes from this!
 

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