Is this aptasia???

[indigoze]

Hi all, I noticed this on one of my zoas today. This was the 2nd one that I put in the tank and it was dipped when I got it never saw anything on it before. These things are tiny as you can see from the zoa polyp. There is no detectable body to them that I can find. I made the zoa close up and nothing can be seen, but the tentacles of whatever do retract somewhere. This zoa is already half on and half off the plug so I can't get it out of the tank to do a close inspection.

So if this is indeed aptasia I will be getting a nudibranch ASAP, but I don't want to starve it if this isn't what they are. Any help appreciated!

 

[JGT]

Yep.

 

[Garf]

Looks like it.

 

[Lavey29]

Welcome to the club

 

[Reefering1]

Uh huh..

 

[jabberwock]

I think so.

 

[indigoze]

So I have been reading... one person uses microwaved tank water sucked up a feeding syringe to cook them. I think this would work for the ones under the uninhabited part of the plug but has anyone tried this nearer to the zoas? I would hate to do this and cook them. Same problem with the paste stuff that you bury them under applying it in this area will be very difficult, unless it is very thin and can be used from a thin needled syring; I have no experience with the paste stuff. What about putting thin super glue in between the zoa polyps directly on the vile beasts from the tube? As small as the applicator on the glue is I think that might work.

 

[Asm481]

Use kalk paste through a needle fr those close to the zoas. Make the paste as thick as you possibly can and still get tucked up in the needle. Dispense it slow with all flow shut down. Go sow it should go well.
Your second Pic is blurry, might look like clove polyps to me. The first Pic is aptasia for sure.

 

[jabberwock]

In my experience if you irritate them, they multiply more rapidly.

 

[indigoze]

Yeah I took that one through the water from above. Phone keeps wanting to focus on the light reflection. But they look the same to me nasty little tentacles waving around just slightly larger than the ones in the first pic

 

[indigoze]

In my experience if you irritate them, they multiply more rapidly.

I have gotten that impression from what I've read, sadly. I can't find any besides the ones in the pics. Perhaps if I can get them all I won't have more problems... Probably not also from what I've read

 

[56longroof]

I inject vinegar in them. It is very effective. What i don't get the peppermint shrimp seem to take care of.

 

[jabberwock]

I have gotten that impression from what I've read, sadly. I can't find any besides the ones in the pics. Perhaps if I can get them all I won't have more problems... Probably not also from what I've read

I was in your shoes. Had a couple, tried to zap them with lemon juice. Tried to super glue them. They squoze out from underneath the glue and then there were 30. Check my tank thread for the latest on the Aptasia wars...

 

[phillyb614]

 

[indigoze]

Use kalk paste through a needle fr those close to the zoas. Make the paste as thick as you possibly can and still get tucked up in the needle. Dispense it slow with all flow shut down. Go sow it should go well.
Your second Pic is blurry, might look like clove polyps to me. The first Pic is aptasia for sure.

What gauge of needle would you suggest? The ones I have are tiny and work with thin superglue I use for other projects. They won't suck up superglue gel so I doubt that they would work with something thick.

 

[indigoze]

So I have totally failed at eliminating these vile creatures except for the one that was in between the zoa polyps. The problem with the others is that they retract under the frag plug and I cannot reach them before they detect me coming and I can't see them once they've retracted to attack them in their closed state. They haven't spread that I can find but they are much larger now. I'm going to go the berghia route. Does anyone have recommendations for online berghia purchasing?

 

[jabberwock]

So I have totally failed at eliminating these vile creatures except for the one that was in between the zoa polyps. The problem with the others is that they retract under the frag plug and I cannot reach them before they detect me coming and I can't see them once they've retracted to attack them in their closed state. They haven't spread that I can find but they are much larger now. I'm going to go the berghia route. Does anyone have recommendations for online berghia purchasing?

I never bought them online, But i would try it!

My LFS had the hookup on a local supplier. No harm in asking.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Take the rock out, set it on the counter and go to war.

 

[GoAskAlice]

Hi all, I noticed this on one of my zoas today. This was the 2nd one that I put in the tank and it was dipped when I got it never saw anything on it before. These things are tiny as you can see from the zoa polyp. There is no detectable body to them that I can find. I made the zoa close up and nothing can be seen, but the tentacles of whatever do retract somewhere. This zoa is already half on and half off the plug so I can't get it out of the tank to do a close inspection.

So if this is indeed aptasia I will be getting a nudibranch ASAP, but I don't want to starve it if this isn't what they are. Any help appreciated!

Looks like aiptasia. What size is your tank? Reason I ask is it makes a difference as far as how you try and get rid of them. Aiptasia snuck into my 180g display from a quantine/observation tank. Manually dosing individual anemones was not feasible. Peppermint shrimp solved the problem for me.

 

[indigoze]

The tank is 15 gallons. I can't take the rock out without removing the whole left side rockwork. I glued them all with aquarium epoxy when I was setting it up bc I refused to pay what they want for arch shaped rock so I bought the regular ones and smashed them up with a hammer and chisel and made my own lol.

I did find the berghia nudibranches from a reputable seller on ebay for a lot cheaper than the various websites that offer them. They will be arriving next week so hopefully they will eat these beasts to extinction.