Just how hardy is Aiptasia?

[jaxteller007]

Posted in the big hitchhiker thread but thought it may get more action here...

Have a couple heads of Aiptasia in our tank lately. So far been able to hit them with Aiptasia-X as it's only been like 3 heads. Working on getting another filefish or a couple of the dwarf filefish to help control it going forward. But it got me thinking how does this stuff spread and how insanely hardy it must be.
We had it in our old 75G tank, nothing outrageous except in the overflow but still, enough to see it. Our new setup is a 180G that I got from a friend. To my knowledge, he never had any Aiptasia problems in it. It was mainly his FOWLR tank. Even if there was some in it before, the tank, sump and all the plumbing was washed with vinegar and then sat bone dry in our garage for over 3 months before we started setting it up. We used brand new rock and sand in the new tank while the old tank was still running. The old tank was in the living room and the new one is in the dining room, at least 30 feet away. Everything in the new tank was either brand new, or sat dry for months before being used. Never saw any Aiptasia until a couple weeks ago (tank has been running with fish since Feb I think).
So now I'm trying to just think of how it got in there. Did it hitch a ride on a fish? Was it in the plumbing and somehow able to survive despite being dry for over 3 months? Did it come in another way?
Not a huge problem as long as I keep an eye on it, but definitely makes me wonder how it got there.

 

[Spare time]

I think it only takes a cell of it to hitchhike. When you use aiptasia x, you will end up creating more aiptasia as I believe it causes it to release babies as a last resort or something like that. Im not super familiar with their biology but if you Google its life cycle and what not it may help.

The best thing is to smother them with superglue.

 

[jaxteller007]

I think it only takes a cell of it to hitchhike. When you use aiptasia x, you will end up creating more aiptasia as I believe it causes it to release babies as a last resort or something like that. Im not super familiar with their biology but if you Google its life cycle and what not it may help.

The best thing is to smother them with superglue.

Yea I know there's the threat of them spreading. It seems like it would/could do that with superglue too could it not? Your'e still disturbing it and causing it to react unless there is some way to sneak superglue on them...
Even so, I'm more curious as to how in the world it got into the tank in the first place lol.

 

[redstorm6]

I'll just say after a nuclear winter the cockroaches will inherit the land and the aiptasia will probably rule the ocean

 

[xiholdtruex]

Yea I know there's the threat of them spreading. It seems like it would/could do that with superglue too could it not? Your'e still disturbing it and causing it to react unless there is some way to sneak superglue on them...
Even so, I'm more curious as to how in the world it got into the tank in the first place lol.

The way I do it is I make a perimeter with the superglue then cap the aiptasia as the final step with glue so its sealed in its little glue tomb. If I can I do it out of the tank

 

[AmaleeC]

I guess you could swish water right in front of it and when it retracts into a hole - cover the hole with super glue. However, it does sound like @xiholdtruex has a much better (and cooler) method lol

 

[ApoIsland]

I have had rock sit dry for many months only to have it appear a year later even when I started a new tank with all dead dry rock before I know about the bleach cure.

In my experience, unless you let the rock sit in bleach for a while there is no getting rid of aiptasia once you have it. It will always be in the rock somewhere. you can manage it very will with aiptasia x or my favorite F-aiptasia, but it will evenutally come back.

 

[austibella]

I think they hitch hike on snails. I always try to wash the shells of new snails with a tooth brush to get of any hitchhikers off them , then I noticed I was getting hair algae which I never get, came to find out my 6 inch red coris wrass who never before ate snails. has now ate all my snails and emerald crabs. so I bought 300 snails to eat the hair algae and of course did not spend the time to clean their shells. now I have aiptasia, glass anemone, astar stars. and of course the wrass ate the snails. so I got 3 file fish, living in Fla we have many . so I quarantined them then put them in my tank well my wrass killed 2 of them and has not bothered my last one. and of course my file fish loves the fresh seafood I cut up for my fish and I have to wait and see if he will eat aiptasia. it is so hard to play mother nature, and expensive. I to have a 180 gal. tank and wish I had 350 or 400 gal tank because my fish are getting to big. I tried so many things to kill aiptasia but they just come back with a vengeance also the astar stars are everywhere. cant find a harlequin shrimp anywhere, but if I do,,, I have to catch my red stars and put them in another tank or the shrimp will kill them to.. anyone know the best way to catch a large red coris wrass ? I need to trade him he is just way to big .he is so fast and hides in the rocks when he sees me and then dives into the crushed coral bed and stays under there.my tank is so deep I cant get my hand down there.

 

[xiholdtruex]

I guess you could swish water right in front of it and when it retracts into a hole - cover the hole with super glue. However, it does sound like @xiholdtruex has a much better (and cooler) method lol

Here is a picture of some I entombed this week on some new hammer frags. They were super tiny but I dont need any lol

#305reefclubsquad

 

[redstorm6]

All the above are great suggestions. I've also had success with using water weld to trap large ones. I flick my fingers in front of them to make them retreat and then seal it off with a slab of putty. It's not the prettiest solution but it worked. I have an outbreak and sealed six off and haven't seen any in a while.

 

[Miller535]

I'll just say after a nuclear winter the cockroaches will inherit the land and the aiptasia will probably rule the ocean

You beat me to it, that was my exact thoughts. Lol

 

[ApoIsland]

I think they hitch hike on snails. I always try to wash the shells of new snails with a tooth brush to get of any hitchhikers off them , then I noticed I was getting hair algae which I never get, came to find out my 6 inch red coris wrass who never before ate snails. has now ate all my snails and emerald crabs. so I bought 300 snails to eat the hair algae and of course did not spend the time to clean their shells. now I have aiptasia, glass anemone, astar stars. and of course the wrass ate the snails. so I got 3 file fish, living in Fla we have many . so I quarantined them then put them in my tank well my wrass killed 2 of them and has not bothered my last one. and of course my file fish loves the fresh seafood I cut up for my fish and I have to wait and see if he will eat aiptasia. it is so hard to play mother nature, and expensive. I to have a 180 gal. tank and wish I had 350 or 400 gal tank because my fish are getting to big. I tried so many things to kill aiptasia but they just come back with a vengeance also the astar stars are everywhere. cant find a harlequin shrimp anywhere, but if I do,,, I have to catch my red stars and put them in another tank or the shrimp will kill them to.. anyone know the best way to catch a large red coris wrass ? I need to trade him he is just way to big .he is so fast and hides in the rocks when he sees me and then dives into the crushed coral bed and stays under there.my tank is so deep I cant get my hand down there.

Start feeding with the net in the tank. Eventually you can put food in the net and the coris wrasse will go right for it. They are very aggressive eaters. There are very few fish that won't swim into a net after a month or so once they are comfortable with it in the tank.

 

[jaxteller007]

I never thought about them hitchhiking on snails. I have added a ton of snails to combat an algae outbreak. Algae is definitely under control now, hopefully I didn't spread the Aiptasia.

 

[austibella]

Start feeding with the net in the tank. Eventually you can put food in the net and the coris wrasse will go right for it. They are very aggressive eaters. There are very few fish that won't swim into a net after a month or so once they are comfortable with it in the tank.

I've had him since he was a cute juvenile never thought he would get so big, and now aggressive.. I'm just worried to leave a net in the tank other fish might go in there and it would be easy pray for them he also killed 2 clowns my other fish are large, the doesnt mess with them also worried the net will destroy my corals

 

[ApoIsland]

You keep the net in the same place every time you feed. Put it in the tank 10 min before you feed. Dump the food near the net. remove the net after feeding. The fish need to associate the sight of the net with food. Do this for a week or two. Then start feeding out of the net. After a while fish will swim right into the net as soon as you put it in the tank.

....sorry to derail your aiptasia thread. I will not post again about catching fish with a net here

 

[jaxteller007]

You keep the net in the same place every time you feed. Put it in the tank 10 min before you feed. Dump the food near the net. remove the net after feeding. The fish need to associate the sight of the net with food. Do this for a week or two. Then start feeding out of the net. After a while fish will swim right into the net as soon as you put it in the tank.

....sorry to derail your aiptasia thread. I will not post again about catching fish with a net here

I'll never complain about learning new ways to catch fish lol.

 

[austibella]

I never thought about them hitchhiking on snails. I have added a ton of snails to combat an algae outbreak. Algae is definitely under control now, hopefully I didn't spread the Aiptasia.

When I clean the shells under salt water ,algae, worms detritus Anything will attach to them. It was stupid of me to not do it that one time being all these years of cleaning new snails I never had outbreaks.what a nightmare..lessons learned. Good luck to you. If my new file fish starts eating aiptasia I will let you know.its kind of hit and miss with them.read up on them for what corals they might nibble on.

All the above are great suggestions. I've also had success with using water weld to trap large ones. I flick my fingers in front of them to make them retreat and then seal it off with a slab of putty. It's not the prettiest solution but it worked. I have an outbreak and sealed six off and haven't seen any in a while.

I heard of that in a bulk reef supply video. But they also said when you plug them they rcan go threw another hole in the rock and come out somewhere else. One of my problems is my tank is so deep I cant reach my arm to the bottom of the tank to do it.i was thinking about that laser wand but afraid of killing a coral if my hand isnt steady also when it fries the aiptasia then it's in your water. Laser many aiptasia would effect the water quality. Guess big water change would solve that
I'm about to call tampa coral aquarium and have them come up and do what it takes to get rid of them all .at 80 bucks an hour its expensive.but that's the price of most corals frags that we buy.so maybe it's worth a few hundred to have someone come in blast all the aiptasia do a water change and its done. I've been so upset between aiptasia and Aster stars I was about thinking of pulling out all my rocks and clean them and redo my tank but then I can loose many happy coral colony's and stress my fish..and my luck it would all come back.i just hope my cute file fish finds the taste for aiptasia. He really has a cute personality.hope he does his job.

You keep the net in the same place every time you feed. Put it in the tank 10 min before you feed. Dump the food near the net. remove the net after feeding. The fish need to associate the sight of the net with food. Do this for a week or two. Then start feeding out of the net. After a while fish will swim right into the net as soon as you put it in the tank.

....sorry to derail your aiptasia thread. I will not post again about catching fish with a net here

T.y..

 

[ApoIsland]

i just hope my cute file fish finds the taste for aiptasia. He really has a cute personality.hope he does his job.

My file fish took about 3 weeks before he started on the aiptasia. Did a pretty good job once he got after it. unfortunately he also had an appetite for leathers so i replaced him with a copper banded butterfly as soon as I could get one. The cbb has a bad reputation for clams/zoas but mine has been a model citizen for the first 3 or 4 months at least.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

What about BERGHIA NUDIBRANCH

 

[austibella]

When I clean the shells under salt water ,algae, worms detritus Anything will attach to them. It was stupid of me to not do it that one time being all these years of cleaning new snails I never had outbreaks.what a nightmare..lessons learned. Good luck to you. If my new file fish starts eating aiptasia I will let you know.its kind of hit and miss with them.read up on them for what corals they might nibble on.
I heard of that in a bulk reef supply video. But they also said when you plug them they rcan go threw another hole in the rock and come out somewhere else. One of my problems is my tank is so deep I cant reach my arm to the bottom of the tank to do it.i was thinking about that laser wand but afraid of killing a coral if my hand isnt steady also when it fries the aiptasia then it's in your water. Laser many aiptasia would effect the water quality. Guess big water change would solve that
I'm about to call tampa coral aquarium and have them come up and do what it takes to get rid of them all .at 80 bucks an hour its expensive.but that's the price of most corals frags that we buy.so maybe it's worth a few hundred to have someone come in blast all the aiptasia do a water change and its done. I've been so upset between aiptasia and Aster stars I was about thinking of pulling out all my rocks and clean them and redo my tank but then I can loose many happy coral colony's and stress my fish..and my luck it would all come back.i just hope my cute file fish finds the taste for aiptasia. He really has a cute personality.hope he does his job.

T.y..

What about BERGHIA NUDIBRANCH

T.y. Been looking for them with this virus out there shipping was stopped I have them on order