Purple aiptasia?

[Bitcoin Reefer]

This thing is living on a new pocillopora birds nest colony I bought. I dipped in Koral MD. I notice now some big firework looking bristle worms, this thing, and a 2 inch coral crab (I’m happy about this one) all made it past the dip lol.

Is this aiptasia? It’s a dark purple color. Can’t find any purple aiptasia online.

The bottom photos are of the coral upside down, when yesterday I was gluing this coral up on top of my rocks and I noticed this thing but it was shriveled up and just looked like a purple sponge. When I touched it a bunch of white strings came out of it.

 

[twentyleagues]

Yes its aipstasia.

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

So annoying, it took me 3 tries to glue that rock properly lol. So I suppose I'll take rock out, razor blade/scrape it off? and cover the area in glue? I'll wear glasses so it doesn't squirt in my eyes I guess lol. Should I use gloves? I never use gloves for aquarium stuff normally lol

 

[twentyleagues]

The aipstasia wont "hurt" you. The fact of getting tank water in a fresh cut or in your eye may. Yup Take it out scrape it off whether you cover the area in glue or not is up to you. But if you miss some it will grow back. Hopefully you didn't release spores into your tank when you poked it.

 

[dakoop]

I took my rock out and hit the hidy hole with a blow torch.

 

[george9]

After you scrape it off, take a pipette or glass of tank water and dump it onto the scraped area while holding the piece over a bucket. I’d do this a few times before putting the piece back. That way if there was some of the guts/spores left on the piece they will be washed away into the bucket and won’t grow new aiptasia in the tank.

Also love the username BTW!! @Bitcoin Reefer

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

After you scrape it off, take a pipette or glass of tank water and dump it onto the scraped area while holding the piece over a bucket. I’d do this a few times before putting the piece back. That way if there was some of the guts/spores left on the piece they will be washed away into the bucket and won’t grow new aiptasia in the tank.

Also love the username BTW!! @Bitcoin Reefer

Haha thanks! I've been in Bitcoin for longggg time. I work in the industry. Happy $50k day btw, we just broke 1 Bitcoin = $50k for anyone who wasn't watching lol. When I started Bitcoin was around $225 in 2015 lol.

Ya I'll do that, and also put glue over the spot. I'm bummed, this thing actually looks super cool.

Does anyone ever leave Aiptasia alone? I guess one main reason I'd want to get rid of is because I want to be able to trade corals for other corals and wouldn't want to infect other tanks, but it actually looks super cool haha. First time I've ever had aiptasia. I'll get it rid of it tomorrow after work.

 

[ReefingDreams]

Haha thanks! I've been in Bitcoin for longggg time. I work in the industry. Happy $50k day btw, we just broke 1 Bitcoin = $50k for anyone who wasn't watching lol. When I started Bitcoin was around $225 in 2015 lol.

Ya I'll do that, and also put glue over the spot. I'm bummed, this thing actually looks super cool.

Does anyone ever leave Aiptasia alone? I guess one main reason I'd want to get rid of is because I want to be able to trade corals for other corals and wouldn't want to infect other tanks, but it actually looks super cool haha. First time I've ever had aiptasia. I'll get it rid of it tomorrow after work.

Some ignore it out of laziness and it takes over. It will sting and kill coral. People regularly break down tanks because they lose control of the aiptasia and can't, for whatever reason, get it back under control. Best approach is a combination of heavy, close inspection upon arrival (no dip will help) paired with at least one biological management solution (aiptasia eating filefish, Australian stripey, peppermint shrimp, various butterfly fish). Berghia nudibranch are not a good management solution, as they only eat aiptasia and will die without it.

 

[twentyleagues]

Way way back in the day I had a 10g that became over run with it. The 10g started out as a coral holding tank that I had set up to keep unhappy corals that I got from tank break downs in to observe. One coral brought in aipstasia a lot of it, I fought it for a while and just let it go. It kind of became a tank in the corner of the basement that time forgot. They are pretty resilient I took the ato off the tank for a different use and would top off the tank once a month maybe. I was trying to get my hands on a couple berghia to try breeding but at the time they were harder to find then now even. One of the nems got huge and had cool patterning. I started feeding it lol. I eventually got tired and broke it down.

 

[george9]

Haha thanks! I've been in Bitcoin for longggg time. I work in the industry. Happy $50k day btw, we just broke 1 Bitcoin = $50k for anyone who wasn't watching lol. When I started Bitcoin was around $225 in 2015 lol.

Ya I'll do that, and also put glue over the spot. I'm bummed, this thing actually looks super cool.

Does anyone ever leave Aiptasia alone? I guess one main reason I'd want to get rid of is because I want to be able to trade corals for other corals and wouldn't want to infect other tanks, but it actually looks super cool haha. First time I've ever had aiptasia. I'll get it rid of it tomorrow after work.

Awesome! I am infinitely jealous how early you’ve been in the game lol

I’ve been around since 2019. Don’t work in the industry but still stacking like a psychopath and never looking back.