Was shipped a frag with Aiptasia growing on it.

[Mikeltee]

You already have aptasia in your tank you just dont know it yet. Learn to control it now by killing the one you see

 

[samnaz]

Honestly, I’d be more surprised if WWC was aiptasia free. With the high volume of corals in and out of there, it must be close to impossible. Same goes for any highly popular large scale vendor. I would never expect them to be 100% pest free.

 

[Albertan22]

Never trust any vendor to be pest free. Always QT your livestock and coral.

 

[Kellie in CA]

I have received aiptasia infected frags from 2 well known and highly regarded vendors in the last couple months. With how common it is, and with the volume of corals they handle, I don’t see how they could totally avoid it.
It’s frustrating, but part of the hobby. I superglued over them immediately, and haven’t had any further issues.

 

[Shadows Reef]

I doubt I will go as far as to stop buying coral from WWC But my inspection process we’ll definitely be more thorough and I’m sure WWC will be a good enough vender to honor a mistake in their quality control.

 

[Acrofiend]

I’ve had a torch come in with aiptasia. I injected it with kalkwasser/vinegar, scraped it out, put super glue on it all in a separate container. A month later I saw aiptasia growing underneath my rock. Definitely not worth it.

 

[kartrsu]

I accept that Aiptasia gets into LFS systems. Running large systems is costly and you need throughout to spread those fixed costs, so extensive quarantine processes slows the game down as you turn over inventory slower. Not saying the tank can be a mess, but I don’t expect 100% pest free. That said, for Aiptasia, I QT all my corals first. Usually monitor multiple times a day to see if there is Aiptasia. Then I just plug the hole with superglue. Keep doing it until it dies from no escape. Corals are in QT for 76 days, so plenty of observation to be almost certain you got it.

 

[xtian]

Gonna chime in since folks are asking for vendors. Unique Corals is one that had aiptasia on frags.

 

[Matthew Russell]

I got a Leptastea coral from an online vender and on one side of the coral aiptasia is growing and I’m not sure if I should just Cut that part off and keep part of the coral or just not risk it and throw it away.

any advice is helpful

I just tried aptasia x by Red Sea the other day... worked like a charm. Easy and effective, and safe.

 

[codycolina707]

I just tried aptasia x by Red Sea the other day... worked like a charm. Easy and effective, and safe.

just wait i tried it also thought was all good couple days later there was probably 10 from the 1 i hit

 

[Stoney]

Am I the only one who thinks aiptasia isn't that bad? It's almost a rite of passage for a reefer lol. I've had a couple in most of my tanks but they grow slow enough that they're not a problem. Definitely wouldnt throw away coral just for some aiptasia.

 

[SebastianReefer]

I just tried aptasia x by Red Sea the other day... worked like a charm. Easy and effective, and safe.

It does work but you will need to keep looking and use it a couple times it will be back most likely no the same one

 

[AmaleeC]

It was WWC, I actually did remove the Frag from the plug with my dremels diamond cutter, I noticed it after I glued it .

when I initially cut the frag I didn’t notice a pin hole through the coral where the aiptasia popped out of.

Not surprised. I‘ve gotten frags with aptasia and others with bubble algae from them. I’m also never purchasing fish from them again. I bought a royal gramma from them less than two weeks ago && the poor little guy had flukes AND ick! Of all my fish, my beautiful lyretails are suffering the most from the illness. I’m hoping all the fish pull through, but you’d expect them to have higher quality livestock. TSA has an awesome process though for qt fish prior to putting them for sale. I highly recommend them over WWC.

Peppermint shrimp got the aptasia good though

 

[sixty_reefer]

Reading through this tread, found some comments way overreacting. It could be way worst aiptasia it’s still the most common and easy to deal hitchhiker we got in the hobby today. Vendors will do they’re best to eradicate pest in they’re tanks and sometimes easy to miss. Imo I would slag a seller just because I got an aip it’s not like afew or hydroids we’re you almost have to tear down the tank to completely eradicate them.

 

[Fishbird]

The poll asks what I would do has I received the frag and I would put any coral purchased either online or locally into my invert (medication free) QT tank. This time you got a pest you could see but every online vendor I’ve asked (and it’s true I haven’t asked them all) keep fish in their coral tanks to help manage pests. That means that there is a non-zero chance that any coral frag could come in with encysted ich or velvet. There have been a bunch of threads lately where it seems that either of those parasites were introduced into a tank on invertebrates.

Ideally they would have noticed the Aiptasia before sending it to you but given that even people with nano tanks (my DT is a nano so I include myself in that group) have such a hard time keeping Aiptasia out of their tanks it seems impossible to do it 100% if you’ve got multiple hundreds or thousands of gallons of tanks.

And, Aiptasia tissue can be present but too small to detect with the naked eye so even a clean visual inspection isn’t really proof that nothing is there.

Anyway, it is unfortunate that this happened but I basically agree that if frags with visible Aiptasia are sent out then you should get some sort of discount/refund because standards of care/attempted care/quality are important. That said I’m still putting every new coral/invert into my invert QT whether I can see a pest or not.

 

[Deezill]

Gonna chime in since folks are asking for vendors. Unique Corals is one that had aiptasia on frags.

Another on the list. Thanks.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Drop a dot of glue over it and call it a day

 

[Tahoe61]

You already have aptasia in your tank you just dont know it yet. Learn to control it now by killing the one you see

Nope, no bubble algae, flatworm, RB....

Almost every pest my tank ever had came from a LFS or local hobbyist.

You do not have to put up with Apitasia or control them. Not acceptable to me to pass on pest.

In reality some pest do make it through for all vendors, but that piece is not going in my tank.

 

[Steven Garland]

I have always just scraped it away,get as much as the plug scraped off where it was then throw a drop of super glue in that spot and its done.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Don't cut. Just inject some lemon juice or preferably kalkwasser mixed into a thin paste into center core of aptasia. It will melt away and you'll be left with entire coral