Aiptasia Removal / Softie Chemicals

[Steve Bory]

I have a couple of questions that possibly should be in two separate posts, but oh well.

 

1) I got a couple new frags last week that had a few interesting hitchhikers along with them: some feather dusters (yay), a brittle star (yay), and aiptasia (boo). I've heard the aiptasia can get out of hand pretty quickly. Does anyone have any advice on how I should do this? I was thinking about sticking a piece of two part epoxy over it and hoping it hasn't taken hold anywhere else. I'm not sure if that's my best course of action though. I read a lot of ways to deal with these things, but everyone complains that they're not working also.

 

2) I have a Kenya tree that is quickly getting out of control and dropping branches all over the place which of course are attaching to any rock they can get near. Long term, I plan on getting rid of the thing completely, but something interesting happened the other day. I pulled several of these smaller branches off the rocks. Afterwards I did a water change because I have heard that softies can have some chemicals they can release. Anyways, for a good 24 hours or more, the big kenya tree (the one that dropped all of the branches in the first place) was laying limp. It had never done this before. My question is: Did my Kenya tree go limp and contract because of the chemicals in the water from the smaller branches? I'm kind of imagining this as some kind of communication between the now seperate kenya trees like, "The colony is under attack. Go limp and hide." Anyways, I thought it was strange and none of my zoas were affected, so I didn't really mind too much.

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Coral Hind]

I have a couple of questions that possibly should be in two separate posts, but oh well.

 

1) I got a couple new frags last week that had a few interesting hitchhikers along with them: some feather dusters (yay), a brittle star (yay), and aiptasia (boo). I've heard the aiptasia can get out of hand pretty quickly. Does anyone have any advice on how I should do this? I was thinking about sticking a piece of two part epoxy over it and hoping it hasn't taken hold anywhere else. I'm not sure if that's my best course of action though. I read a lot of ways to deal with these things, but everyone complains that they're not working also.

I have used both the epoxy and super glue to seal them in. Using kalk paste or products like aiptasia-x work but sometimes require follow treatments.

 

2) I have a Kenya tree that is quickly getting out of control and dropping branches all over the place which of course are attaching to any rock they can get near. Long term, I plan on getting rid of the thing completely, but something interesting happened the other day. I pulled several of these smaller branches off the rocks. Afterwards I did a water change because I have heard that softies can have some chemicals they can release. Anyways, for a good 24 hours or more, the big kenya tree (the one that dropped all of the branches in the first place) was laying limp. It had never done this before. My question is: Did my Kenya tree go limp and contract because of the chemicals in the water from the smaller branches? I'm kind of imagining this as some kind of communication between the now seperate kenya trees like, "The colony is under attack. Go limp and hide." Anyways, I thought it was strange and none of my zoas were affected, so I didn't really mind too much.

 

Thanks,

Steve

It could be from the other trees or that the water change water was different then the existing water like, pH, salinity, temp, or something else, so it was reacting to that.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Coral Hind

[Integral9]

1) Peppermint shrimp are in my experience the best way to deal with aiptasia. If you are diligent about it, I have use Tropic Marin's Eliminaiptasia and Joes Juice with some success. Some of the critters will require several dosing over several days though which can be problematic. IME, when aiptasia are under attack, they tend to spawn so it's best to eliminate them the first time and fast.

 

2) I've seen water changes cause some stress on corals initially due to chemistry changes, but they should reopen within a day. As for a Kenya tree going limp, when I had one it seems to do it everytime it was going to drop a branch. I suppose the act of severing a limb is a bit stressful on the coral. If you look closely at it, you might see a branch that has a pinched stalk. It will probably be that one that drops off.

[Steve Bory]

I think getting a peppermint shrimp would be overkill at this point. I've only seen a single aiptasia polyp so far. I guess I'll seal him in tonight with putty and hope he was the only one.

 

As far as the limp kenya tree. It definitely wasn't dropping more branches. It drops a branch every few days and the only part that contracts are the branches that are being touched by the branch that is about to drop and is hanging by a thread. It wasn't even closed up like it closes up at night. It was wrinkled up and laying flat on its side. I suppose it could have been the water change though. I hadn't considered that. I didn't do anything different than usual though, so that is strange.