rider Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 ok, so this person at the coast had a small tank with some live rock some snails and anemones for FREE(clap). It just happened that i was going to the coast saturday, so i went to pick it up after we were done playing for the day. I have never seen so many aiptasiaDOH!. I mean, this person hadn't done a water change in i dont know how long. the snails were luckily still be alive and there were 2 anemones that were holding on for life on the side of the glass. there was about 40 pounds of live rock completely covered with aiptasia. I mean, it was every were. on the glass, on the rock, on the sand, on the pump (they had inside the tank laying on the sand, wow(nutty)). ok, so live stock came out easy. but now i have about 40 pounds of live rock that i want to get rid of every one of these aiptasias. and most of them aren't little, they are huge. so, what is the best way (by best, i mean cheapest. cause man, im realy cheap) to get rid of these things. i was thinking about boiling them, or cooking them, I also saw the post about using bleach and such. theres not much algea on them, there must have been to much aiptasia on the rock for the algea to grow. this guy must of thought these little bastards were cute when he got his first LR. then 6 months later he was like :eek:. but, how can i beat free. and i was already at the beach. so, after everything on the rock is dead, should i cure it, or can i just add it to my tank that already has over 100 pounds of clean LR. never done this. A little advice would be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Allen Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Red Sea's new product, Aiptasia-X works better than any of the past solutions I have seen. You do have to target feed, but that is still easier than past methods. I literally saw one explode after inducing this stuff and it is no threat to corals. Personally I would not clear the entire tank in a single shot, but over a few days you could clear the tank of Aiptasia. I would also include water changes after each treatment. It costs about $10 per 2oz bottle which is about 100 treatments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef-fisher Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 a small torch would probably be your best bet, but then I wouldnt put it in your tank afterwords. Too much die off might create a cycle. That many could feed a racoon for a while as well as some peppermint shrimp. Hard to say not knowing your system. Do you have a quarantine tank set up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TankIt Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Aiptasia If you have a butterfly fish I would throw them in after you pry off the bigger ones. I do not think butterflys will go after aiptasia if they are too big. but taking the big ones off the rock is not that difficult, its pretty much like moving any other type of anemone.Or you could boil it and then "cook" it in saltwater for 6 weeks would be the cheapest but not the most timely. good luck(scary) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 the rock i have is currently soaking in my garage till i decide what i want to do with it. If i were to take a torch to this rock, i would literaly have to burn the entire surface. i should have taken a picture before i pulled it out of the tank. there were probably about 5000 of these little bastereds in a 15 gallon tank, that was filled with live rock. I am not exaggerating on the 5000. I already have an up and going reef tank, but i wanted to add a little rock to it, but I am for sure not adding this stuff. at least not until somthing is done about these little bastards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Do you have space in a freezer? Jmanrow (John) has said before that freezing the rock will kill the anemones. It is worth a try. Wrap one of the rocks up with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for a day or two. Take it out and put it in a bucket of saltwater to see if it cycles, and if it was effective. Then do the next rock. This won't cost you a thing, just your time. A month or so ago I got a rock that had about 50 mojano anemones on it. I used pickling lime (kalk) and a little water to make a paste. I smeared the paste on every anemone that I could find, then let it soak in a bucket of saltwater. I repeated the process each day until I couldn't find any more of the little suckers for three days in a row. Then I let the rock cycle in a spare 10g tank. I think that rock is in my sump now. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 freezing it sounds pretty good. Does that actualy kill all of them permenantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 freezing it sounds pretty good. Does that actualy kill all of them permenantly. I would think so... undead aptasia sounds scary (scary)(scary)(scary)(scary). I did not try the freezing approach. I only heard it from Jmanrow after I got rid of my "problem" rock. You can try it with one rock, then test it for a while to make sure that the aptasia stays dead. The only problem that I can see is that the water in the rock could expand and crack the rock open... Maybe Jmanrow can give some more information about this next time he is on. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 I would take it out and let it dry and die. Then scrub the heck out of it. You said ya have a 100 lbs of live so adding it back will reseed it anyway. If you want to boil, freeze or what ever,but NOT BLEACH, It's dead anyway. Scrub scrub scrub. I have torched them. Like the power to kill.(naughty) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 so if i scrub it down and let it dry out for a week, it should kill all the aiptasia on it right? how hardy are these things. can they survive in small damp crevases that may have water trapped in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 can they survive in small damp crevases that may have water trapped in there. yes! That is how they get into tanks to begin with. The rock is shipped damp, and the anemones ride in the dampness. You can try a multi-prong approach. Freeze, then dry, then scrub, then dry again... Just don't bleach. Once you have all the aptasia dead, then the rock may cycle again. Put it back into the CLEAN small tank that you bought it in for a month or so. Once that is done then it is ready for your tank. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 ok, so im going to scrub it, and rinse it with cold water. then let it dry out (i will rotate the rock to get all the water out) then i will freeze it. then i will soak it in cold water. then scrub it again. then rinse it again, and finally let it dry for about a week. now i should be ready to cycle it for a month (Should i add a small piece of my LR to it while it cycles?). then after a month, it should be ready for my tank. Does this sound good? thx, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 ok, so i figured before i scrubbed it the first time, I would take the propane torch and run it over the big aiptasia so it would make it easier to scrub them off. good thing i soaked it in fresh water, alot of worms and shrimp came out of all the cracks, i was like, WOW, then i torched them(flame). so much fun to torch them, snap crackle pop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 The little buggers are amazingly tough. A couple that I torched off eventually returned. Crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 Should i add a small piece of my LR to it while it cycles? Not needed, but if it makes you feel better about it, then there is no harm. It sounds like you are going to attack them from every angle. Good luck. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted September 7, 2008 Author Share Posted September 7, 2008 if this doesn't kill them, im going to break out the .45 or maybe gasoline. hehe burn baby burn(torch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 I would scrub the rock and then rinse it and then leave it to dry out completely. After a week or two you can start to re-cycle and if you throw in a small piece of LR to get it all seeded, it should speed up the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 have that aiptasia X ready when you put that rock back in! the stuff is amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Lol that it is. I have seen those [language filter] things survive on my garage floor in the middle of winter for 2 weeks. There was nothing left of them and the rock was completely dry. I put it back in a bucket of saltwater to re-cure and what do you know. 3 tiny tiny aptasia from what was left and dried up of the 1 that used to be there. TORCH THE BASTARDS!!! and to have some fun... pull out the .45... just be very very careful. Garrett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 WARNING Torches and Guns, at the same time may be Hazardous to there,,,,,,,,AH I mean your health(nono) Please send Pic's(clap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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