Aipstasia hitchhiker

[punctato]

I noticed that I have an Aipstasia hitchhiker in my live rock. I only see one. I have a question though. My tank is a FOWLR. I do not plan on putting any coral in the tank, just live rock and fish. Is there any reason I would need to get rid of the Aipstasia? It can't harm the fish... can it?
Thanks

 

[dawnm]

Keep it long as you dont have corals

 

[punctato]

So it will not really harm anything then?

 

[jrandolph1]

What if you do have a reef tank and about 10 of these little aipstasia thingies, how do you get rid of them? We bought a couple of peppermint shrimp yesterday b/c we heard they eat them but now we can't find them. I hope they didn't die. Sorry to butt in Punctato, but you had a good question and I couldn't help myself : )

 

[punctato]

No problem. I am just trying to get more info on these things! I actually think they are cool, but I know they will hurt other corals and many other things in the tank. I have a Punctato Butterfly fish in the tank. You would think it would eat the Aipstasia, but she doesn't seen interested in it. The butterflyfish is 4 years old now and doesn't eat anything but the prepared food I give her.

 

[big911dog]

the problem with aipstasia (well, ONE of the problems) is by the time you want to get rid of it, it will have spread everywhere and then you're dealing with a bigger problem.
joe's juice works pretty well i hear. you might get lucky with TRUE peppermint shrimp, but those are not 100%.

 

[cjml]

:happyfish Hello-I have some of those awful evil aptasia-but they are in spots I cannot get to-inside pockets of my live rock. And they are not big enough for me to get to. But so far they haven't spread. Peppermint shrimp, nudi branches, and some butterfly species are supposed to eat them. Or Joes juice if you can reach them. :happyfish

 

[punctato]

If I leave the Aipstasia alone, it might spread, but since I have no coral, there is no harm in that right?

 

[pettyhoe]

I was told hot water, buffer, and a syringe work great. Gonna try it soon. Its cheap and supposedly effective. Just mix about 10g worth of buffer in a pan, heat it up, and inject the aptasia with it, it will shrivel up and then GRAB IT, or it will colonize somewhere else. It shouldn't hurt anything, it just is a pest and grows everywhere. Along with being unsightly.

 

[punctato]

I don't really want to know how to get rid of it if I don't have to. Just want to know if it is really that bad for my situation.

 

[jrandolph1]

Well thank you everyone for the advice : ) I noticed that since we got the peppermint shrimp that one of the aipstasia is gone!!! SUCCESS!

 

[aztec reef]

Originally Posted by Punctato
I don't really want to know how to get rid of it if I don't have to. Just want to know if it is really that bad for my situation.
they're not bad for now, IMO i would get rid of it a.s.a.p before it starts to spread, They spread and also move around. sometimes you have one or two and you don't even notice. cuz is not in plain view. Get rid of it while you can or before you add corals at least. They might be kind of cool but believe me. they're Not .they're like weeds in lawn.

 

[jrandolph1]

Originally Posted by PettyHoe
I was told hot water, buffer, and a syringe work great. Gonna try it soon. Its cheap and supposedly effective. Just mix about 10g worth of buffer in a pan, heat it up, and inject the aptasia with it, it will shrivel up and then GRAB IT, or it will colonize somewhere else. It shouldn't hurt anything, it just is a pest and grows everywhere. Along with being unsightly.

So when you say they will shrivill up then grab them do you mean right away. I am going to try this method in about 10 minutes but I don't think anyone will reply quick enough so I guess we will see what happens. Success was the wrong word cause it had just moved somewhere else. I hate this crap and now it is like really close to some pulsing xenias. Anyway I'll let everyone know what the outcome is to this experiment.