Aptasia growing ON my leather?

D

Double M

Hey all,

I'm at work and don't have access to a picture, but upon close examination, it appears that a small glass anenome or aptasia is growing OUT of the base of my small leather. I know this seems highly unlikely and its probably just growing off the LR right at the base of the leather, but I swear it looks like its coming right out of the coral! I got the leather from a fellow member and this is the only aptasia I've seen in my tank, so I want to get rid of it.

I've read about a number of options for toxic gunk to inject into the aptasia: lemon juice, kalk, hot water, calcium crystals, vinegar, Joe's Juice... But I'm concerned that by injecting something into the aptasia, I'll risk harming the leather...having never had an aptasia problem, I'm just worried about them getting out of hand and a bit nervous about stabbing at my aqaurium with a toxic hypodermic! :shock:

Also, where does one aquire the requisite injector? Do I need an actual sharp metal needle for more pinpoint accuracy, or could I just use one of the 2 ml syringes and yellow tips from an old salifert test kit?

Any help or advice you could give is appreciated.
Thanks,
 
PM fish2morrow and ask if he's bringing peppermint shrimp to the next meeting. That's all you need.
 
A needle (drugstores will sell em to ya) with very hot water would be safe, that close to the leather. I like peppermints, too, so Gant's idea might work.
 
Products such as Joe's Juice or Elimi-Aiptasia usually come with an injector which is a syringe without a needle.

Here's a picture of the Joe's Juice applicator: http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=JJ1111
 
Well, I just so happened to be at the pharmacy today and they sold me a few 18 guage syringes for 13 cents each, so now I just have to decide what solution to use. I'm thinking that I'll start with boiling water (hopefully that won't be too hot for the plastic of the syringe) and see what happens from there. I assume I just aim for the mouth (center) of the disk, put it in about half way and squeeze.

This guy is on a small piece of loose live rock, so I could easily take it out of the tank to do the lethal injection, but I assume that the aptasia will shrink up or collapse if I try to do it out of water. Any thoughts?

I also assume that when (if) this melts down the bad guy that I need to syphon off any remaining residue. Any other specific technical advice is appreciated.
Thanks

Hey, look, I just noticed...I got my membership fishy in my header...I feel all official and stuff!
 
Dunno if this'll help with them deflating whem removed from the tank, but try feeding the Aptasia a Mysis or something first...

(Ya' know, the prisoner's final meal...)

The idea being it'll swallow the food, and then be too big to fully shrink down since it's got a large piece of undigested food in it's gut...
 
At first I tried Aiptasia Out by Chem Marin or something. I was pumped the first day because those little buggers withered up and fell off. I was not as pumped the next week when they doubled in number. :x

I got some peppermint shrimp from Robert (fish2morrow)...mostly so I could go see his tank. I put 10 of them in a 29 gallon, and the aiptaisia were gone the next day. It's been two months, and I haven't seen them since.

I hear good things about Joe's Juice, and the other remedies seem to work as well. I like the natural solution, when possible, especially for a tank my size. The shrimp are also entertaining, not to mention a good substitute for an iodine test kit (mine molt every 2 weeks).

Good luck!
 
I thought about purchasing a peppermint shrimp, but I only have one aptasia and it is new to the tank on new LR, so I'm hoping there won't be a major (if any) infestation.

I also think my Emerald Crab and/or my cleaner shrimp would try to eat him...any thoughts on their compatability in a 55 gal with many hiding places?

Jimm
 
I don't have alot of expreience wither, but my emerald crab and peppermint shrimp get along fine. I still have a couple aptasia though, so my shrimp is lazy.
 
@Double M wrote:
I thought about purchasing a peppermint shrimp said:
M, those are famous last words! Aiptaisia hitchike on live rock, get out of hand quickly, and can be difficult to eliminate (search for a few threads). It doesn't seem bad now because your tank is new and the anemone is probably small. But they can and will become a nuisance when you start to add more coral.

Don't buy them at the LFS. One of our members usually brings them to meetings and sells them cheap--look for a thread. They get along with everything in the tank and aren't predatory (unless one of your snails gets sick--then they devour them). They add diversity and have minimal impact on your tank. If someone picks on them, they'll hide during the day. Otherwise they'll pick your arm clean everytime it's in the water.
Click to expand...
 
Gant,

Thanks for your advice, but perhaps I misspoke, my tank is several years old with no previous history of aptasia (at least none that I've ever seen), I just got a new leather on about a 2" x 2" piece of LR and this is the only aptasia that I have (or at least) have seen thus far, so I'm wanting to kill this one and any little friends asap. I will definitely be taking your advice if I begin to see any signs of others after I nuke this one.

Any others have experience with Peppermints (which I assume are L. wurdemanni [or however you spell it]) and Mithrax and Skunk (white stripe) Cleaner Shrimp (L. Ambionensis)? I hope that they would behave themselves, but I know Mithrax are notorious pains in the behind!
 
M,

Sorry about that. If you've had a tank for several years with no aiptaisia, then you should share your secrets! 8)

I have a large cleaner, small coral banded, and about 8 peppermints, who all get along. The thieving cleaner shrimp steals food wherever he can (fish, anemone, coral, star, etc.), but he is not a problem. The royal gramma picks on the peppermints, so they spend their days hiding under the torch coral.
 
Well I haven't seen my royal gramma pick on the cleaner or the emerald, but he does get sassy with the much larger foxface from time to time-- go figure.

As for my anti-aptasia secret, I'll tell ya for a frag! :lol: j/k

I have a very low bio-load and change 20% each week and put in fresh carbon every week and feed pretty light...or maybe the green hair algae just out competes the aptasia...ha ha!
 
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