Aptasia X Trial with pictures

[TriggaFish99]

While at Frank's Tanks today I picked up a bottle of Aptasia X. Since I was in a picture taking mood, I figured I'd document how it worked with some pics. So far I only have pics of about 30-45 minutes after it's use.

So, here is the subjects just before the application of Aptasia X. I'm not sure why, but this is one of the best pics of the tank I've taken recently...freaking figures...can't take good pics of corals, but pests look great: Anyway, here it goes.

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I turned off all circulation and then squirted a dab on the heads of each. This is pretty much immediately after application..maybe up to 5 minutes.

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Here's what they looked like after about 30 minutes of the application.

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That's it for tonight. I hope this helps. I'll post some more tomorrow when the lights come on.

 

[FranktheTank]

Pretty good drive for you from Rockwall, huh? Looks like you got 'em!

I noticed I had one yesterday - my first one I've seen. I may get a peppermint shrimp and see if he will munch on it.

 

[TriggaFish99]

Ok. It's been 24 hours. My halides are off so the only pics I could take are with the flash or actinics.

So, the first pic is with the flash and the second is with the actinics.

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I could only get a decent picture of this one. The other one is in a hard spot. But I did see some black tentacles. I'm not sure I killed them or not yet. If figured that they would be gone or "evaporated by now. I hit about 10 or so. I haven't checked for all of them, but I did see a few of them too. They are all really black looking for aptasia.

I guess I'll see what they look like tomorrow.

Has anyone else have any experience with this stuff? Is this typical? Should I use more per head?

 

[Serk]

I've used the stuff extensively, but I use a lot more per head... I've never had to treat any one head more than two times before it was totally gone...

 

[DaveJ]

You're going to have to hit that one again... you didn't kill it the first time.

 

[Kay]

Brian, you say you use it extensively. I tried a little bottle and used it up quickly. I ordered a big one and am waiting for it. Am wondering just how much I can use without bothering chemical balance. I have a LOT of them. I could probably use a couple of big bottles and not kill them all.

Kay

 

[Serk]

Kay,
Okay, "extensively" is obviously related to how bad your aiptasia infestation is... :wink: In the course of the last 9 months I've gone through about 2/3 of a bottle, but that was spread out, a little here, a little there, in an at the time 300 gallon system, so I wasn't too worried about it causing any problems with the water...

 

[Kay]

Mine are mejanos. My rocks in back are covered, as I can't get to them. But they are trying to come to the front and get on the rocks, corals, clams, ect. They are really taking over. If this stuff doesn't work, I will have to tear my tank down and cook my rock, which is hard because all my sps are attached to the rock.

Kay

 

[MLord]

I have a half on/half off topic question...I have a few aptasia's in my tank around some of my zoanthids. Would this product be safe to use? If any of it got on the zoa's would they die?

 

[Serk]

@kindbuds wrote:

Your mileage may vary, etc, etc, etc, but I intentionally fed some to some zoanthids once just to see what would happen, and as I recall the zoanthids closed up for a few hours, and then were back out like nothing had happened...

Of course, these were zoanthids I didn't care if I lost, so if you used it around some $300 a polyp Purple Screaming Murder Bloody Alien Eye of Bob's, things might go differently... :wink:

 

[Kay]

I killed some in middle of the zoa's and it doesn't appear to have bothered them. They closed up for a little while, but the mejano died. The applicator makes it easy to aim it right at the mouth of the mejano.
I had to kill the mejano in the zoas or they would have taken over the zoas and did to some extent. You should just aim and shoot right at it.

Kay

 

[dynomonkey]

My experience is you need to apply more than once. They keep popping up in different locations in my tank.

 

[TriggaFish99]

Ok. Lesson learned...hit them with a lot of juice. Here's the result of not using enough. I guess I just "winged" him.

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So, the directions say to cover the "disk". That's what I did. I'll use more next time. It will be a day or so before I get back to doing it.

With that said, it seems like the only ones that I don't see anymore are the ones I didn't photograph. I'll do it again and post pics again.

I also have a Majano nestled snugly in some Zoas. I'll try to get some pics of that as well.

 

[Kay]

It's true they're going to have to be hit more than once. A week later I have some coming back and some new ones popping up where they've never been before.

Any advice on keeping my tank alive while cooking all my rocks? Would I need a whole new tank? That would give me an excuse to upgrade, but might also give my husband an excuse to kill me.

Seriously, how would you do it? Just set up a new tank somewhere else and put corals and new cured rock in, move lights, etc. to new tank, and let old tank go dark that is filled with mejanos/rocks? It would still be hard as there's some mejanos tucked away in my corals that are hard to see.

Why not just lower the salinity to something the mejanos can't live in? Wouldn't they die quicker then, say, 1.009, at what you hypo fish in?

Kay

 

[TriggaFish99]

Yep...the two in the pics came back. But they do have short tentacles now :shock: .


I'll restart the photo sequence when I hit them for the second time.

Thanks for looking.

 

[DaveJ]

@janakaybravo wrote:

I'd use the Bluelife or Joes Juice, or kalk paste... the problem with Aiptasia X is it looks like its working but if you don't catch them just right and they injest it, all it does is p them off and they go into spawn mode. At least that is my observation.

Focus on sections of Rock at a time instead of all at once. Smear them good with that and then wait a few days, move onto a new section. Just be persistent and slow with it and you'll see results. Nudi's work too, but that takes some time and you always run the risk of predation or them just dying off due to their sensitivity.

 

[Kay]

Thanks. The problem is I have them covering the back of my rocks and it is hard for me to physically is to get them back there. I do get rocks out and put them in another tank and let them die there (through darknesss and cold) the tank is in my basement. So I'm trying to keep the population down. Do you think it's possible to have a mejano free tank? I have an ich free tank and algae is under control, but these things are trying to take over. I'm going to upgrade anyway, so why not kill them all then if possible?

Kay

 

[DaveJ]

@janakaybravo wrote:

Hmmm.. if Mejanos are the problem, and you can't reach them about the only thing that could eliminate them other than replacing the rock would be a butterfly fish. There are a couple of species that are pretty much sure bets to eat them, but they do come with risks as they will also go after LPS. Generally SPS is safe, but they would eat LPS and zoanthids, palys etc like candy.

 

[Kay]

Yes, I've tried one and my pb tang wouldn't let it live. Maybe if I could get a couple of big ones and then the pb tang would have to let one of them live I hope.

Kay

 

[TriggaFish99]

Wow...It's been a while since I've done this. But here it goes. I hope I didn't wait too long and let the punk get to full health...

To be fair, I did use this a few times since...and have been successful. But I saved this guy because he's in the back of the tank and easy to get photos of him in action. So, he was nice and extended tonight...I think he was daring me to try to kill him. I couldn't pass it up.

BTW...finally got my camera back...long story...don't ask.

Here's the before pic:

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Then I hit him with a good dose of AptasiaX.

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I put the applicator right on his mouth and let him close around it. Then I did the deed. I shot that sucker full of AptasiaX. I may have squeezed a little too much too fast. It squirted out of him. I decided to leave a good bit on top of his mouth and his whole top.

Now we wait. I'll see what it looks like in a few days or so and keep you posted.

I also noticed tow things about the pics. First, the aptasia killed one of my mushrooms...not the end of the world. Two, the coralline algae grew quiet a lot since the last pic .