What Are Those...

[Mikeb76]

Hello I'm look for some info on what this is growing in my tank. Should I keep it or get rid of it? If I should get rid of it, what's the best method? I do have some coral in the tank Zoe's | candy's | mushrooms


Thanks Mike

[Sugar Magnolia]

Can we get a picture?

[mcgyvr]

Eww... Thats a bad one..
I'd suggest a sledgehammer as there is no coming back from that one..

Err..wait.. A picture would help just in case its not what I think it is.. ;)
Or go here and see if its listed.. This has most of the common stuff and a thumbs up/down rating system
https://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/

[Mikeb76]

http://C:\Users\Tester\Desktop\20180912_154610.jpg

[Mikeb76]

Sorry about that.

[sacremon]

Aiptasia. The sledgehammer comment is still kind of relevant. Nasty stuff, grows like weeds and packs a powerful sting.

Aiptasia-X or some other similar product to burn them out.

[jlmawp]

That's Aiptasia for sure.

[Mikeb76]

Ya I had a few here and there and now I have a couple of rock full of it. Would I be able to take the rock out and scrub the stuff off?

[sacremon]

The question is whether or not you actually know where all it is right now. Some might be hiding on the backside of some rock. Also aiptasia has a tendency to be able to regrow from even a small portion of an animal. It is why products like Aiptasia-X are so popular, or people so desperate to try to get animals reputed to eat it (peppermint shrimp, copperband butterflies, one of the filefish are the typical ones).

[Mikeb76]

Kalkwasser - Also known as Calcium Hydroxide, kalkwasser is capable of killing Aiptasia. However, I don’t recommend this extermination tactic. In order to work, you must precisely fill the Aiptasia with a concentrated dose. If you try killing too many in this way, you can inadvertently raise your tank pH level, which is no good.

has one tired this method? I have a bottle of Kalkwasser and I have a 35 gallon tote that I could put the rock in and let it soak for a few ours to let the Aiptasia die off.

[Mikeb76]

my lFS said copperband butterflies are hard to keep alive, how true is that?

[lowtek]

I would remove the rock and let it dry if you can. I was lucky when I found some in my tank I just removed the rock and let it sit in the hot sun. It was a small piece of rock so no harm there.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

[sacremon]

from what I understand copperbands are indeed hard to keep alive. However, I would bet there are plenty of easier to keep butterflies that would eat the aiptasia, it is just they would eat other corals as well.

[Mikeb76]

Well the battle continues. Ive tried red seas Aiptasia-X, aiptasia fish(small one) 2 small peperment shrimp and dipped my rock in a bucket with a high does of kalkwaser. All that did was kill it for a few days turn my rock brown and the Aiptasia trippled ...

Lookd like i will need to take the rock out and let it sit in the sun for a few days. My question here is once the rock is clean of Aiptasia can I just add my rock back to the tank. Or do I need to (cycle) the rock again.

I seen a guy use a toruch to burn the Aiptasia off his rock. Might try that.

Any other suggestions.

[mcgyvr]

If you just treat a rock or 2 at a time there is no need to cycle the rock again..
The rest of the rock/tank surfaces will still contain sufficient bacterial populations to quickly process ammonia..

And yes you can pull the rock and hit the aiptasia with a propane torch or grill lighter or whatever and put it right back into the tank.. Do that outside in a well ventilated area

[crawlerman]

Next time I have an outbreak I'm going this route, mainly because it's a fricken laser beam. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2090418

[hkgar]

I would try a Matted Filefish. Mine did the job with Majano, similar to Aptasia.