Aiptasia stinging 15 year old Scoly leading to demise

[SauceyReef]

My 15 year old Scoly is reacting very poorly to some aiptasia on its side. I’ve had berghias in the tank for quite a while now, but over months they still have not reached all the spots in my tank and the Scoly has progressively started turning for the worse. I must change my strategy to save it. I’m getting some aiptasia X after work in hopes to manually kill the aiptasia off. I’m just very scared of hitting the Scoly and doing more damage at a critical time. Any advice here is welcome! Should I dip in iodine? I have restor I’ve used already and it’s not doing much.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Can you actually scrape the aiptasia off in another cup of water and then dip well, then replace? Nothing else works like permanent removal. Hope it gets better for you.

 

[PedroYoung]

I've used AiptasiaX on/around blastos and haven't had any issues. I turn off all tank flow and use the angled tip included in the package to try and get in the aiptasia mouth. I've had to go back and hit the aiptasia again after a couple weeks occasionally if it doesn't kill it the first time, but have never had any ill effects on the corals (just keep it out of the mouth).

 

[SauceyReef]

Can you actually scrape the aiptasia off in another cup of water and then dip well, then replace? Nothing else works like permanent removal. Hope it gets better for you.

Somone recommended me this in another group just a bit ago, but forgot to mention to do it in another container. I scraped it off in the tank and washed off the razor with the piece I got off. Pretty dumb of me. Hopefully it doesnt cause to much of a outbreak from what already is happening, but the important thing is to get it off the scoly.

Should I now dip the scoly in iodine in attempt to heal any tissue damage? Definitely seeing a lot of skeleton on the side where the aiptasia was.

 

[Lavey29]

I've used aptasia x effectively in my tank in close proximity to corals with no issues. Even had little clumps land on a bunch of corals with no issues.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I would dip in the iodine (lugols) to be safe and it will help protect it a bit from infection. Key is in another container to prevent further infestation.

 

[SauceyReef]

My work hours arent allowing me to get to a reef store, so I am using amazon prime to get Aiptasia X ASAP. Do you think this is safe? Its the only $20 bottle, but looks like it is all in Chinese.

 

[SauceyReef]

I would dip in the iodine (lugols) to be safe and it will help protect it a bit from infection. Key is in another container to prevent further infestation.

Would seachem be okay?

 

[DeniseAndy]

As long as it is a iodine dip. I think that one is fine.

 

[TankCandy]

After you scrape off and use iodine. I would highly suggest adding a nice layer of super glue over the areas. Observe closely for the next few weeks incase a head pops out. If it does super glue over it when the piece is out of water.

 

[joefishtank]

Have you tried peppermint shrimp for aiptasia? It worked for me. At first I think it was just slowing the spread then I noticed a bigger aiptasia disappear. Then my white sponges disappeared. Then I found it dead, it got really fat though. I probably over feed my tank so it got obese and couldn't molt properly. If I see another aiptasia I'm buying one right away.

 

[SauceyReef]

Again I have berghias in the tank. They are just taking some time. I will never add peppermints again. In my 15 years in the hobby they have ALWAYS gone for a coral eventually.

Thank you for the help everyone.

 

[violetjones]

I know this is about aptasia and I am so sorry this is happening…maybe get an aptasia eating file fish?

On another note…you are one of the few people who have successfully kept a scoly for a long time…what do you feed? How often? Do you have on rock or in sand bed? I have never heard of someone keeping a scoly longer than two years. So cool.

 

[SauceyReef]

I appreciate that. I have heard a couple nice remarks also from fellow reefers in disbelief when I tell them its age. Also I told a very large coral vendor I had a 4"+ scoly and he absolutely did not believe me. The crazy thing is, when I got it 15 years ago it was 3". God only knows how old it really is before I had it, or before it got into the hobby. I was just speaking to my friend about this and we looked up online that apparently corals can live thousands of years in the right environment. Incredibly interesting to wonder what age can do to these guys. I have a thread somewhere here where it turned all these crazy colors under high par. It was originally a bleeding apple, turned purple, than went back to a bleeding apple under normal par. On page 1-3 you can see truly how remarkable the color changes got. At around page 4 it transitioned back to normal coloration.

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Sadly, after 15 years I had to rehome the scoly yesterday. It was doing poorly so fast, seemed to not react well to the iodine dip and me scraping/A.Xing the aiptasia. I gave it to somone close by who really is an incredible reefer and friend. I have high hopes he can save it and I think he does also, but I offered to let him keep it if he saves it. I am pretty defeated that this happened to say the least. I would rather give it away and give it a chance than keep and kill it. Hopefully it finds a way at living another 15 + years.

 

[SauceyReef]

I know this is about aptasia and I am so sorry this is happening…maybe get an aptasia eating file fish?

On another note…you are one of the few people who have successfully kept a scoly for a long time…what do you feed? How often? Do you have on rock or in sand bed? I have never heard of someone keeping a scoly longer than two years. So cool.

Best advice I can give you from my experience is they like to be fed heavily and dont do well with nutrients bottoming out. Anytime the feeders are big time out you can feed it. That can turn into almost every other day. They can tolerate very high nutrient levels and a high range of PARS when adjusted to the lights. They dont mind the sand-bed or rock, but too much flow can bother them. They are incredibly passive corals that dont do well being stung and dont really do much stinging.