Boil/dry rocks to kill Aiptasia?

[KyleC]

Hi Everyone,

So I'm a newbie both here and to SW Fish. Aquired a 300ltr tank complete with rock, some fish, inverts and coral. Unlucky for me it has Aiptasia.

I've read all the treatments but for one reason or another I don't think they're safe/practical.

Is it possible to cut my corals off and temporarily house them in QT tank. Then bleach/boil the rocks to kill the Aiptasia? Some are in the sand too -_-

Wanted peppermint shrimp but my puffer will eat them.

 

[laezur]

Boiling your rock is never a good idea in my opinion, so many possible aerosol's you can release that will harm you and other people in your home. No reason to do it, you can buy Aiptasia-X or cover them with glue/construction epoxy (just make sure you cover them entirely and don't leave any exposed). There are far better solutions to boiling your rocks.

 

[ilikefish69]

Boiling not a great option, can be dangerous if you have any kind of toxic corals on the rocks and end up in hospital. If you don’t have any wrasse, berghia nudibranch are an easy fix. Also could try the copperband butterfly fish, blue kleini, a couple freshwater fish that converted to saltwater will eat them. Best option is berghia , but of course the wrasse will pick them off before they have a chance

 

[ChiCity]

just get some berghia man,
you’ll need about 9 or 10

 

[italquam]

Please do not boil rocks , it is very dangerous and not worth it. You can use Aptasia X or get a Filefish , they eat it.

 

[KyleC]

Thanks everyone! OK so no boiling the rocks. I have quite a few, possibly too many rocks. Could it be worth a shot taking half out and leaving somewhere warm to dry for a few months?

Covering the Aiptasia would be difficult, so many are tucked under the rocks and in small crevices I can't reach. Might try injecting the larger ones with Aiptasia x to keep the numbers down.

Also begrungingly considering rehoming my puffer, that way I can get some peppermint shrimp. Might get a filefish too.

Berghia are a little out of my price range, at least for now - something I'll consider failing all else.

 

[Enderg60]

Honestly with such a small amount of rock with basically no corals...just start over. Leave the current rocks out to dry maybe bleach them. Grab some new live rock and add the old stuff back once its clean.

 

[mike550]

@KyleC Sorry to hear about aiptaisia. Couple of thoughts for you. First, Aiptasia-X works for me although I’ve heard good things about F-Aiptasia as well. So those might be helpful.

If you want to remove the rock I’ve been successful in cleaning them up from critters and pests by spraying them with hydrogen peroxide. I just use the 4% solution you can buy off the shelf. Rinse in fresh saltwater and back into the tank. There are a number of posts about how to clean rock with hydrogen peroxide. That said, if the rock is out of the water you can always glue over the aiptasia or try to remove and then spray

 

[BZOFIQ]

DO NOT...boil rocks.

 

[KyleC]

Honestly with such a small amount of rock with basically no corals...just start over. Leave the current rocks out to dry maybe bleach them. Grab some new live rock and add the old stuff back once its clean.

I suppose I'm just being precious over the little corals I do have. I couldn't bring myself to just dumping them. Maybe I'll try the QT tank with them for a while and then try clean the rock, get new sand etc.

 

[KyleC]

@KyleC Sorry to hear about aiptaisia. Couple of thoughts for you. First, Aiptasia-X works for me although I’ve heard good things about F-Aiptasia as well. So those might be helpful.

If you want to remove the rock I’ve been successful in cleaning them up from critters and pests by spraying them with hydrogen peroxide. I just use the 4% solution you can buy off the shelf. Rinse in fresh saltwater and back into the tank. There are a number of posts about how to clean rock with hydrogen peroxide. That said, if the rock is out of the water you can always glue over the aiptasia or try to remove and then spray

Thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to read up on those posts about hydrogen peroxide. Two pronged approach of spray and glueing over sounds effective.

 

[trainbob]

If you move your coral to another tank make sure they are clean of aiptasia or you might move them to your quarantine tank

 

[Timfish]

Just to reiterate, DO NOT HEAT OR BOIL ROCKS! Or anything else that's been submerged in a reef system. Palytoxin is actually made by a genus of dinoflagellates which potentially can be found on any marine substrate and in other animals besides pallies. Palytoxin is alsos thermostable so heat does not denature it and it can be aerosolized by boiling and potentially can kill you.

As far as the aiptasia just drying a day or two is enough to kill them but I would go with something to eat them as there is likely beneficial stuff on the rocks that would be better to save.

Molecular identification of Ostreopsis cf. ovata in filter feeders and putative predators

Ostreopsis ovata Fukuyo is a benthic dinoflagellate widespread from tropical to subtropical and warm temperate coastal areas world-wide. Since the spe…

www.sciencedirect.com

Palytoxin and Analogs: Biological and Ecological Effects

Palytoxin (PTX) is a potent marine toxin that was originally found in soft corals from tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean. Soon after, its occurrence was observed in numerous other marine organisms from the same ecological region. More recently, several ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[ilikefish69]

Berghia are a little out of my price range, at least for now - something I'll consider failing all else

Berghia Nudibranch for Sale

Aiptasia eating Berghia Nudibranch for sale

www.saltyunderground.com

Less than $20 a piece, if you don’t have any of their natural predators I don’t see why you couldn’t fix the problem with less than $100 spent. They are a great company also, 50% off sales every once in awhile, and not the “sale” price of some stuff that’s just marked down to normal market value. I mean sale like a $100 flame angel is $50 and so on, market value cut in half.

but ya sorry go with the berghia brother if u are able. My wrasse army has caused me to go other routes and I wish I could have gone with berghia. So simple

 

[Ocean_View]

Boiling not a great option, can be dangerous if you have any kind of toxic corals on the rocks and end up in hospital. If you don’t have any wrasse, berghia nudibranch are an easy fix. Also could try the copperband butterfly fish, blue kleini, a couple freshwater fish that converted to saltwater will eat them. Best option is berghia , but of course the wrasse will pick them off before they have a chance

By chance what freshwater fish that can convert will eat them am having this issue now as i have wrasse in my tank.

 

[Tamberav]

Even if you swapped all the rock, you could get returning Aiptasia, that **** will come back from a single cell floating in the water or chilling on the glass. You would have to do a complete tear down to be sure.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

purchase nudibranch Berghia x4-5

 

[KyleC]

Decided once I rehome my puffer I'm not going to do anything to the rocks. I've since found lita a critters living in them, featherduster worms, brittle stars etc so I'm just going to get some peppermint shrimp and hopefully they'll keep the Aiptasia under control plus I'll hit the bigger ones with Aiptasia-X. Just have to accept they're in my tank for good now!

 

[KyleC]

At some stage I will try Berghia, but for now, with the tank only setup a week since the move, I'm going to let things settle.

 

[enlighten]

maybe some one can correct me if i am wrong, but for the rocks without coral, couldnt OP put them in a dark tub for a few weeks to kill off all the pests? BRS calls it "cooking" but has nothing to do in the kitchen. You get a plastic garbage can with a lid, add saltwater, a heater, and air pump and let the rocks sit like that for 2-8 weeks with water changes. That should clear up the rocks?