Drying out Aiptasia

TrampledByEwoks

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2021
Messages
53
Reaction score
22
Location
St.Paul
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hi All!

I took in some cycled rock out of someone else's reef. I was buying a few coral off of him and mentioned he'd get rid of some rock as well because he was consolidating tanks. I know this is a usually frowned upon and well I am now paying the piper in a sense.

I am now about two months in of having the rock in my display and I am noticing some aiptasia here and there on it. I know I could get peppermint shrimp, the filefish, or a copperband to take care of them but I am wondering if I am able to just pull the rock and let it dry out for a few days and to kill the aiptasia and then put it back. All the aiptasia I can see are still centered on the one rock. I know this will cause some die off of bacteria, algae, and other things but I feel like the repercussions of that are worth it if it kills off all the aiptasia.

Wondering what others thoughts on this route may be!
 

CasperOe

In it to win it!
View Badges
Joined
Feb 14, 2022
Messages
3,261
Reaction score
5,736
Location
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Stick it in fresh water, that will kill it straight away! You can actually see it imploding, which is rather fun in a macabre kind of way! Beware though, I did it and I noticed an ammonia spike when i put it back in my tank - likely from all the dead aiptasia.

I did it in a "test tank" in a controlled environment though because i was curious if it could be done!
 
OP
OP
T

TrampledByEwoks

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Jul 28, 2021
Messages
53
Reaction score
22
Location
St.Paul
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Stick it in fresh water, that will kill it straight away! You can actually see it imploding, which is rather fun in a macabre kind of way! Beware though, I did it and I noticed an ammonia spike when i put it back in my tank - likely from all the dead aiptasia.

I did it in a "test tank" in a controlled environment though because i was curious if it could be done!
Sounds both effective and a little satisfying! Thanks for the response and will likely give this a try. Probably will pair it will a water change scheduled shortly after.
 

Quintin

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 31, 2023
Messages
171
Reaction score
227
Location
Lake Mary
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Stick it in fresh water, that will kill it straight away! You can actually see it imploding, which is rather fun in a macabre kind of way! Beware though, I did it and I noticed an ammonia spike when i put it back in my tank - likely from all the dead aiptasia.

I did it in a "test tank" in a controlled environment though because i was curious if it could be done!
Putting it in fresh water defeats the purpose of tanking rock from an existing system. The reason why you take rock from an established system is for the bacteria, micro fauna and flora to help you cycle your tank faster.

Now you going to dump it in fresh water and essentially kill off all the stuff on the surface of the rock you tried to import in the first place.

The ammonia spike is not just because of the aiptasia you are killing off but also all the beneficial stuff you tried to import..
 

Doctorgori

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 18, 2019
Messages
5,861
Reaction score
8,159
Location
Myrtle Beach
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
you can put the rock in hot sunlight, turn it every 20 min or so…. trust me, you can’t possibly kill off all the bacteria on rock by exposing it for a hour …. it will be set back with some surface die off but it will crank back up in a week or so
OR as stated put a mini torch to them,I’ve actually done that
 

Mechano

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 3, 2023
Messages
381
Reaction score
289
Location
London
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Why not just kalk paste or aptasiaX the ones on the rock with it out of water? Less damage to the live rock microfauna and less chance of a mini cycle. Just a thought.
 

The_Paradox

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
May 6, 2023
Messages
2,096
Reaction score
2,256
Location
On the Water
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Aiptasia is not that big of a deal if caught before it’s out of control. If it’s less than I dozen I would just skim over them with some superglue.
 

Jmp998

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
May 3, 2020
Messages
739
Reaction score
977
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
A brief freshwater dip will not eradicate Aiptasia in my experience. I have left them > 24 hours in a bucket of tap water with many surviving. Yes it did thin them out, but many survived.
 

HAVE YOU EVER KEPT A RARE/UNCOMMON FISH, CORAL, OR INVERT? SHOW IT OFF IN THE THREAD!

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
Back
Top