New live rock and aiptasia anemone.

[jphendren]

I am currently cycling my new 55 gallon FOWLR tank and today picked up another 9 pounds of live to put in. I put the rock in the tank and shortly later noticed that I had some small anemones on two of the larger rocks. I was stoked! I started researching how to care for them and found that they are considered a nuisance and can even kill your fish!

What should I do, there are no fish in the aquarium yet, the tank has only been running for 5 days. Should I just pull those rocks and let them dry out? Or will the ammonia spikes, nitrite spikes take care of them for me?

Jared

 

[sdergar]

When I was doing my cycle I had about 9 or 10 pieces. When the cycle was done I had a few more but I put in three peppermint shrimp and within about 4 days problem was solved. In fact one of the coral frags I bought had an aiptasia on it and overnight one of the three must of got it because it's not there anymore. And now they are keeping my tank clean as well...bonus...

Steve

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

... Should I just pull those rocks and let them dry out? ...

If you don't mind killing off whatever else is on the rock, that would definitely do the job!

Other option is to take the rock out and using a screwdriver try and pop that chunk of rock loose from the main part of the rock - removing the aiptasia along with its foot and the rock it's attached to. Do NOT try to scrape the aiptasia off... that will make matters worse. You want to remove the entire piece.

Since you're just starting to cycle the tank, I'd take care of it outside of the tank and not let it reproduce during your cycle. The ammonia/nitrites won't even make it flinch, let alone kill it.

 

[abdhalim2]

What should I do, there are no fish in the aquarium yet, the tank has only been running for 5 days. Jared

what did u meant by running...??? did u meant your tank in a water cycle process..???
thanx.....

 

[jphendren]

what did u meant by running...??? did u meant your tank in a water cycle process..???
thanx.....

My 55 has been filled with salt water and the filter turned on for five days. I am tempted just to let these two pieces of rock sit in the sun on my back porch for a few hours, none of my other pieces have any hitchhikers that I have noticed. Yeah, I realize that I will kill off those pieces, but they will come back in time, and with no problem organisms.

Would a dwarf lionfish eat peppermint shrimp?

Jared

 

[melosu58]

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "Aiptasia Removal Methods"

 

[abdhalim2]

have u cycle your tank...??? since u have sit your LR at your porch, there must be some dead bacteria..then u need to cycle back...u can read articles from this site on how to cycle your tank.....once your tank had cycle, you are good to go for fish....

 

[Jaybird]

peppermint shrimp can be hit-and-miss. The best way is to remove the rock around the nem or use kalk. I've used Joe's Juice (a pre-mixed kalk) on both aiptasia and majanos. It works really well. Just use the provided syringe and put it on the oral disk of the nem. Be generous with it and you will see it contract and disappear.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...I am tempted just to let these two pieces of rock sit in the sun on my back porch for a few hours, ...

Actually... a "few hours" probably won't kill them off. They're pretty resilient critters. A "few days" will probably do the trick though.

 

[Loso]

Lemon juice injected into the stalk. Kills them immediately

 

[mwilliams]

I have tried all three: Peppermint Shrimp, Copperbanded Butterfly & boiling water. Some are gone but I have one that is very stubburn and will not die and unfortunately I can not get the rock out of the tank because it is at the very bottom of the pile. And now some are popping back up on the rocks that I had put in boiling water.
However, I did lose the Copperband fish.

 

[Jaybird]

try Joe's Juice.

 

[mwilliams]

Can you do that in a established tank? And how do you do that?

 

[Jaybird]

Yes, you can do it in an established tank. The product comes with a small syringe and you load it with a little bit of the liquid, turn off all the pumps in the tank, and then put enough to cover the oral disk of the aiptasia or majano. If you have a lot of them, or a number of large ones, I would do it in stages and not all at once.

 

[mwilliams]

Thanks will do.

Mary

 

[Soundtrigger]

I take a syringe fill it with hotwater put it in the center of aiptasia and push it kills em good

 

[mwilliams]

I have been using a turkey baster with boiling water and squirt right on top of it and it keeps popping right back up. It is a very sturburn aiptasia.

 

[Soundtrigger]

Don't use a baster use an actual syringe right in there mouth

 

[jphendren]

I bought Aiptasia X, so I probably don't need to use anything else, but how hot should the water be?

Jared

 

[mwilliams]

Where can you buy these syringes at?