What Is This!?!?! (1 Viewer)

[CooP]

Please tell me what this is and if I should get it out?! I hate finding hitchhikers a but that's part if this hobby I guess... Sometimes you get something cool, sometimes you get something bad, so I am a bit worried when I don't know what it is. Thanks!

 

[Diesel]

They look like majanos, Very very very bad!

 

[CooP]

Awesome! I just put the rock and frags in this morning. Didn't notice anything but tonight seen this on the one piece of rock. I just put in quarantine tank. Is there anyway to kill it or should I somehow get the frag off the rock, or just chalk this one up as a loss? Thanks!

 

[BlackSS]

I think those are aptasia. Not as bad as montano, but still bad. If it's a small rock best bet would be to break the frag off and glue it somewhere else and let the rock dry out in the sun for a couple weeks.

You will ill likely battle them at some point regardless of what you do - but postponing it as long as possible is not a bad idea.

 

[CooP]

Well I will take it out of quarantine tank tomorrow and break frag loose. Do I need to worry about it being in my main tank since it was in there for like 9 hours?

 

[steveb]

I think those are aptasia. Not as bad as montano, but still bad. If it's a small rock best bet would be to break the frag off and glue it somewhere else and let the rock dry out in the sun for a couple weeks.

You will ill likely battle them at some point regardless of what you do - but postponing it as long as possible is not a bad idea.

I would get it out... I think aptasia as well. I super glued the crap out of one I had on a frag plug (made to look like rock - I hate those...).

 

[CooP]

Super glued??? Haha sounds interesting. I'm just gonna treat the rock after I get my frag off. Lesson learned on buying frags from someone I don't know too well...or that isn't on here....

 

[steveb]

ah it happens, its just one of those things. In my case the coral had encrusted on the man made rock already so seemed to be the best option given what I had available. Took a couple of times but I'm proud to say that particular aptasia is no more...

 

[CooP]

Ok so how'd did you do it? I'm almost worried mine has already encrusted a little. I have had time to actually look at it closely. Tomorrow when I get home from work I'm gonna see if I can break loose but if not I may have to try your super glue route. Until then it's staying in quarantine tank.

Thanks all for help! Man I hate when things aren't perfect all the time haha.

 

[cacarnold3]

Aptasia are one of those pesky critters that everyone sees at some point in this hobby. The problem with most of the removal methods is that they can retract extremely fast and you might think you have killed them only to have them pop up again after a week or so.

 

[CooP]

Well I'm just gonna play it safe and put that rock out of take for awhile and then before I use it again boil the heck out of it. Hopefully that will kill anything left in it. Just hope I can save this sps when I seperate it. Should I use the epoxy putty or glue? If glue where should I pick some up at, between clear lake and Kingwood? I have the putty, but no glue. Thanks again for the help!

 

[steveb]

Don't boil it. That can vaporize some very nasty things. Soak it in a solution of 1 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water for a couple of days. Then Rinse and let soak in ro/di for a couple of days. let it dry then give it a sniff test. If it still smells of bleach soak it some more ro/di and then let it dry again. Repeat until you no longer smell bleach.

 

[steveb]

Any cyanoacrylate gel will work. Dry the edge of the frag that will be mounted, dry the frag mount, put a dab of gel on the coral, a dab of gel on the mount, stick them together and submerge in tank water. Hold for a minute or two to let the gel cyanoacrylate set up.

I use this one from lowes but just about anything will work...

 

[cacarnold3]

Steve, I could be wrong, but I think he wanted to know how you super glued the aptasia.

 

[steveb]

LOL duhhhh.....Read The Message Dummy.... I touched it with tweezers to make it shrivel up, pulled the frag out and the squirted a bunch of gel all over it. put the frag back in the water. had to do it a couple of times but it finally quit coming back out.

 

[cacarnold3]

Good info to know. I have a couple of pesky buggers in my Kuda tank and the aptasia x isn't working. I did buy some muriatic acid to zap em but wanted to know just what I was doing before I attempted that one. This may be another option.

 

[steveb]

Are you going to zap them with acid in or out of the tank?

If in tank just be aware the HCL (muratic acid) can permanently lower your alk (as opposed to vinegar which is just temporary) requiring alk supplementation to bring it back up. If the volume of tank water to acid is very high I wouldn't worry about it but if its a nano or small tank I would watch it.

 

[cacarnold3]

Again, good information to know. Thanks Steve. I was told about the technique by Mark and Cat but forgot to ask how much to use (which is why I have held off entirely to date). Maybe I'll get lucky and one of them will chime in. If not, I'll send a pm. I had assumed it was a very small amount. It gets injected with a syringe into the aptasia. I like the idea of this because it is a pinpoint attack and the areas that I need aptasia removal are in my 27 gallon Kuda tank and on various zoa/paly frags. The ones on the frag plugs are really small. I've tried aptasia x but, it doesn't seem to work and it usually gets on at least one polyp causing problems.

 

[inigomontoya]

Well I'm just gonna play it safe and put that rock out of take for awhile and then before I use it again boil the heck out of it. Hopefully that will kill anything left in it. Just hope I can save this sps when I seperate it. Should I use the epoxy putty or glue? If glue where should I pick some up at, between clear lake and Kingwood? I have the putty, but no glue. Thanks again for the help!

Just wanted to stress his, "don't boil" comment. There are threads out there of people who boiled rocks that had some zoas/palys on it and inhaled the fumes and went into respiratory arrest. Bleaching is a great way to "kill" your live rock. Just rinse it a few times after and leave out in sun and then it is ready to re-use and it will pick up the beneficial bacteria after just a short time in your tank. I actually did this with the vast majority of my rock in my new tank to ensure no unwanted hitchhikers.

 

[CooP]

Wow thanks a lot all! Very helpful info! And thanks Steve, I needed to know both actually haha. I'm fixing to take frag off that small rock and put on another one. Then I'm gonna take that "bad" rock and inject muratic acid on each pest. After a few min I figure I can rinse off and let sit in sun for a day or so before letting it soak in ro water. This sound effective without ruining the rock?

I cant say thank you all enough, I'm still new at the saltwater side and definitely learning a lot here!