Aptasia in zoanthids

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DonW

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Is kalk paste going to kill a few of my zoas if I try to zap the aptasia living in the colony?

Don
 
Don, I've used it on Aiptasia in Zoanthid colonies and had mixed results. Most of the time, the Zoanthids close up for a few days and then fully recover. I have had a couple of times when a few surrounding Zoanthids didn't recover. I just nuked a couple that were in a zoanthid colony yesterday. I'll let you know the results in a day or so.
 
I would make the surrounding zoanthids close first with a finger then zap the aiptasia. This way, the zoas are less likely to take in the kalk.
 
If your very careful when apply it you might only loose a couple. I do it more than I'd like to admit, but aptasia's always seem to popup right in the middle of my eagle eyes.
 
If your very careful when apply it you might only loose a couple. I do it more than I'd like to admit, but aptasia's always seem to popup right in the middle of my eagle eyes.

Ditto - I do it all the time as well.... Can't think I've ever lost one to the practice yet, but I do try my best to only fill the head of the aiptasia with kalk, I'm not going to make a paste castle over it and burn a hole in the side of my zoas (the aiptasia seems to always be stuck to the side of a lovely zoa stalk)
 
Well, I said I would report the results and they aren't all that good. The entire colony closed up until today. The center area of the colony, where the aiptasia was, is entirely gone. I've nuked aiptasia within Zoanthid colonies before, but this is first time I've every had a serious problem with Zoanthids dying off because of it. Unfortunately, this was Madison's colony. It'll recover, but it did sustain a good hit.
 
I'll put in a word or two on Madison's Zoa colony!! When she saw her colony yesterday she wasn't happy about it. She asked what happened, but it was hard to explain to a 3 year old. Michael will need to break the rock down the center and then we'll have 2 colonies of her Zoas. I hope they survive cuz they are her favorite!!!
 
Madison's are a Morph to some Tubbs Blues we have. We just call them "Madison's Blues" cuz we can't seem to find a good description for them. I'm hoping when Michael breaks up the rock they will come back full force!!!
 
Madison's are a Morph to some Tubbs Blues we have. We just call them "Madison's Blues" cuz we can't seem to find a good description for them. I'm hoping when Michael breaks up the rock they will come back full force!!!
Well make them the "MAD BLUE" ZOOS LOL
 
Removing aptasia

One trick that I use that works well (If you can easily remove the colony/frag) is to take a razor blade and gently scrape at the aptasia, then dab at it with a dry paper towel.

It wicks them up surprisingly well and doesn't hurt the zoa at all. You have to be careful to get the whole thing scraped off though or it'll just grow back.
 
I just tried squirting an aptasia with very hot tank water using a syringe. I put some tank water in a plastic 1/4 measuring cup and microwaved it for 35 seconds. When I squirted the aptasia, it sucked itself up partially but doesn't look fully dead (can't see the polyp/mouth, but the tentacles are still there). If it comes back out, I'll do it again. I'm hoping the sucker dies.
 
Well the aptasia I squirted boiling hot water into lived. I squirted it directly in the mouth twice. It shriveled up for a couple of days and I apparently melted a few of its tentacles, but it is still alive...

Hmm, maybe joes juice and kalk paste are the only way to go. I don't have either yet, but will get some.
 
Well the aptasia I squirted boiling hot water into lived. I squirted it directly in the mouth twice. It shriveled up for a couple of days and I apparently melted a few of its tentacles, but it is still alive...

Hmm, maybe joes juice and kalk paste are the only way to go. I don't have either yet, but will get some.

I've tried the boiling water.. worked sort of on one, but it seemed to spread them. Two weeks after I did the boiling trick I seemed to have more!:eek: Barbie was telling me it sometimes works but sometimes spreads them. I got some Joes juice recently and it seems to work if you do it twice. First time I used it, three out of five of the buggers came back.
 
The problem with injecting Aptasia is they shoot spores and reproduce as a means of survival.

Its a pain in the arse. But best way is to remove rock and put in a single small tank with animals that eat aptasia, For example a butterfly or peppermnt shrimp in a Ten gallon.
 

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