hmmm.... aiptasia or worm?

J

jay

New Member
I've done some searching online after I found some worm looking thing in my tank. It's hard to identify because it's tucked away in a natural small cave in my LR. It's a dull grey/purple color and has white spots/bands along it. It's length seems to be over 1.5inchs.

It looks like an exact copy of the attached image of aiptasia.



I can't seem to get a pic of it in my tank because it doesn't show it's self very often. It had a quick reflex when I tried grabbing it.

I'm stock on the idea of it begin a worm of some kind because there only seems to be one strand of it. Oddly, it's always in the same place.

Any thoughts?

Thx,
J
 
J

jay

New Member
Any thoughts on how to deal with something that hides in a small cave?

Since I have a FOLR tank I was thinking of maybe picking up a peppermint shrimp in hopes that the pest will get eaten.

If that doesn't work, next step would be JOE's Juice to irradicate it.

Does anyone else maybe have a game plan I should use to get rid of this pest?

Thx Gang,
J
 
T

The Kapenta Kid

New Member
If you can see it to photograph it, you can probably reach into the cave with a syringe and zap it. Joe's juice seems to work by all reports, but I find concentrated lime slurry works perfectly well and is a lot cheaper.
I never had any luck with the L. wuerdemani shrimp. Others have. I think it depends on the individual shrimp whether it will search out Aiptasia or not.
 
J

jay

New Member
That pic is one I found on the net, I can't seem to get a pic of the one I have because it's tucked away in a cave and only shows part of it's self from time to time.

Attached is a pic of the cave I'm referring to.



Because the pest in on the inside of the inner wall I can't see it's base, so I don't think I'd be able to get the needle into the right place to use Joe's Juice.

J
 
T

The Kapenta Kid

New Member
IMO, forget Joe's juice. Just use a regular 5mm water sampling syringe to blast lime slurry in its general direction. If it doesn't kill it outright it will probably do so after two or three applications--and the lime won't hurt your tank. You could use a lot of Joe's juice chasing an invisible target.
 
J

jay

New Member
The Kapenta Kid:
You could use a lot of Joe's juice chasing an invisible target.
Click to expand...
The Kapenta Kid,
You're right, the Joe's Juice could get pricey in the long run!!

I have a feeling that it's going to be an up stream battle to get rid of this thing! I'll give the lime juice a shot and try to keep you posted. I don't think I'll ever know if it dies or not just because it's so hard to see in the first place.

Thx Again!
J :cool1:
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
Can you guys post a link to the lime juice you are speaking of? All I can think of is the fake imitation lime juice in the plastic lime looking bottle.
 
J

johnanddawn

New Member
ie - a strong kalkwasser mix :) boiling hot water works too but....
jay i myself would take the rock out and use a tooth brush and simply scrub the little bugger out of there rinse in some salt water - problem solved, no chemicals
my favorite problem solver is an old tooth brush and a bucket of water - works every time and doesn't cost you anything but a bit of time playing in the tank
 
J

jay

New Member
Scrubbing the LR seems like a big job since I have so much LR. I'm going to try a little of everything that has been suggested.

For the LR that can be removed and scrubbed easily, I'll be doing just that. For other areas pieces of LR, I'll have to use HOT water, Lime Slurry, and Joe's Juice. Of course I'm not going to be using all of these things at the same time. It'll be over the course of 4-6 weeks with my regular weekly water changes.

As a preventative measure, I'm going to hope for the best and purchase a peppermint shrimp. If I'm lucky, I'll end up with one that loves aiptasia!

These pests have creped up on me as I beginning to see to see little cluster forming around the tank.

I'm going to try taking care of the one I posted a pic of, but the ones that bother me the most are the small clustered clear glass ones. Grrrrr

I never noticed them b4 because my vision wasn't so great. Just recently I got laser eye correction done, and WOW, now I see better than 20/20!!

J
 
J

jay

New Member
A buddy of mine had some joe's juice and I gave it a shot. WOW, it works fast. And if you use it correctly, you don't even need much for it to work. Just stick the needle right into the pest and 'lightly' squirt the Joe's Juice into it.

I'm going to try some of the other methods so time this week.

Jay

Ps. make sure to shake the bottle of Joe's Juice B4 using it.
 
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