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Is this Dangerous?

Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
505
Are these little guys any threat to an octopus being stung? Sorry the image quality is kinda bad.
 

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I have those too. Everything in the tank avoids it like its fire! I have seen Legs touch it but she just flinches and moves the arm touching it. I have never personally touched it but a friend told me they will sting humans pretty bad.
 
That looks like aiptasia. It does bother octopuses and is quite a nuisance. I was able to eliminate mine by injecting boiling water into the center with a syringe (Colin's method). However, I had to have someone else distract my octopus so that she wouldn't get stuck by the needle.

There are preparations that can be used, but I don't know how octo safe they are. Joe'e Juice is a good one, and recently I've used Aiptasia-X by Red Sea very successfully.

I don't think I've heard of aiptasia stinging humans, but it might. Most people eliiminate them before they grow large.

Nancy
 
So i just went in there and cut a couple of them up with a knife. The only problem is that there are really tiny ones that are growing. So should i get some of that stuff you told me about?
 
bluespotocto;143900 said:
So i just went in there and cut a couple of them up with a knife. The only problem is that there are really tiny ones that are growing. So should i get some of that stuff you told me about?
The LAST thing you want to do is cut/tear/ rip them !! The tiniest piece will grow into another. They are a real pain. Either get a syringe and inject them with boiling water like Nancy said, or you can also use lemon juice.

Don't know if it would be feasible for you, but peppermint shrimp will devour them. I had aiptasia everywhere in my reef tank, bought a half dozen of the shrimp and within a couple of weeks there was not one to be found. You would need to put the rock/shrimp either in your fuge or a separate tank, cuz I don't the shrimp would last very long with your octo.
 
Aptasia are a nuisance that you should try to control and they spread like crazy. I have had the displeasure of having two kinds. One is relatively easy to control (Joe's Juice is my choice for initial eradication) and does not seem to effect humans. Once I put two of these in a 1.5 gallon just to see what would happen, there were hundreds after several months. Then there are the ones that have a larger central disk and do have a sting you can feel and are much harder to eradicate. I have these in one of my mantis tanks and every time I think I have killed them, they return. The only ones I have been able to eliminate are those I have been able to suck up in a turkey baster from the bottom substrate or after hitting them with one or another of the aptasia control formulas.

Peppermint shrimp will eat the newly formed and keep them controlled if you can keep one alive but don't seem to eat the ones with a central disk much larger than a pen point. There were two peps in Beldar's tank when she arrived. One is still on aptasia patrol, the other was too curious about an octopus.
 
Well i tried the boiling water and syringe and it kinda worked. It seemed if you didnt hit it right in the middle of it it wouldnt work. I am going to try again today. I am thinking of getting the red aptasia x. Does any one recommend it? I watched the video of it and it did actually make them implode.
 
Look for some of the reviews on a reef forum for people that have used the product before you buy it. So many of the nuisance removers don't work that it is well worth looking before buying.
 
Just to throw this out there... if it is stinging you, it may very well be a curly Q anemone. The arms look as if they have a "spiral" apearance in the second picture. I deal primarily with corals in my tanks, and I have never once been affected by touching an aptasia, and I have huge ones in my refugium (they are great filter feeders). Now thats not to say that you may just be mildly alergic to them and so felt the sting.
 

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