jolliolli Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 hey guys, wondered if you could help me identify what this is appears to be some king of black fungus looking growth on my live rock and coral. Its isolated to only this piece of liverock, any ideas on what it is? what i should do about it? and how i can avoid it in the future? tank parameters are pH 8, alkalinity 8, ammonia, nitrite - 0, nitrate 10ppm, calcium 380, phosphate not sure but between 0 - 0.05 and am using phosphate remover. And yes that is a lot of aiptasia! i have a plague of it and i'm thiking of trying to inject it with boiling water or lemon juice, anyone else tried these methods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 That's a sponge. Only thing I've found particularly effective against aiptasia is sodium hydroxide. Nukes EVERYTHING it touches though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifty Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 looks like cyno to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 yeah me 2. black cyano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 That black stuff, or something very similar, appears in my tank from time to time, it doesn't spread very fast and i just syphon it. Does it break off in chunks and is white/grey underneath? There is a product from the shop called Joes Juice to kill aptaisia, you syringe a bit onto the head of each one they ingest it & die. However a big crop of them like you have can be a lot of work a biological control such as peppermint shrimp can be easier, they are for sale from time to time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 looks to be filamentous, i will try siphoning it off when i do a water change on the weekend and maybe cut back on the feedings... are different shrimp species compatible in the same tank? i currently have 2 cleaner shrimp so i'm wondering if peppermints would be ok with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 Yes they will be fine together. There is only so much aptaisia that a shrimp can eat though & you might be in a situation where there are enough aptaisia to breed faster than the shrimps can keep up so the idea would be to kill what you can manually to allow the shrimps to clean up what's left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 12, 2007 Report Share Posted September 12, 2007 I've had a very small blob (5mm x 5mm) of that appear (always in the same place) - it seems harmless, but I just syphon it off when it does appear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 ok well i'm going to try the inject with boiling water/lemon juice method on the weekend and see how that goes. The pics i saw on wetwebmedia of the lemon juice method looked pretty convincing, failing that i may try joes juice, but hey lemon juice is pretty cheap so i'll try that first. Will keep you all posted as to how it goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 ok well i'm going to try the inject with boiling water/lemon juice method on the weekend and see how that goes. The pics i saw on wetwebmedia of the lemon juice method looked pretty convincing, failing that i may try joes juice, but hey lemon juice is pretty cheap so i'll try that first. Will keep you all posted as to how it goes Yea, the boiling water method isn't too great - its hard to really 'Cook' the stalk and they just grow back. Some sort of systemic poison is the way to go - keen to hear if the lemon juice works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 hot lemon juice- mixed with kalk... bingo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 hot lemon juice- mixed with kalk... bingo Shaken or stirred, Mr Bond? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 cool i have some kalk here, will try the mix is there a certain ratio of lemon juice : kalkwasser? Now just to find somewhere that sells hypodermic needles that won't look at me like i'm some sort of junkie . Imagine explaining to them why you wanted the needle... Me : so yeah i have some anemomes in my tank and i want to inject them and kill them... Assistant: sure you do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 i was being factious... Use either kalk or lemon juice- they do the same thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilson Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 Me : so yeah i have some anemomes in my tank and i want to inject them and kill them... Assistant: sure you do... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 LOL i went on the lookout for a syringe and needle when i had aiptasia but didnt succeed. Go to the vets and see if you can get one off them, farmers usually use them to inject whatever they inject into cows etc. I know my Dad has/had some..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 Try joes juice, no need to get a needle, just get close and it will kill them. You might have to do it a few times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted September 13, 2007 Report Share Posted September 13, 2007 I found joes juice totally worthless. I use the syringe from one of my test kits. One of the ones I don't use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 Had a go using a syringe and boiling water to nuke the aiptasia and i think it worked pretty well, time will tell if they regrow... interestingly i found that my cleaner shrimp went round after the nuking eating all the leftover boiled pieces of aiptasia. Is this common? Before After Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 worked well. keep at it to they're all gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted September 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 yeah, i thought it went pretty well, i figure i'll take it rock by rock and keep at it. Today one of my clowns starting hosting my frogspawn so that made me happy too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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