Aiptasia On Clam--How Do I Kill It?
 

I've never had a problem with aiptasia, don't have a single one in my tank until now. Found a tiny one on the shell of a 2" maxima clam I added a couple of weeks ago. It's in a bad place, seems like when the clam closes it takes the aiptasia with it. Looks like it's probably on the shell but right close to the mantle. How do I get kill of this thing without harming the clam?

This one might be a job for epoxy. Hard to say for me though. Never been there yet.

What a smart aptasia :mrgreen: He knows exactly where to find good protection from a predator like you.

I took one off a clam shell with a scalpel.

:thumb: to the above.

+2.....paging Dr. Grizz:mrgreen:

You could always give the clam to me :mrgreen:

When I brought mine home i put it under a running tap and gave it a good scrub with a tooth brush. Didnt seem to bother it much and it opened right up when it was put in the tank.

Are you f'n kidding me?

I have heard this many times...personally It scares the crap out of me so I have yet to try it. The trick I assume is to not let any water enter the clam, so you just wash the shell. I tried to find a video on YouTube where a fellow reefer has this huge 20-30 lbs clam that he regularly washes in the sink!

Yeah but still, it's not going to happen. Maybe on a $60 run of the mill clam not on a $150 Cook Island.

Yeah I can see that not hurting anything as long as your not washing the flesh. But in this guys case it seems unpreventable judging by the location of the aptasia.

Sorry to hear about that thoough. I would definitely try the scalpel, or even a suringe with boiling water or mag jammed right into the stem.

Yupp, I'm with you on that! I would'nt either

Haha. I was thinking the same thing

Not to hijack but would live to see some
Pics of your black clam Wes

I've just scraped it off with my thumb nail. They come off really easy.

shut down the pump so there is no current, make the clam close and then put some aiptasiaX on the aiptasia. Don't put the current back right away, just give it a few minutes. That's what I do for mine. I tried scraping it off but part of it remained on the shell and returned. My clam has a lot of sponge covering its shell, so there is room for aiptasia to hide.

I always just remove the clam from the tank in a bucket of aquarium water then scrub or scrap off any aptasia or majano that I see with a tooth brush or blade. Afterwards I return the clam to the tank and discard the bucket of water. There were 5 or more aptasia on the derasa that I picked up from BWA but at least with a large smooth shell they were easy to get at. I've also left the clam in a QT tank for now so that I can wait and see if anymore pop up.

aptasia
 

scraping or cutting any aptasia is a great way to spread the pests.that's how i propagate my aptasia for my berghia.the best thing is to inject it with lemon juice,and then cover the base with a kalkwasser paste with the power heads off.do this in the daytime about 2 hours after feeding not at night

This sounds like my best bet.

Looks like I may have gotten the little b*stard. Scraped him with the tip of a utility knife blade gave it a quick brush and back into the tank. Lets just say the clam isn't too happy with me right now.