Aiptasia/Majano Destruction

[ellebelle]

I've noticed that there have been a lot of questions about what Majanos/Aiptasias are and how to get rid of them. I myself have asked some of these questions, and thought that an illustrative example of what I did might help others who are trying to figure out how to get rid of theirs.

I. Discovery

I noticed my majano friends while I was photographing my new mandarin. They're pretty little guys, aren't they? Too bad they must BE DESTROYED.

II. Implements of Destruction

I went ahead and used Kalk (otherwise known as "Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime" instead of Joe's Juice. I made WAY more Kalk that was necessary because Eric put too much RO water in my cup. Basically, I just dumped in enough kalk to make a paste. (We're going to use the leftover on Eric's aiptasia).

III. The Process

I used a 3cc syringe with the largest possible hollow needle (courtesy of the genetics lab at a very important medical research center - shhhhh.)

Since the majanos were on an easily removable rock, I took it out of my tank and placed it in a small plastic bin with some tank water.

I squeezed a little bit of kalk over the majano. He opened up wide to eat it. Then he spit the kalk out. So then I just stabbed him a couple of times and injected some more kalk into it. Then I stabbed him a couple more times for good measure.

I used the turkey baster to suck up the now-liquified majanos (SUCCESS!) and the excess kalk. There are no photos of this that came out, but I used some very sharp medical tweezers to scrape the rock where the majano was. I dumped the water, gave the coral a quick saltwater bath and replaced it in my tank.

Happy, majano-free tank!

(Photos taken by Eric - he then followed the same process to kill some aiptasia growing on a rock of his zoanthids.)

 

[digitalreefer]

There's something very satisfying about this process. A quick note on the aftermath. The favia looks fine, and the zoas have all reopened with the exception of a few directly around the ground zero kalk area. They reopened in the time it took to create this post.

 

[bad coffee]

cool. thanks for the pics. They'll help out a lot of people!

B

 

[PalmTree]

Nice pics! You're right Eric. I get the same satisfying feeling after nuking some aptasias. Maybe we're sick! :scratchch

 

[digitalreefer]

:Up_to_som Maybe we are... maybe we are...

Woohoo 700 posts!

 

[LeslieS]

I finally convinced Jerry to get rid of the aptasia, but he still refuses to let me get rid of the mojanos!

 

[digitalreefer]

Now you have a picture tutorial so you can do it... ummm... just not when you're hungover :shhh:

 

[Paul B]

I have used that method besides injecting them with sulfuric acid (they just laughed) lemon juice (same reaction) Clorox (I think they liked it) copper and salt (They grew)
Now I just use a small rotary brush from a Dremmel. I put a small wooden handle on it and turn it into the little sucker. They just turn into smoke. I can't take out most of my rock so I do it in place. I got rid of about 50 of them and they did not come back. Now I just have to leave a picture of that wirebrush near the tank and they stay away :eek1: