Will I infect my friend - am I contagious?

[Lady Godiva]

I had an outbreak of aptasia in my tank when I got my rock. I got a Peppermint Shrimp and he's got it down to one. It's been under control for the last month +.

A friend is starting up a tank and has asked me for a sample of my sand. Is it possible to transmit the aptasia to the other tank in a small cup of my sand?

Karen

 

[dizzy]

Yes

 

[tazdevil]

That, and the dang things seem to be indestructable, surviving ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle! That is until my massive hair algae outbreak seemed to have a negative affect on them (great traded one problem for another :roll: ).

 

[danmhippo]

That, or you can turn up your tank temp to 95, which killed all aiptasia, majano, and flatworms in my tank, as well as countless corals.......

(Kids don't try this at home........)

 

[Bill2]

I think you are probably ok unless you give her rock and there is an aiptasia on there.

 

[SPC]

Posted by Dizzy:

Yes

-How did you reach this conclusion Dizzy?
Steve

 

[wade1]

If you capture a tentacle or part of a base of one of them then indeed they can be transferred. If you take deeper sand or sand from a sheltered place and make certain there are no aiptasia on it, then it won't be a problem. I will say, however, that your friend will get aiptasia at some point.... we all do! So, don't worry about the sand.

Wade

 

[dizzy]

Posted by Dizzy:

Yes

-How did you reach this conclusion Dizzy?
Steve

Steve you must not have read Lady Godiva question. It can only have one correct answer. Yes it is possible to transmit aptasia in a small cup of sand. Aptasia don't have to live on hard substrate. I have often seen them living in the sand. They are actually very easy to remove from the sand or the glass, compared to live rock. It is also possible that like many marine organisms aptasia start out very small and may not be visible to the naked eye.

How can you possibly think that it would be impossible to make such a tranfer?

 

[SPC]

Steve you must not have read Lady Godiva question.

Uh, I think I did, in fact I read it twice to make sure I understood her situation.

It can only have one correct answer. Yes it is possible to transmit aptasia in a small cup of sand. Aptasia don't have to live on hard substrate. I have often seen them living in the sand. They are actually very easy to remove from the sand or the glass, compared to live rock. It is also possible that like many marine organisms aptasia start out very small and may not be visible to the naked eye.
How can you possibly think that it would be impossible to make such a tranfer?

-Impossible? I don't recall posting that I thought it was impossible? I simply asked you how you reached the conclusion that you did. It seems by your above remarks that you have taken offense to this question, I'm sorry you feel that way.

Lady Godiva Posted:

I had an outbreak of aptasia in my tank when I got my rock. I got a Peppermint Shrimp and he's got it down to one. It's been under control for the last month +.
A friend is starting up a tank and has asked me for a sample of my sand. Is it possible to transmit the aptasia to the other tank in a small cup of my sand?

-First of all let me say that I understand that aptasia can live in the sand, and apparently Karen knew this too thus the reason for her question. I really wouldn't know how to answer this question with as much confidence as you seem to have on this subject dizzy. By the answer you gave you apparently don't believe that the aptasia problem in Karen's tank
being under control for the last month is a good bench mark to go by when considering sand transfer. So when would a transfer be considered safe in your opinion dizzy?
Steve

 

[Robf]

Perhaps what Dizzy meant is that it's an unacceptable risk to some folks. Myself included.

I wouldn't do it. You may be sharing a bit too much 'biodiversity'

Lady Godiva:

If your friend is just starting a tank, maybe holding off on sharing your sand can prevent your friend from entering the hobby with a handicap. Next thing you know, you'll be sharing syringes full of kalk paste. That just doesn't sound right. :lol:

JMHO,

R.

 

[SPC]

Posted by Robf:

Perhaps what Dizzy meant is that it's an unacceptable risk to some folks. Myself included.

I wouldn't do it. You may be sharing a bit too much 'biodiversity'

So do you ever share sand Rob with other reefers?
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I guess the real question would be is it probable rather than possible that she could transmit the aptasia by sand. In theory, it could be possible to transmit ich to another tank via sand since it spends one of its stages (can't remember which off the top of my head) there, but that usually isn't even a concern for most people.

 

[monkeyboy]

It's aiptasia folks, not hepatitis!

If you don't see any aiptasia in the sand that you wish to trade, and you haven't sliced/diced/mutilated any in the past week or so, i would not worry about it at all. There is a very slight and improbable chance that an aiptasia would show up in your friends tank, and if it does, i can't think of an easier place to remove one than in the sand.

 

[Robf]

Posted by Robf:

Perhaps what Dizzy meant is that it's an unacceptable risk to some folks. Myself included.

I wouldn't do it. You may be sharing a bit too much 'biodiversity'

So do you ever share sand Rob with other reefers?
Steve

Not sure if you're trying to catch me being a hyprocrite and question what *might* be in my sand, but no. I haven't shared sand. I have fished out many sphagetti worms and shared them, but no sand.

I hadn't noticed that the aiptasia situation had been under control for a month. Maybe I should pay a little closer attention.

R.

 

[dizzy]

Posted by Robf:

Perhaps what Dizzy meant is that it's an unacceptable risk to some folks. Myself included.

I wouldn't do it. You may be sharing a bit too much 'biodiversity'

So do you ever share sand Rob with other reefers?
Steve

Not sure if you're trying to catch me being a hyprocrite and question what *might* be in my sand, but no. I haven't shared sand. I have fished out many sphagetti worms and shared them, but no sand.

I hadn't noticed that the aiptasia situation had been under control for a month. Maybe I should pay a little closer attention.

R.

Lady Godiva said the peppermint shrimp had the aiptasa down to one. If she had said the peppermint shrimp had eliminated the aiptasia and she hadn't seen any in a month I think I would have felt differently, but it would still have to be considered within the realm of possibility. I personally don't like unwelcome hitchhikers, and I know for sure that some places are far too willing to past things on like flatworms and aiptasia without a warning.

 

[SPC]

Posted by dizzy:

If she had said the peppermint shrimp had eliminated the aiptasia and she hadn't seen any in a month I think I would have felt differently, but it would still have to be considered within the realm of possibility.

-So what you are saying is that if she hadn't seen any in a month then it would be ok to share some sand? I don't know about everyone else but in my reef there could definately be one aptasia hiding under a rock some place that I can't see. Am I to assume that it is never safe to share sand with another simply because there is this chance? I have seen flat worms in my tank in the past, how can I be sure that there aren't a few in places that I just can't see?
Steve

 

[dizzy]

-So what you are saying is that if she hadn't seen any in a month then it would be ok to share some sand? I don't know about everyone else but in my reef there could definately be one aptasia hiding under a rock some place that I can't see. Am I to assume that it is never safe to share sand with another simply because there is this chance? I have seen flat worms in my tank in the past, how can I be sure that there aren't a few in places that I just can't see?
Steve

Here's what I am saying. I am going to make it plain and simple for you. If you look in your tank and see even one aiptasia, then it is possible you could pass aiptasia on to someone else by sharing sand from that tank. It does not mean they will absolutely get aiptasia from your sand. I think the chances on getting aiptasia from someone who has some that are visible in the tank, are greater than the chances of getting aiptasia from someone that has never seen any in their tank. Same thing for flatworms, people who have them, spread them more easily than people who don't.

 

[Kalkbreath]

THIS LOOKS FUN! "is it possible? " Live sand........ .wild coral ............aquacultured coral..........Live rock.............snails .............crabs ..........live.fish ...........your hand.......Ocean water ........have the possibility............ BUT..Some of us might like to include at least one of these items in our reef tank. Please send us a photo of your tank..........dead coral and synthetic sea salt must look grand!
_________________
Love Lyrics Forum
_________________
us recession

 

[dizzy]

THIS LOOKS FUN! "is it possible? " Live sand........ .wild coral ............aquacultured coral..........Live rock.............snails .............crabs ..........live.fish ...........your hand.......Ocean water ........have the possibility............ BUT..Some of us might like to include at least one of these items in our reef tank. Please send us a photo of your tank..........dead coral and synthetic sea salt must look grand!

Ask and you shall receive Kalkbreath. This is a picture of my home tank. How many 18-year dealers still keep tanks at home? BTW Bob is laughing at you Kalk. This tank is 1.5 years old now and never had aptasia, flatworms, or a water partial.

 

[dizzy]

Here are a couple of more pictures. Pictured are C. argus and C. aurantonus, I also have a pair of royal grammas, a pair of Swissguards, a pair of neon gobies, a pair of yellow neon gobies, and a pair of red head gobies, and a lone banner cardinal I raised a couple of years ago.

In addition to never having a water change the tank has no skimmer, no refugium, no plenum, and I use straight tap water and kalk for topping off evaporation losses. I simply pull some of the purple macro algaes out when they start getting too long, usually about once a month. I tested water yesterday specific gravity was still at 1.023 and no salt has been intentionally added in 1.5 years. Ca was 450 Nitrate 0 PH 8.2 Alk was around 3 milli equivalents/liter. The fish get two good feeding per day. I also let my VHO bulbs go longer than I should have. I guess I'm just lazy and fish store owners are never home anyway.