Just like the title says I am wondering what would be the best way to remove this anemone from the mantle of my clam? It is the only one in my reef and I want to remove it before it invades the entire tank. I am worried about harming the clam so I need a method that will work without the need to move my clam as it is firmly attached to the LR. I thought about trying to inject a kalk slurry, but worry about hurting the clam in the process.
I suppose, if you can lift the clam out of the water for a second, and keep the aptasia laying down away from the mantle, you could dab the apt. with a Q-tip dipped in a thick kalk paste for a second, then dunk back into the tank. should kill it. and a quick swirl in the tank will rinse off and disperse the dab-o-kalk.
Joes juice or liquid calk in a syringe injected into the aptasia
[quote=“Porter, post:3, topic:1700”]
Joes juice or liquid calk in a syringe injected into the aptasia[/quote]
I like this idea, but how do I get my hands on a needle and syringe? Do they sell needles in drug stores? Sorry for the dumb question, but I have never shopped for needles before.
I wouldnt use joes juice or kalk anywhere near the clam. Ive seen too many of them die from ingesting that stuff when this is done.
Tank a really sharp knife or razor and tip the clam to one side and cut the byssal threads where they attach to the rock. This wont hurt the clam at all. The threads are like our hair or finger nails, it wont feel a thing. Just cut as far away from the clam as you can. Then remove the clam from the tank and scrape the aiptasia off of the shell. Have a container of tank water handy and then place the clam in it and scrub the shell where the aiptasia was to remove any cells left behind. Then back into the tank.
wouldn’t plain HOT water work in needle
[quote=“Chris_Barb, post:5, topic:1700”]
I wouldnt use joes juice or kalk anywhere near the clam. Ive seen too many of them die from ingesting that stuff when this is done.
Tank a really sharp knife or razor and tip the clam to one side and cut the byssal threads where they attach to the rock. This wont hurt the clam at all. The threads are like our hair or finger nails, it wont feel a thing. Just cut as far away from the clam as you can. Then remove the clam from the tank and scrape the aiptasia off of the shell. Have a container of tank water handy and then place the clam in it and scrub the shell where the aiptasia was to remove any cells left behind. Then back into the tank.[/quote]
Thanks for the advice Chris. I think I will try and remove the whole rock with the clam attached. I would feel terrible if I ended up killing the clam over a little anemone.
remember it only takes a little dab on the center of the apt to zap it. not big clouds of it to bury it in kalk. if you worry about the clam inhaling kalk, maybe set a power head near by blowing slowly over the clam to keep the kalk drift from its mantle or water pumping ports , then just a little drop of solution on the apt. I have used those skinny, fine point 1 ML droppers that come in Sea Chem bottled supplements. one drop at a time.
[quote=“kaptken, post:8, topic:1700”]
I have used those skinny, fine point 1 ML droppers that come in Sea Chem bottled supplements. one drop at a time.[/quote]
Neither have I but I have used syringe with a needle to inject Kalk into them
I would go with Chris on this one in this situation.
As far as worrying about what the kalk touches I have killed plenty of aptasia nested in the branches or base of other corals.(Again in this situation go with Chris’s advice. I am just stating this just for future reference) I typically kill the flow and wait a little bit for the flow to slow down, then I spray a thick kalk/ROwater slurry over top of the aptasia. The kalk falls to the bottom and if you pile it up around it with in 4-5 minutes it just melts through the whole animal. Then before returning the flow I use a small siphon tube(sometimes air line tubing) to remove the kalk and aptasia.
You know I have to say it Ellen… The way to keep aptasia off your clam is to stop introducing it to your tanks. 
QT works wonders for this. I only fight these little buggers in my qt and other people tanks.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:10, topic:1700”]
I would go with Chris on this one in this situation.
As far as worrying about what the kalk touches I have killed plenty of aptasia nested in the branches or base of other corals.(Again in this situation go with Chris’s advice. I am just stating this just for future reference) I typically kill the flow and wait a little bit for the flow to slow down, then I spray a thick kalk/ROwater slurry over top of the aptasia. The kalk falls to the bottom and if you pile it up around it with in 4-5 minutes it just melts through the whole animal. Then before returning the flow I use a small siphon tube(sometimes air line tubing) to remove the kalk and aptasia.
You know I have to say it Ellen… The way to keep aptasia off your clam is to stop introducing it to your tanks. QT works wonders for this. I only fight these little buggers in my qt and other people tanks.
I am sure you are right Jon, and I have turned my 39g into a qt/frag tank. All new corals/rocks now spend 4-6 weeks in this tank before being placed into my dt. I am tired of fighting the red planeria :-?
I have had this clam for a while now and I suspect the nem was already on the clam when I bought it. It was super tiny and hiding in between the scutes on the shell and i missed it. I have been watching it grow for at least a month now waiting to see if it was actually aiptasia or something else less harmful.
Thanks for all of the advice everyone. I will try and remove the invader this weekend when I have time to move some rocks around. Thankfully it is the only one in the tank.[/quote]
I read somewhere on another reef column today that someone was injecting lemon juice into the aptasia to kill it off… I am not recommending this, I just mention it as something you can research, and is relatively easy to find and cheap.
Why is it a cardinal sin to cycle a tank with damsels, yet perfectly fine to nuke this poor little anemone jsut trying to hang on for life? Is it because they aren’t pretty?
HJack
I be Hijack Beard the pirate, Arghh!
Argh! Pi-Rates! Always wondered why Pi are round?
It’s much like gardening. Weeds are only plants out of place and in the wrong setting when trying to highlight something else. they have their place in the wild with natural predators to control them. without control they become weeds. and serve no purpose as food. just take over the tank and muscle out the other good stuff minding its own business. so , you have to be the predator in a small , enclosed system without predators.
Or you could get a fish~
Reef Aquarium Farming News #7 p 1
the lime treatment is just an acid PH shock as opposed to the limewater caustic shock dose. i’m sure both large PH swing elements would harm the clam if ingested but still kill the aptasia. tank water flow can keep it away from the clams intake tube.
PS. the SeaChem 1 ML Eyedroppers have a much smaller point tube than those farm animal Hypo’s . about a 1mm opening at the tip.
I have extras, if you wunt??
[quote=“kaptken, post:14, topic:1700”]
Argh! Pi-Rates! Always wondered why Pi are round?
It’s much like gardening. Weeds are only plants out of place and in the wrong setting when trying to highlight something else. they have their place in the wild with natural predators to control them. without control they become weeds. and serve no purpose as food. just take over the tank and muscle out the other good stuff minding its own business. so , you have to be the predator in a small , enclosed system without predators.
Or you could get a fish~
Reef Aquarium Farming News #7 p 1
the lime treatment is just an acid PH shock as opposed to the limewater caustic shock dose. i’m sure both large PH swing elements would harm the clam if ingested but still kill the aptasia. tank water flow can keep it away from the clams intake tube.
PS. the SeaChem 1 ML Eyedroppers have a much smaller point tube than those farm animal Hypo’s . about a 1mm opening at the tip.
I have extras, if you wunt?? [/quote]
Thanks Kapten, I will let you know. I never thought removing one tiny aptasia would be stressing me so much. If it wasn’t attached to the clam it would be a no-brainer. I guess I have just been lucky over the years because this is the first time I have had to deal with one.
[quote=“ihuntinde, post:12, topic:1700”]
I read somewhere on another reef column today that someone was injecting lemon juice into the aptasia to kill it off… I am not recommending this, I just mention it as something you can research, and is relatively easy to find and cheap.[/quote]
Thanks for the tip ihuntinde. I have read this also along with the kalk injection. I think I am going to take the clam out still attached to the rock and attempt to scrape the nem off. With my luck I will be growing a whole tank full this time next year lOl
Oh, Ive never kept a clam, so im not sure. but can they come out of water or like a sponge get their water pump air locked if they come out of the water?
Ive been watching this but just havent commented.
I have to totally disagree about even thinking about using kalk or joes or any other “just squirt it and its done” method any where close to a clam.
Having success treating (killing) aiptasia with kalk thats close to or on acro’s or other corals is not the same as using this stuff closer to a higher form of invert. Clams constantly pump water over their gills at a high level and even a small amount of a caustic substance will burn their gills and kill them. Even if you have the flow set up to blow anything away the chances are too high that something bad will go wrong.
Make it easy on yourself and just remove the clam and scrape the aiptasia off.
Dr. Macs clams seemed to have some aptasia on them from his wholesaler when we one of ours a while back (don’t know if they still do and this certainly ISN’T a reason to NOT get clams from Dr. Macs, I’m very happy with the clams I got from him).
One of the clams had some aptisia on the front edge of the clam right by the mantle.
Just took the clam out and put him in a container with tank water and used a soft tooth brush and brushed the aptasia off and rinsed it in the container water. Did this a few times then stuck the clam back in.
Clam looked fine in a few seconds and haven’t seen the aptasia since.
[quote=“Jocephus, post:13, topic:1700”]
Why is it a cardinal sin to cycle a tank with damsels, yet perfectly fine to nuke this poor little anemone jsut trying to hang on for life? Is it because they aren’t pretty?[/quote]
If you like anemones I’ve got some rock I could sell you.