Aiptasia?

[sreilly]

I had a huge problem with aiptasia a while back. You definately don't want to let them go as they will certainly take over the tank. I got so frustrated trying to kill them with aiptasia X that I ended up taking all the live rock out and replacing it. I heard good things about the Berghia, but never tried it. I let the infested rock dry out for a few months and then slowly added it back in. I also added an Aiptasia eating file fish to my tank which I think has helped control the noxious weed from coming back.

 

[giulianom]

Pickling lime (calcium hydroxide?) also works.

Get some from a supermarket, in the pickling supply area.

Mix some with water, suck it up in a syringe or pipette.

Feed it to the aiptasia, and they dissolve.


Of course you need physical access to the aiptasia...

 

[sir_cephalopod]

GiulianoM, If the peppermint shrimp don't work out, I would be in favor of using concentrated calcium hydroxide in this case. It's only live rock in a brute barrel, you do not have to worry about blasting corals or other animals in your tank with concentrated Ca(OH)2. You could even position the rock to make it easier to work with/inject into the aptasia polyp, possibly pull the rock out and make the kill. Pull out, put into another container with similar water perimeters, inject, and then return to the original brute barrel. However this would depend on the quantity that you need rid of, as this is a difficult solution to administer when their present in large numbers.

 

[giulianom]

Thanks... I've seen the shrimp go for the aiptasia when the water is calm, so I'll let them do their work for a while.

Otherwise, butane torch or lime will take care of the rest before the rock goes in the tank.

 

[swalke2]

FF337;695661 wrote: meant to swalke2 but cool.

Im going to get about 100 for my 120. I have about 75-100 aiptasia.

Want me to frag any for you?

Sorry missed that. I only added 2

 

[slowjazz]

BigJohn;695795 wrote: But what exactly is that they do? Do they attack corals? Produce poisons?

Pretty much link any anemone, they sting. The problem with this guy is that they grow VERY fast. If you bother it, it will release spores. Leave parts behind and it grows. So pretty much you can not pull, poke or scrape it in your tank. Some people actually let it grow.

Again, the issue it that it grows very fast. It can take over alot of your LR and kill everything around it.

I used pepper shrimps, but they take a while. (hit or miss) I also got aiptasia X and LOVE IT. Kills it right away.
Note: If you do buy or use chemicals, read how you need to use it.
I like aiptasia X because you only have to 'feed' it. Most other chemicals have to be injected into the stalk. (hot water, lemon juice ...ect) Not easy when the thing is in a hole and pops in and out.

 

[jrocker1]

I've used peppermint shrimp before too. They don't kill it all, but they keep it under control if they like to eat stuff. Not all seem to find them tasty. I've also heard of using a syringe to shoot boiling water into them directly. Won't have to add chemicals.

 

[slowjazz]

jrocker1;696633 wrote: I've used peppermint shrimp before too. They don't kill it all, but they keep it under control if they like to eat stuff. Not all seem to find them tasty. I've also heard of using a syringe to shoot boiling water into them directly. Won't have to add chemicals.

That or lemon juice. Only problem is that you have to inject it into the stalk. Not so hard if it is on a LR. Near impossible if it is in a hole. (sucks itself back into the hole as soon as you even get close to it) Plus.. to make it worse, if you freak it out, it will eject its spores.

Edit:

Sir.Cephalopod;696042 wrote: If you really want to stamp out aptasia, I recommend getting some Berghia nudibranchs. These little guys are ferocious consumers of aptasia. They will also reproduce well in your aquarium if there is enough aptasia to support the population. I have seen them reduce aptasia to nonexistent levels in tanks overrun by it, after all other biotic and abiotic solutions were tried. And not just sometimes as other biological fixes go, every time I have put them in a tank with aptasia, their numbers have increased while aptasia numbers have decreased.

always something in nature to take care of a problem Where would you get them tho? What would they eat if all the aptasia are gone? I'm thinking there is a catch somewhere. (otherwise they would be on the must have cuc list)

 

[giulianom]

Good news - I installed a timer on the pump, which turns it off for an hour, then back on for an hour - repeat for 24 hours.

After I did this, all of the Aiptasia that I could visibly see are now GONE.


Seems like the peppermint shrimp are more active and cover more area where the water is calm.
I haven't re-arranged the rock in the Brute to inspect other areas of the rock, but I suspect the other aiptasia are greatly reduced.

 

[tdam]

maybe i missed it in this thread, but are there any fish that will eat them?

 

[irahmatulla]

I had about 4 aiptaisia, all different colors. One peppermint shrimp picked them off. Took one out every other day. Now he enjoys small chuncks of raw shrimp. Cannibalistic freaks!

 

[dakota9]

Amici;696121 wrote: One thing I learned is that pepps wont go after large aiptasia. I had to cover the aiptasia with some kalk, the pepps would come clean up the pieces later and I think they then eat all the babies when they popped up.

Amici;696174 wrote: I usually saw my pepps go after pinky nail size and smaller. Anything bigger than that and I hit it with some kalk.

I had the absolute worst case of aptasia I'd ever seen, due to the failed attempts to fix the problem. The glass, overflow, rock and substrate were ALL covered.

I put 18 peps in a 30 cube, and within a month they were nearly gone. Within 2 months, they were completely gone, and the aptasia ranged in all sizes, from nearly half dollar size to pin head size.

It's interesting to watch the shrimps eat the aiptasia, they whip their front legs out and catch one tentacle of the aiptasia and pull it off. They keep doing this until the aptasia is denuded of stinging tentacles and then eat the center and foot.

I've seen large aptasia eaten by several shrimp at once. A true Aiptasia gangbang!

 

[giulianom]

Since most of the aiptasia are gone, I've been feeding the peppermint shrimp with some marine flake food.

It's really funny to see them all swarm out of their hiding spots, and swim upside down up at the water's surface to get at the food.


They only do this when the water's calm, though.

 

[chucker901]

tdam;697606 wrote: maybe i missed it in this thread, but are there any fish that will eat them?

There are some aiptasia eating filefish. I got one a week ago and he has demolished the 8 aiptasia I had.