Any Aptaisia Assassins?

[dave green]

Do you have needle and will travel?

I'm evidently not smart enough to get rid of these buggers, so does someone in the Marietta area want to make a little coin killing mine off? (the aptaisia, not the other fish)

I like the idea of the pickling lime method, but don't trust myself with it (or the needle for that matter).

 

[coolsurf]

Have you tried Joe's Juice? Also a "True" Peppermint shrimp will also help tackle the problem. Just a couple things to consider.

 

[tgray3]

The last time i had an outbreak i used Joe's juice on every one that i could find and added a peppermint shrimp. After about 2 weeks they were all gone and i haven't seen one since.

 

[thanh386]

Try joe's juice. My peppermints and copperband has no taste for it ... i crap out on teh luck department with them.

 

[bclark7169]

Joes Juice and there is no needle just the aplicator tip and its a easy process. just squirt a small amount on the aptasia while it is open, squirt in the mouth and it will close up and eat the juice and it kills it.

 

[sj miller guy]

I've been battling this problem for years mainly in my 90 gallon. I can tell you a few things for sure.

You can find Copperband Butterflys that will totally get rid of thousands of aptasia in a matter of days. After a while he may or may not be able to not get satisfied and turn to your snails and some other inverts to eat. So Copperbands, can in fact be a cure however you need a good healthy fish that likes to eat them.

Joe's Juice does work to kill aptasia. However, it is NOT a permanent solution. I've gone through bottles and bottles of the stuff and I still have aptasia.

Peppermint shrimp are very affordable. I added 4 to my 90 gallon and have seen a steady decline in aptasia populations. Since the addition of the peppermints, I haven't used Joe's in probably 4 months and I have very few aptasia left.

 

[Reefplumber13]

lol i have 6 in my 90.. prolly a bit over kill but i like them alot i like to sit and watch then dance... yes they dance...

 

[sparky]

I added 3 to my 30 gal at the same time, I used to have the same problem

 

[Reefplumber13]

Barbara;346674 wrote: I too added 4 peps to my 90 and they totally cleaned out the aptasia in a matter of days. Also added 2 to my 20G upstairs and got the same result. If only the little buggers would eat the HA and cyano in the 20G upstairs.:sad: I guess it's time for a small Lawnmower Blenney up there!

he will take care of that for you and give you something to laugh at when you walk up to the tank and he looks at you like what you looking at... hu??????? lol i love my lil guy...well not so lil guess i should say fat guy dont tell him i said that it might hurt his feeling lol

 

[ralph atl]

pickling lime in a syringe like the ones that are in test kits. very, very easy. shut off all pumps. peppermints are "hit & miss".

 

[traylor23]

Aiptasia-X worked great for me. I highly recommend it.

 

[jennm]

+1 to Aiptasia X. It works much better than Joe's Juice. It's thicker and coats them better and they don't get a chance to expel their gametes and reproduce. That's what happened when I used Joe's Juice. They'd panic, expel their reproductive junk and a week later I'd have literally hundreds on the glass in my sell systems. After months of fighting with that, we switched to Aiptasia-X and never looked back.

The CB shrimp will likely kill peppermints (although they are an excellent natural control) and Copperbands are hit and miss - some will eat 'em, some won't.

Usually a "combination" tactic works best. Aiptasia-X AND peppermints etc. The chemical gets the main population and the pepps keep them gone if any babies spring up again.

Jenn

 

[chymos45]

+1 on the combo attack. Use chemical treatment to get the big ones, and pepps to prevent new ones from coming up or get the very small ones you may overlook.

 

[dv3]

kalk paste works just as good a joes juice or apstasia-x
als oheard boiling water works good but never tryed it

 

[zavala83]

One thing about using the Joe's juide is you want to make sure to cut off return pumps and power heads. Then only suck up a little bit into the serenge. Just enough to spray the mouth of it. I filled the serege full my first go round. Lesson learned. "Don't fill the whole thing" Any excess will be floating in your tank and may get on other corals.

 

[sj miller guy]

I added 2 and then 2 but most people I know add them at the same time.

It's a really good natural approach to the problem instead of putting more chemicals in your tank. Plus you only have to pay for them once. Until you are missing one or so and then you buy another.

 

[dave green]

Update:

I took the Joe's Juice after them today... Wow!

Hopefully they didn't shoot out the gametes... I guess we'll see pretty soon, huh?

 

[lees]

Kalkwasser through a syringe. I love doing em' in like that. LMK if you get anymore. I'll even bring my own arsenal.

 

[texhorns98]

I took a syringe (sans needle) and hit the three I had with lemon juice from a bottle. Got two of them to die right away, the larger one took another shot the next day before he bit the dust!

 

[eddie b_]

Get yourself a chevron butterfly i got one from Tim @ keen ,I had about thirty of those things wipe them out in about 4 days ,butterfly clean them out so good i was pulling them from the sump to feeed him . Don't dose chemicals unless you just have to, let nature take it's course. Be careful keep him full or he will nip at SPS.