Aiptasia gone wild?

wrongshui · 11/12/2007, 07:41 PM

It's taking over my reef!!! I've tried some localized ph changes, i.e. lemon juice, but it just seems to come back stronger.

I've tried 3 different peppermint shrimp, and they didnt do anything, but disappear after about 3 weeks... (Do brittle starfish/bta's eat them?)

Please help, it's really ruining my enjoyment of the darn tank.

Sorry, the search function has been down for a while, =(

Fishkeeper101 · 11/12/2007, 07:50 PM

You could try something like joe's juice, ive heard it works miracles (I personally have never tried it...)
I guess I was lucky. I had a "Peppermint" Shrimp that ate em... not really sure if thats what it was. LFS will tell you anything to get them out of the store.

shabreeson · 11/12/2007, 08:12 PM

what I did was use boiling water in a syringe, it worked and then I took it one step further and hypersalinated it with reef salt, salt crystals formed on their flesh(causing their cells to shrink and expand at the same time obliterating the cell wall), but I didn' t have any corals to worry about, so I would just use boiling water

If they turn another color(almost green) you got them

aim for the base of them as much as possible because if that part lives then they will come back.

luke33 · 11/12/2007, 08:34 PM

I couldn't get them to die for anything after 2yrs. I then boiled them in water.........no more aptasia. I only had a few though.

shabreeson · 11/12/2007, 09:08 PM

all you really needed to do was use boiling water in a syringe if you only had a few...shame you lost all those bacteria

plus if you use the boiling water they can't feel the area that you are burning quick enough (maybe bad heat receptors) so they just kinda sit there, sometimes the area that you hit them with expands so much it explodes, then you can inject them with the boiling water. I think the reason it works so well is because the dead tissue stays on them which leaves them very open for bacteria to eat them

play a little I'm the higher organism

mr slinky · 11/12/2007, 09:11 PM

boiling water in a syringe with white vinegar is the cheapest method i have done!!!

spanglish · 11/12/2007, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mr slinky
boiling water in a syringe with white vinegar is the cheapest method i have done!!!

I read a real horror story about someone nuking their tank
with the "vinegar" solution.

Joe's juice absolutely works. If you have a massive amount
of aiptasia, kill them (with Joe's juice) a little at a time. too
much at one time can "muck up" your water quality.

Spend a little money for the Joe's Juice. The thread I read
about vinegar talked about loosing thousands of dollars
worth of livestock trying to save a couple of bucks on Joe's
Juice.

skey44 · 11/12/2007, 10:37 PM

ISN'T JOE'S JUICE JUST KALK???

Ehaze · 11/12/2007, 11:25 PM

Joes juice kicks some ***... i love it

hybridgenius · 11/12/2007, 11:48 PM

get a few peppermint shrimps... BOY have i heard they do wonders

Ritten · 11/13/2007, 12:24 AM

I've had really good luck with Mrs Wages Pickle Lime. It's just Kalk. You can find it in the canning section of your grocery store. $2.00 for a large bag. Mix it with RODI water into a thick paste. Turn of your pumps and squirt the ap with the mixture. I think the reason I've had such good luck with this method is that you can get your mixture much thicker than joe's juice, giving time to really melt the little buggers.

Melody · 11/13/2007, 12:35 AM

The trick for me, was to get a large group of peppermint shrimp. You may get lucky and have a few that does indeed eat the nasty little aiptasia. I bought 15 for my 75 a week ago today and I only see 2 aips left. The peppermints are worth their weight in gold.

Ehaze · 11/13/2007, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by skey44
ISN'T JOE'S JUICE JUST KALK???

Is this true?

mr slinky · 11/13/2007, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by spanglish
I read a real horror story about someone nuking their tank
with the "vinegar" solution.

Joe's juice absolutely works. If you have a massive amount
of aiptasia, kill them (with Joe's juice) a little at a time. too
much at one time can "muck up" your water quality.

Spend a little money for the Joe's Juice. The thread I read
about vinegar talked about loosing thousands of dollars
worth of livestock trying to save a couple of bucks on Joe's
Juice.

I would like to read that as ive got sps , lps and softies etc and nothing was harmed !!!!

i have a recipe for a great method but im not sure i can give it away !!! as the source sells the bottles he gave me the recipe to get it out around here in Australia!!

LionFish-xS- · 11/13/2007, 02:15 AM

Copperband butterfly?

fishworm · 11/13/2007, 02:27 AM

I had a small outbreak of aiptasia in my 75. I added one peppermint shrimp and almost all the small ones are now gone. only been 2 weeks.

I had to remove the larger ones myself. but the shrimp seems to be doing the job so far.

what kind of fish do you have in your tank? anything that might be eating your shrimp? could they just be hiding somewhere?

uscharalph · 11/13/2007, 04:54 AM

Put about 5 Peppermint Shrimp in till it's taken care of.

spanglish · 11/13/2007, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by uscharalph
Put about 5 Peppermint Shrimp in till it's taken care of.

In addition to Joe's Juice, I have had luck with the peppermint
shrimp. My only complaint is that my peppermints have become
snail murderers. I can't keep snails anymore. Guess I'll
have to evict my aiptasia killers.

rmw4547 · 11/13/2007, 08:18 AM

after you hit them with boiling water then draw back in with the syringe and try to suck the little sh*t out. If you get a realy big syringe you can attach air hose to it so you can bend it to get them in the holes and cracks in the rock.

tcmfish · 11/13/2007, 08:59 AM

Like someone said before... Why not try a copperband butterfly and a few more shrimp. Or you could get another butterfly but not a bannerfish or anything and you would have to take it out later if you don't want it to eat other corals.

sunfish11 · 11/13/2007, 10:02 AM

Bear in mind that Copperband Butterfly are very difficult to keep and that once the aiptasia is gone (if the fish even eats it) you have a good chance of losing the fish.

Lisa

chrissreef · 11/13/2007, 11:20 AM

take out your corals and put a nice pretty butterfly fish in for a few weeks? =P

poor butterfly - just make sure he has a nice home after - i would hate being used like that myself =/

kazam · 11/13/2007, 12:15 PM

I had a major problem with them. First thing is that I did not think they were bad, until I did some reading. The thing that worked for me was peppermint shrimps. I tried joe's juice which work, but they always came back. I guess if I kept it up everyday with joe's juice it would have worked. I say go with the peppermints, maybe QT the peppermints with some rock which has some apteisia on it to see if they are going for it.

Derek

Lightsluvr · 11/13/2007, 12:20 PM

I have a single aiptasia that came into my tank with a SPS frag on a small rock. I can easily remove the rock to treat the aiptasia.
My LFS suggests that after I make sure there is no "escape" hole, that I just plug the Aiptasia's hole with a glob of super glue gel. Let it set and return the rock (and the prized SPS) back to the tank. That ought to kill the sucker. (?)
Has anybody tried this solution?

LL

skeeter-doc · 11/13/2007, 12:57 PM

I just got done using the kalk paste method on like 3 of my tanks and all Aptasia in them have disappeared.

woo-hoo!

11/12/2007, 07:41 PM	#1
wrongshui Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 14	Aiptasia gone wild? It's taking over my reef!!! I've tried some localized ph changes, i.e. lemon juice, but it just seems to come back stronger. I've tried 3 different peppermint shrimp, and they didnt do anything, but disappear after about 3 weeks... (Do brittle starfish/bta's eat them?) Please help, it's really ruining my enjoyment of the darn tank. Sorry, the search function has been down for a while, =(

11/12/2007, 08:12 PM	#3
shabreeson Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rockford, IL Posts: 761	what I did was use boiling water in a syringe, it worked and then I took it one step further and hypersalinated it with reef salt, salt crystals formed on their flesh(causing their cells to shrink and expand at the same time obliterating the cell wall), but I didn' t have any corals to worry about, so I would just use boiling water If they turn another color(almost green) you got them aim for the base of them as much as possible because if that part lives then they will come back. __________________ Regards, Mike Current Tank Info: 55 gallon mixed reef, 55 sump with a 20 gal refugium, 2 A. Allardi.,2 Bartlett's Anthias

11/12/2007, 09:08 PM	#5
shabreeson Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rockford, IL Posts: 761	all you really needed to do was use boiling water in a syringe if you only had a few...shame you lost all those bacteria plus if you use the boiling water they can't feel the area that you are burning quick enough (maybe bad heat receptors) so they just kinda sit there, sometimes the area that you hit them with expands so much it explodes, then you can inject them with the boiling water. I think the reason it works so well is because the dead tissue stays on them which leaves them very open for bacteria to eat them play a little I'm the higher organism __________________ Regards, Mike Current Tank Info: 55 gallon mixed reef, 55 sump with a 20 gal refugium, 2 A. Allardi.,2 Bartlett's Anthias

11/12/2007, 09:11 PM	#6
mr slinky Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: australia Posts: 19	boiling water in a syringe with white vinegar is the cheapest method i have done!!! __________________ 35gal cube ONE SICK TANK!!!!! Current Tank Info: 35g marine cube

11/12/2007, 10:37 PM	#8
skey44 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Taylors, SC Posts: 929	ISN'T JOE'S JUICE JUST KALK??? __________________ Just trying to enjoy a delicious slice of reef pie in the suburban jungle. -Scott Current Tank Info: 40 Breeder Dining Room Tank- 2 Kessil A160, Vortech MP10, Tunze Nanostream, Tunze 9004 skimmer, Marineland HOB, Eheim heater 34g Office Honeymoon Shallow Reef

11/12/2007, 07:50 PM	#2
Fishkeeper101 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Santa Cruz Posts: 38	You could try something like joe's juice, ive heard it works miracles (I personally have never tried it...) I guess I was lucky. I had a "Peppermint" Shrimp that ate em... not really sure if thats what it was. LFS will tell you anything to get them out of the store.

11/12/2007, 08:34 PM	#4
luke33 Moved On Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,375	I couldn't get them to die for anything after 2yrs. I then boiled them in water.........no more aptasia. I only had a few though.

11/12/2007, 11:25 PM	#9
Ehaze Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Thornton, Colorado Posts: 1,259	Joes juice kicks some ***... i love it __________________ 75g SPS tank, 30gal sump/refuge. Melev RO/DI, Coravue duel calc reactor, MSP 200 skimmer, 2 Vortech MP40, Mag drive 9.5 return, autotopoff.com ATO, 2 CoralVue 250W SE finished pendants(with 20k Radium bulbs), powered by 2x Icecap ballasts, controlled by a ACJR.

11/12/2007, 11:48 PM	#10
hybridgenius Moved On Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Boston Posts: 435	get a few peppermint shrimps... BOY have i heard they do wonders

11/13/2007, 12:24 AM	#11
Ritten Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2,164	I've had really good luck with Mrs Wages Pickle Lime. It's just Kalk. You can find it in the canning section of your grocery store. $2.00 for a large bag. Mix it with RODI water into a thick paste. Turn of your pumps and squirt the ap with the mixture. I think the reason I've had such good luck with this method is that you can get your mixture much thicker than joe's juice, giving time to really melt the little buggers.

11/13/2007, 12:35 AM	#12
Melody Registered Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Mississippi Posts: 928	The trick for me, was to get a large group of peppermint shrimp. You may get lucky and have a few that does indeed eat the nasty little aiptasia. I bought 15 for my 75 a week ago today and I only see 2 aips left. The peppermints are worth their weight in gold.

11/13/2007, 02:15 AM	#15
LionFish-xS- Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 83	Copperband butterfly?

11/13/2007, 02:27 AM	#16
fishworm Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Strafford, Missouri Posts: 154	I had a small outbreak of aiptasia in my 75. I added one peppermint shrimp and almost all the small ones are now gone. only been 2 weeks. I had to remove the larger ones myself. but the shrimp seems to be doing the job so far. what kind of fish do you have in your tank? anything that might be eating your shrimp? could they just be hiding somewhere? __________________ If it aint a cichlid, it aint worth eatin'. Yeah. Wait, what? Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef in the works. also have a 150 gallon FW tropheus/petrochromis tanks and a 125 gallon SA/CA cichlid tank.

11/13/2007, 04:54 AM	#17
uscharalph Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 1,248	Put about 5 Peppermint Shrimp in till it's taken care of. __________________ Ralph Mendoza Jr. Long Beach, CA Current Tank Info: 80 Gallon Reef Tank

11/13/2007, 08:18 AM	#19
rmw4547 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: ny Posts: 119	after you hit them with boiling water then draw back in with the syringe and try to suck the little sh*t out. If you get a realy big syringe you can attach air hose to it so you can bend it to get them in the holes and cracks in the rock.

11/13/2007, 08:59 AM	#20
tcmfish Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3,658	Like someone said before... Why not try a copperband butterfly and a few more shrimp. Or you could get another butterfly but not a bannerfish or anything and you would have to take it out later if you don't want it to eat other corals.

11/13/2007, 10:02 AM	#21
sunfish11 Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Weyauwega, WI Posts: 2,365	Bear in mind that Copperband Butterfly are very difficult to keep and that once the aiptasia is gone (if the fish even eats it) you have a good chance of losing the fish. Lisa

11/13/2007, 11:20 AM	#22
chrissreef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Dallas Posts: 1,252	take out your corals and put a nice pretty butterfly fish in for a few weeks? =P poor butterfly - just make sure he has a nice home after - i would hate being used like that myself =/ __________________ One's standard of living is determined by the size of their reef Learn and you continue to adapt, stop learning and you become obsolete We live with each other, not for ourselves, protect our planet Current Tank Info: 300g Starfire/Starboard A.G.E. mixed reef

11/13/2007, 12:15 PM	#23
kazam Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 44	I had a major problem with them. First thing is that I did not think they were bad, until I did some reading. The thing that worked for me was peppermint shrimps. I tried joe's juice which work, but they always came back. I guess if I kept it up everyday with joe's juice it would have worked. I say go with the peppermints, maybe QT the peppermints with some rock which has some apteisia on it to see if they are going for it. Derek

11/13/2007, 12:20 PM	#24
Lightsluvr Tangaroa to 500 gallons Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Edmond, OK Posts: 5,855	Super glue gel? I have a single aiptasia that came into my tank with a SPS frag on a small rock. I can easily remove the rock to treat the aiptasia. My LFS suggests that after I make sure there is no "escape" hole, that I just plug the Aiptasia's hole with a glob of super glue gel. Let it set and return the rock (and the prized SPS) back to the tank. That ought to kill the sucker. (?) Has anybody tried this solution? LL

11/13/2007, 12:57 PM	#25
skeeter-doc Moved On Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: TX Posts: 1,643	I just got done using the kalk paste method on like 3 of my tanks and all Aptasia in them have disappeared. woo-hoo!