I've got the aiptasia!

[Jason Donohoe]

I have a zoa colony that seemed to be regressing over the last week. It has been in the tank for aprox 4 months and doing well until now. This morning I found a single aiptasia growing in the centre of it. I can't find any more in the tank but I know that doesn't mean they aren't there and growing.

I am considerring the following:

1. pitching the zoa colony and watching for new aiptasia in the
tank

2. moving the zoa's to QT and kalking the little ba%&$#d!

3. adding some peppermint shrimp to the tank just in case.

Any thoughts, comments or personal experiences appreciated.

[Sugar Magnolia]

#2 would be a good choice.

[lawdog]

Aips are annoying but no need to toss a good colony of zoas for one little Aip! I would get some Aiptasia X and kill the sucker (or kalk paste) and I would also add a couple of peppermint shrimp for control purposes (like 3). They are neat to watch anyways and will clean up any stowaways you may not see and will keep them in check if they start to multiply on you.

[Jason Donohoe]

Thanks for the replies. The zoas have been moved to the QT and I'll be looking for some new shrimp later this week.

[crvz]

2 and 3 are good choices, i've had good success as aiptasia control with peppermint shrimp.

[bubbly]

Here's the easiest solution:

Go to Target or another store with a pharmacy and ask them for syringes -- they cost about a quarter or something like that.

Get some lemons and squeeze the juice out.

Heat the juice until hot (optional)

Inject the aiptasia with the lemon juice or even just boiling hot water / vinegar etc. -- I used vodka one time because I was going to dose it anyway.

You can inject at the bottom and the aiptasia will most likely let go and you can just suck it up with a turkey baster. Either way it's dead.

Aiptasia gone quickly and easily!

[faze07hd]

I SAY 2 AND 3 ALSO

[no_Wedge]

I have had about 3 aptasia in my tank for a while now, they havn't gotten really any bigger, and havn't spread, so I just leave them alone.

[Jay180reef]

I'm more worried about the xenia and the kenya tree spreading than the 3 tiny little aiptasia in my tank.

[gsxr750]

i totaly agree with bubbly. Ive tried aiptasia X and pepperment shrimp and it did not work at all. Lemon/lime juice or boiling vinegar works the best.

[bubbly]

Originally posted by no_Wedge
I have had about 3 aptasia in my tank for a while now, they havn't gotten really any bigger, and havn't spread, so I just leave them alone.

That can work if you are very low on nutrients, but the likelihood is that they are making little tiny ones that will hide out somewhere and grow big eventually and put out more tiny baby aiptasia.

I find that aiptasia can be very hard to see until they get pretty large, and it's easy for them to hide out in a corner somewhere.

So if you can see some, there are more you can't see. And next time you have a nutrient spike, they will all be ready to reproduce.

Kill them now.

[snorvich]

Well if you want to kill stuff that is a pest (aiptasia, xenia, mushrooms, whatever) mix up a paste of pickling lime/kalk, RO water, and glycerol. Make sure it has the consistency of paste. Use a small syringe (e.g. 10 ml) and fill it with the paste. Cover the item with the paste while turning off ALL flow for 25 minutes. Voila. Nuclear destruction (pun intended)

[bubbly]

Originally posted by snorvich
Well if you want to kill stuff that is a pest (aiptasia, xenia, mushrooms, whatever) mix up a paste of pickling lime/kalk, RO water, and glycerol.

Glycerol!!

That is wonderful -- I was looking for something that would help turn the "aiptasia destructor" into a mucous-like substance so that it would help cling to it to ensure death. I worry that sometimes I might not kill the stuff entirely and it would send out little babies as a last act of self-preservation.

I googled it and Glycerol is made by the algae in your corals naturally (it's a kind of sugar) so it's not poisonous to your reef tank -- I suppose that you might want not to overdose on the stuff since it might act like vodka and cause a bacterial bloom (I have no idea if it would do this, just speculating).

I wonder if that would work with lemon juice as well -- it would be great to create a blob of stuff that just sat there on the aiptasia, and lemon juice pretty much does this already which is why I like it.

[bubbly]

Sorry for the double post, but where do you buy glycerol?

I googled it and found that it's not as easily available as it used to be.

[SirVilhelm]

I've had great success with peppermint shrimp. I had a huge outbreak in my 80 gal. Threw in two peppermint shrimp and within the week all aptasia were gone. The only is I now have to feed my peppermint shrimp by hand now that they have exhausted all their food.

[OwenInAZ]

Fisher Scientific carries glycerol, but I'm not sure if they sell to the general public. www.fishersci.com

[thegrun]

I'd go with #1 and pitch it over to me!

[ALLANSAM]

we got a boater and used pickeling lime to get rid of ours.

[Gdevine]

What ever you you do with a caustic chemical will have the same affect on the zoa's as the aiptasia. Best bet, get yourself 4 to 6 peppermint shrimps and let them have at it! Plus you'll have a team of aiptasia killers in your tank for the future if any other pop up. Plus, these guys are great scavengers to boot.

[SirVilhelm]

Originally posted by Gdevine
What ever you you do with a caustic chemical will have the same affect on the zoa's as the aiptasia. Best bet, get yourself 4 to 6 peppermint shrimps and let them have at it! Plus you'll have a team of aiptasia killers in your tank for the future if any other pop up. Plus, these guys are great scavengers to boot.

I tried the boiling water technique and that would kill my target but three more would pop up in other parts in my tank. Battled them for two weeks before I through peppermint shrimp. It only took two in my 80gal to get rid of the 15 or so aiptasia I had in my tank, the best part is I am still aiptasia free!

[VP]

I've tried peppermint shrimp with no luck a couple of times but also read that there are different species of look-a-like shrimp sold as peppermints. Does anyone know the exact species that eat aiptasia and how we can tell if we are getting the correct ones for erradication of the aips?

[sanababit]

kill the little bastard before it spreads...

Sana

[SirVilhelm]

Originally posted by VP
I've tried peppermint shrimp with no luck a couple of times but also read that there are different species of look-a-like shrimp sold as peppermints. Does anyone know the exact species that eat aiptasia and how we can tell if we are getting the correct ones for erradication of the aips?

There are two types of peppermint shrimp.

Non eating aiptasia: Lysmata californica

Aiptasia eating: Lysmata wedemanni

They are extremely similar but if you look closely the stripe pattern is different between the two species. Also, The non-eating Lysmata Californica is a cold water shrimp and will not live very long in normal reef temperature.

Hope this helps!