aiptasia trial

[Ron Reefman]

I used to have a lot of aiptasia, but they didn't over run my system. I ended up getting a butterflyfish that ate all that I could see. The butterfly turned to lps corals many months later and is out of the tank. Now I have the first aiptasia I have seen in many months.

I'm considering taking a hypodermic syringe and injecting a small amount of hydrogen-peroxide into to it rather than playing with Aiptasia-X again. Has anybody else tried this? Any thoughts good or bad?

[A1t2o]

Just get peppermint shrimp in there. They will eat the aiptasia, and they are pretty cool to have in there.

[toothybugs]

I have not, but thought about it, and am following. I tried kalk pasting a few and think I missed one - where that one was, there are now 20 :P and no, the 3 peppermints I bought a week ago have not done anything to any of them yet.

[chimmike]

Pep shrimp are hit and miss. Get a handle on them now.

[Ron Reefman]

I've tried everything in the past, heck, I even started the laser idea, which is no better than the majano wand. And peppermint shrimp are only slightly better. And don't get me wrong, I'm not pulling my hair out. This is just one aiptasia. I've dealt with them before, it isn't a horror scene here. The Butterflyfish I had worked very well until it started eating lps coral after about 9 months. And Aiptasia-X works OK if you can get the paste to sit on the aiptasia.

But this idea occurred to me over the weekend and I've never heard of anybody doing it. So I'm looking for advise of injecting an aiptasia with hydrogen-peroxide, not for advise on how to get rid of aiptasia.

A1t2o, I appreciate the advise, but it isn't an answer to the question I posed.

[Jeff4777]

peppermint shrimp have never failed me yet with aiptasia. Just make sure to put in more than one to increase the odds of them going for it.

[broke1]

Peroxide I haven't tried, but Kalk paste was at least 90% effective per round. I would wait a few days and go at it again, I know it's a little twisted, but I kind of looked forward to it. I would usually do it right before lights out for a little PH boost through the night.

[Relativity]

One will turn into two and so on and so on and so on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkbeuln0TDw

[srope]

I no longer have any aptasia but have read recently about someone asking the same exact question. I see no reason why not to try the hydrogen peroxide. There where no comments on the person asking the same question but I shall look around thou. Good luck and let us know. A whole lot cheaper than Berghia by far.

[outssider]

I took a piece of rock out of my tank that had a 2" round spot of poclipora . I previously had broken off all branches so the only thing left on the rock was a round spot of live polyps. I dripped hydrogen peroxide directly on the spot for several minutes. I believed that the polyps were dead. I put the rock back in the tank and within several days the polys were back. so my conclusion was that hydrogen peroxide wont work for this. I ended up taking the rock out again and dripping muriatic acid on the spot, that worked. hydrogen peroxide may not work, but you can give it a shot......

[Pet Detective]

3 words Ron, Matted File Fish


Wiped out a severe aiptaisa invasion, & I don't exaggerate one iota, I tried: Berghia, expen$ive & vulnerable, never came close to ridding my tank, Peppermint shrimp, don't even get me started, although inexpensive, they are INEFFECTIVE, Joe's juice, sure for those 10-12 you can access, lemon juice, eh somewhat effective but same problem as Joe's, I almost went with the laser but the dangers for the corals, fish & myself outweighed the benefits & even still, any aiptasia embedded in a coral colony or around the corner are inaccessible, More Berghia (5 time$) they are so slow & in my experience never colonized enough to go aiptasia free, I used to find them in my filters & sumps, shrimp will predate them, as well as some fish + they are blind so that makes them clueless & completely vulnerable, Copper Banded Butterfly Fish x3, sooo hard to acclimate & to get to eat, only had 1 success story (6 months), went on a 3 day weekend trip, came home, floating..........Matted File Fish, ugly, sure, effective, unbelievably so, I was skeptical of course, the very first one I tried did the job in 3-4 weeks & this was no small job, I can't emphasize this enough, it will nip at corals but not to the point of damaging them, & this has been for at least 4 months now, so I feel safe with it in my reef.

[Ron Reefman]

Jeff4777, broke1, Relativity and Pet Detective, guys, I know how to get rid of aiptasia. The question is NOT how to do it. The question is "Will injecting an aiptasia with hydrogen-peroxide have any bad effects in the tank (180g DT, 400G system) or on the aiptasia (like, yes it kills it but then it spreads cells all over your tank).

srope and outssider, thanks for your input. BTW, I pulled a small rock with some zoas and some fine red algae out of my 65g shallow reef a few days ago. I dripped hydrogen-peroxide on the algae and let it sit out of the water for less than 10 minutes. The next day the algae looked awful and the next day it was all gone. I tried not to get it on the zoas and they all survived. I think it may be that your pocillopora was able to 'close up' it's polyps and not 'take in' any of the peroxide?

And when (if) I try it, I will post my results.

[Spartanman22]

I've tried peppermint shrimp but due to my flame hawk they didn't last through the night. I added two berghia to my frag tank, which had a few apstasia but have not seen them since nor have I seen a reduction. I have tried two separate matted filefish. Both were active and ate well on day one and we're dead by the end of day two. Both came from the same LFS so this may be a sourcing/collection issue.

I have tried the needle method with boiling water, but they all came back with a vengeance. I am going to try the needle method with vinegar or peroxide once I get back from vacation.

[Grayhead]

I had the same issues. Several hundred dollars trying peps and never seeing results. Finally rolled the dice with a matter file fish. 2 weeks later, all gone. They are over taking my overflow and refugium. Have not seen a single one in the display for 6 months now. I think he ate some of my zoas, but worth it to get rid of my problem. It's looks like a jungle in my over flow with them right now. They are of no concern to me anywhere but the display. Now if I can conquer bubble algae, I'll be very happy.

[BlackTip]

Those suckers don't go away. Aiptasia showed up on a frag I bought from LFS. Tried lime juice, hot water, and kalk paste. 4 tries, before it seamed to be gone. In the process, I injured my coral.

Bought some Zoas, and aiptasia showed up again. I put peppermint shrimp, but he didn't touch it. I took the rock and the frag and throw it away. Aiptasia, hydroids, and Bryosis are the devil's children.

[Pet Detective]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

Jeff4777, broke1, Relativity and Pet Detective, guys, I know how to get rid of aiptasia. The question is NOT how to do it. The question is "Will injecting an aiptasia with hydrogen-peroxide have any bad effects in the tank (180g DT, 400G system) or on the aiptasia (like, yes it kills it but then it spreads cells all over your tank).

srope and outssider, thanks for your input. BTW, I pulled a small rock with some zoas and some fine red algae out of my 65g shallow reef a few days ago. I dripped hydrogen-peroxide on the algae and let it sit out of the water for less than 10 minutes. The next day the algae looked awful and the next day it was all gone. I tried not to get it on the zoas and they all survived. I think it may be that your pocillopora was able to 'close up' it's polyps and not 'take in' any of the peroxide?

And when (if) I try it, I will post my results.

I'm thinking that a small amount injected into 1 aiptasia would have very little affect on the rest of your tank it's just H2-O2, 1 extra oxygen molecule, so really not an issue chemically.....of course I don't have a doctorate in chemistry, but I do have good instincts.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by Pet Detective

I'm thinking that a small amount injected into 1 aiptasia would have very little affect on the rest of your tank it's just H2-O2, 1 extra oxygen molecule, so really not an issue chemically.....of course I don't have a doctorate in chemistry, but I do have good instincts.

That's my thinking as well. But I do wonder about the peroxide killing the aiptasia but allowing live cells get loose in the tank and in a few weeks find new aiptasia everywhere. I'm going to do it in Thursday and I'll keep posting about it.

[Pet Detective]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

That's my thinking as well. But I do wonder about the peroxide killing the aiptasia but allowing live cells get loose in the tank and in a few weeks find new aiptasia everywhere. I'm going to do it in Thursday and I'll keep posting about it.

Yeah Ron, I always worry about that too, especially if the aiptasia implodes or explodes on any given removal attempt, my only issue with injecting is that usually not all the aiptasia are accessible to me, ie. under corals, behind the rock etc. etc.......please do keep us posted on the efficacy of this method.

[goliwala]

Originally Posted by chimmike

Pep shrimp are hit and miss. Get a handle on them now.

This statement is not true. Some people end up getting the wrong Pep Shrimp which does not eat aiptasia and think that its hit and miss.
Make sure that you purchase the Lysmata wurdemanni and not its Pacific cousins, Lysmata Californica and Rhynchocinetes durbanensis, which are less interested in Aiptasia.

[johnike]

A nice thick slurry of pickling lime in a big syringe works great as well.

[Ron Reefman]

Sometimes I wonder if some of the people here even bother to read any of the posts before they start to write?

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by chimmike

Pep shrimp are hit and miss. Get a handle on them now.

I agree. And "pseudo" peppermint shrimp (aka camel shrimp) are not reef safe.

[johnike]

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

Sometimes I wonder if some of the people here even bother to read any of the posts before they start to write?

Haven't tried peroxide.

[CuzzA]

Ron, it's not going to hurt your tank. If it doesn't work they're still going to spread, so why not do the experiment and report back. If it doesn't work you know you have quite a few different options still available.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by CuzzA

Ron, it's not going to hurt your tank. If it doesn't work they're still going to spread, so why not do the experiment and report back. If it doesn't work you know you have quite a few different options still available.

That was my original plan. But then I thought, what if it explodes and spreads live cells everywhere. It's just one now, and I think a small amount, like 5 or 10cc should kill it. So I thought I'd ask. Aiptasia have been such a PITA for so many reefers I though maybe somebody had tried it already. Better safe than sorry.

I will let everybody know what happens.