Kill The Aiptasias!!!

adpgibso · 08/07/2006, 05:55 PM

Who here has had much luck killing these things with peppermint shrimp, racoon butterflies, or Joe's Juice???

bkwudzjeep · 08/07/2006, 06:01 PM

I have used kalk paste with decent results....I then started to turn off my powerheads while I fed them....that helped too.

Just don't add too much at once.

avshockey311 · 08/07/2006, 07:03 PM

I have had pretty good luck injecting Pickling Lime and water.
1 tsp. Mrs Wages Pickling Lime, 2 tbsp. water, Microwave for 40 seconds, squirt onto aiptasia. Here again dont use too much at one time it raises ph. I usually kill 10 to 15 at a time.

ReefWreak · 08/07/2006, 11:41 PM

I've used Pickling Lime microwaved, I've used Joes Juice, and I never had them until I removed my peppermint shrimp because he started eating my trumpet/candycane corals (i.e. he used to eat them).

All are good suggestions, and all depend on how lazy you want to be. In my nano, I've debated on and off about adding a peppermint again, but just havn't gotten around to it. In my new 120, if I get them, I'm going to try a copperbanded butterfly, but if I start adding zoanthids, and he eats them, then he's gone. In my nano recently, I've just been using Joes Juice sucessfully. It's just a PITA, and they end up coming back anyways

.

joeycadre · 08/07/2006, 11:48 PM

i've killed many using joe's.

DaveBrader · 08/07/2006, 11:54 PM

I have had great luck with Peppermint shrimp, copper banded butterfly, and Pickling lime .... I just spotted about five anemonies in my main display again, so I have to move my copperband butterfly to the main tank from my coral prop tank again..... I must have gotten real lucky with this guy, he cleaned out about 100 anemonies from my coral prop tank, which got infested when I set it up. They came in on the live sand I put in the tank when I set it up. I have some in my sump too, and they never moved to my main tank, until I increased flow thru my sump back to the main tank. When I did that, I must have wooshed a few into my main tank.... I think it takes a combination of all three techniques, Peppermint shrimp, Copperband and Lime.... to get control of them, and some luck too..

Dave

reefD · 08/08/2006, 12:32 AM

all above ifo good but remember they grow from excess filtered nutrients so reduce filter feeding and keep water quality high. that means increase water volume. or lots of water changes. or less fish. or better filtration,,,,skimmer. this is an easy fix for sure. then when u get rid of the ones u have no more will sprout. once water quality is great they stop spreading ...then attacking them can workfor good

JJohn · 08/08/2006, 12:45 AM

I have tried everything and I always have one or two in my 75G. My best success method is the peppermint shrimp. Always confirm you are getting the right species as there are three that are remarkably similar looking. These guys are not without risk but highly effective. I move them into my overflow if they start becoming a problem.

Kalk, Joe's, and other solutions usually are only effective on the big aiptasias and often just result in five little ones growing where the big one was destroyed. Clean water and a shrimp keep them down to next to zero.

John

aclos3 · 08/08/2006, 01:32 AM

Our 125g reef was absolutely infested with aptasia, I'm talking thousands at its worst.

We tried Joe's, we tried the lime juice stuff, tried burying parts of the rock in the sand. Nothing was able to keep up with the rapid reproduction rate of the anemones.

It was getting out of hand, some had shafts that were over 1/2 inch in diameter!

So, in went 50 peppermint shrimp, some of those into the sump as well. The results were amazing. Within a month nearly all of the easily accessible ones were gone, and within another month, you could only find a couple of the monsters left that the shrimp couldnt get.

This is strictly an sps tank, so the shrimp didn't bother anything else. Now, we have tons of HUGE peppermint shrimp that eat flake fish food... they hide unless its feeding time, so I guess things could be worse.

I have heard mixed reviews about peppermint shrimp, in that sometimes they just don't want to eat the aiptasia. I can tell you though, these shrimp probably consumed 1000-2000 aiptasia within a month.

joeycadre · 08/08/2006, 01:35 AM

you guys need to look over your rock better

aclos3 · 08/08/2006, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by joeycadre
you guys need to look over your rock better

Actually there were quite a few aiptasia when we got the tank, and making some changes to the tank (fish, lights and feeding) was enough to send the aiptasia into a frenzy. We kept trying Joes juice and other chemicals while the problem just kept getting worse. Even if we could kill a few, there were many growing in places that couldn't be reached with the juice, and they just kept multiplying. Had the aiptasia invasion actually been hurting anything else in the tank, we would have moved more quickly.

MORAY69 · 08/08/2006, 03:10 AM

The best thing I've found so far is to cycle out the rocks for a freshwater soak for a few days. And recure.

bureau13 · 08/08/2006, 08:38 AM

I've just recently found two of the little pests sprouting in my tank. At one point I put 3 peppermint shrimp in as a preventative measure. I know I found one dead one...not sure what killed it but the Nassarius snales were all over its corpse. I just saw one the other day, so I have one, maybe two...but its a 240 gal tank. With only two anemones, I would think that would be fine...but how much territory do they cover? Maybe I need more of them, simply due to the area of rockwork in the tank?

jds

Sheol · 08/08/2006, 09:11 AM

Peppermint shrimp worked fine for me, but I only have a 36 gallon reef. I also now have a very tame shrimp that recognizes me at feeding time..

Matthew

JJohn · 08/08/2006, 10:53 AM

I added just two of the shrimps to my 75G. The numbers went from over 50 aiptasias to only one left that I can see. This reduction took about three weeks. I cannot imagine 50 shrimps in a single tank. I also can't imagine paying for all those shrimp but, to get rid of a plague....

Another thing to think about: Fish feeding practices have a big influence on how out of control these anemones get.

John

mwareing · 08/08/2006, 11:35 AM

Yes but ive heard you only buy wild Peppermint shrimps as they reconise the A and captive bread dont. Is that true????

Knoxville · 08/08/2006, 12:37 PM

Berghia Nudibranch have been known to be greatly succesful.

http://www.saltyunderground.com/index.htm

Maxxumless · 08/08/2006, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MORAY69
The best thing I've found so far is to cycle out the rocks for a freshwater soak for a few days. And recure.

Why pay for live rock then if youâ€™re going to kill 90% of the life on them? In that case you should just buy â€˜reef-bonesâ€™ â€“ then just cycle the tank with a dead shrimp. Then, u can always ask the pet store for shavings off a powerhead or glass of coralline algae.

newb · 08/08/2006, 01:12 PM

will it work? side effects? 5 gal buckett of ro/di with a VERY strong kalk mix, soak rock, scrub with brush and wash over with vinager. the vinager wash was from a diff post i read.he said it melted it right off if i rember right. at this point the aiptasias is closed so its a contact thing not injection. i have a small rock i can try the vinager thing tonight ill let u know how it turns out. kalk will be here in 7 to 10 working days.

TKByrnes · 08/08/2006, 01:23 PM

I always used calcium powder mixed in water and then in a needle! inject the stalk of the little buggers and they curl up and die right up infront of your eyes!

aclos3 · 08/08/2006, 01:47 PM

Ya, I don't know. He got some deal online for tons of them. Maybe it wasnt quite 50. It was at least 30 for sure.

Hop · 08/08/2006, 02:15 PM

a full 1-2cc Vinegar injected strait into the stalk via a syringe. You can almost hear them screaming

MORAY69 · 08/08/2006, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Why pay for live rock then if youâ€™re going to kill 90% of the life on them? In that case you should just buy â€˜reef-bonesâ€™ â€“ then just cycle the tank with a dead shrimp. Then, u can always ask the pet store for shavings off a powerhead or glass of coralline algae.

Everything that I wanted on the rock came back eventually anyways. I dont recomend you do it to all your rock at once. And not all of us like to shell out for the top quality rock. So we get the cheap stuff. Or make our own. I thought about it for a while before I decided to do it. No regrets. Of course, if you have corals and such attached to the rocks you can't really do this but if its just the rock with pests on it then why not? I'm not saying that it's the only way either. Just that it worked great for me.

Ciarán · 08/08/2006, 04:10 PM

Ive used ultra concentrated Calcium Chloride injected directly into the tissue of the Aiptasia, worked for me, though they never reproduced given the fact that all testable organics in my system are undetectable as i keep the bio-load really low.

adpgibso · 08/08/2006, 04:38 PM

I would say I'm gonna go the nudibranch way, I just purchased more live rock and I don't want that crap spreading

08/07/2006, 05:55 PM	#1
adpgibso Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bloomington, IN Posts: 228	Kill The Aiptasias!!! Who here has had much luck killing these things with peppermint shrimp, racoon butterflies, or Joe's Juice???

08/07/2006, 06:01 PM	#2
bkwudzjeep O\|\|\|\|\|\|\|O Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Central Florida Posts: 2,078	I have used kalk paste with decent results....I then started to turn off my powerheads while I fed them....that helped too. Just don't add too much at once. __________________ "You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead." ~Laurel and Hardy Current Tank Info: Taking a break for a while

08/07/2006, 07:03 PM	#3
avshockey311 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nebraska Posts: 1,643	I have had pretty good luck injecting Pickling Lime and water. 1 tsp. Mrs Wages Pickling Lime, 2 tbsp. water, Microwave for 40 seconds, squirt onto aiptasia. Here again dont use too much at one time it raises ph. I usually kill 10 to 15 at a time. __________________ Surgeon General's WARNING: This hobby may be addictive, and has also been known to drain bank accounts. Current Tank Info: 90 AGA MegaFlow, 120 lbs. LR, RedSea Berlin skimmer, 20 gallon sump, 2 150W Metal Halide

08/07/2006, 11:48 PM	#5
joeycadre Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: jackson Posts: 1,371	i've killed many using joe's. __________________ "it's not the heat, it's the humility" Current Tank Info: 90 gal. sps mostly. bubble master 200. pci cl-300 chiller

08/08/2006, 12:32 AM	#7
reefD Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Schenectady,New York Posts: 4,968	all above ifo good but remember they grow from excess filtered nutrients so reduce filter feeding and keep water quality high. that means increase water volume. or lots of water changes. or less fish. or better filtration,,,,skimmer. this is an easy fix for sure. then when u get rid of the ones u have no more will sprout. once water quality is great they stop spreading ...then attacking them can workfor good __________________ DAVID Current Tank Info: it has four sides and a bottom...oh yeah and it has water in it. lol

08/07/2006, 11:41 PM	#4
ReefWreak Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Astoria, NYC Posts: 10,159	I've used Pickling Lime microwaved, I've used Joes Juice, and I never had them until I removed my peppermint shrimp because he started eating my trumpet/candycane corals (i.e. he used to eat them). All are good suggestions, and all depend on how lazy you want to be. In my nano, I've debated on and off about adding a peppermint again, but just havn't gotten around to it. In my new 120, if I get them, I'm going to try a copperbanded butterfly, but if I start adding zoanthids, and he eats them, then he's gone. In my nano recently, I've just been using Joes Juice sucessfully. It's just a PITA, and they end up coming back anyways .

08/07/2006, 11:54 PM	#6
DaveBrader Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: St. George Utah Posts: 268	I have had great luck with Peppermint shrimp, copper banded butterfly, and Pickling lime .... I just spotted about five anemonies in my main display again, so I have to move my copperband butterfly to the main tank from my coral prop tank again..... I must have gotten real lucky with this guy, he cleaned out about 100 anemonies from my coral prop tank, which got infested when I set it up. They came in on the live sand I put in the tank when I set it up. I have some in my sump too, and they never moved to my main tank, until I increased flow thru my sump back to the main tank. When I did that, I must have wooshed a few into my main tank.... I think it takes a combination of all three techniques, Peppermint shrimp, Copperband and Lime.... to get control of them, and some luck too.. Dave

08/08/2006, 12:45 AM	#8
JJohn Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 229	I have tried everything and I always have one or two in my 75G. My best success method is the peppermint shrimp. Always confirm you are getting the right species as there are three that are remarkably similar looking. These guys are not without risk but highly effective. I move them into my overflow if they start becoming a problem. Kalk, Joe's, and other solutions usually are only effective on the big aiptasias and often just result in five little ones growing where the big one was destroyed. Clean water and a shrimp keep them down to next to zero. John

08/08/2006, 01:32 AM	#9
aclos3 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 394	Our 125g reef was absolutely infested with aptasia, I'm talking thousands at its worst. We tried Joe's, we tried the lime juice stuff, tried burying parts of the rock in the sand. Nothing was able to keep up with the rapid reproduction rate of the anemones. It was getting out of hand, some had shafts that were over 1/2 inch in diameter! So, in went 50 peppermint shrimp, some of those into the sump as well. The results were amazing. Within a month nearly all of the easily accessible ones were gone, and within another month, you could only find a couple of the monsters left that the shrimp couldnt get. This is strictly an sps tank, so the shrimp didn't bother anything else. Now, we have tons of HUGE peppermint shrimp that eat flake fish food... they hide unless its feeding time, so I guess things could be worse. I have heard mixed reviews about peppermint shrimp, in that sometimes they just don't want to eat the aiptasia. I can tell you though, these shrimp probably consumed 1000-2000 aiptasia within a month.

08/08/2006, 01:35 AM	#10
joeycadre Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: jackson Posts: 1,371	you guys need to look over your rock better __________________ "it's not the heat, it's the humility" Current Tank Info: 90 gal. sps mostly. bubble master 200. pci cl-300 chiller

08/08/2006, 03:10 AM	#12
MORAY69 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 52	The best thing I've found so far is to cycle out the rocks for a freshwater soak for a few days. And recure.

08/08/2006, 08:38 AM	#13
bureau13 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: South Florida Posts: 1,936	I've just recently found two of the little pests sprouting in my tank. At one point I put 3 peppermint shrimp in as a preventative measure. I know I found one dead one...not sure what killed it but the Nassarius snales were all over its corpse. I just saw one the other day, so I have one, maybe two...but its a 240 gal tank. With only two anemones, I would think that would be fine...but how much territory do they cover? Maybe I need more of them, simply due to the area of rockwork in the tank? jds

08/08/2006, 09:11 AM	#14
Sheol Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Waxahachie, Tx. Posts: 3,610	Peppermint shrimp worked fine for me, but I only have a 36 gallon reef. I also now have a very tame shrimp that recognizes me at feeding time.. Matthew

08/08/2006, 10:53 AM	#15
JJohn Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 229	I added just two of the shrimps to my 75G. The numbers went from over 50 aiptasias to only one left that I can see. This reduction took about three weeks. I cannot imagine 50 shrimps in a single tank. I also can't imagine paying for all those shrimp but, to get rid of a plague.... Another thing to think about: Fish feeding practices have a big influence on how out of control these anemones get. John

08/08/2006, 11:35 AM	#16
mwareing Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 25	Yes but ive heard you only buy wild Peppermint shrimps as they reconise the A and captive bread dont. Is that true????

08/08/2006, 12:37 PM	#17
Knoxville Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Home: Rock Hill, SC \| School: Greenville, NC Posts: 20	Berghia Nudibranch have been known to be greatly succesful. http://www.saltyunderground.com/index.htm

08/08/2006, 01:12 PM	#19
newb Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: ca Posts: 123	will it work? side effects? 5 gal buckett of ro/di with a VERY strong kalk mix, soak rock, scrub with brush and wash over with vinager. the vinager wash was from a diff post i read.he said it melted it right off if i rember right. at this point the aiptasias is closed so its a contact thing not injection. i have a small rock i can try the vinager thing tonight ill let u know how it turns out. kalk will be here in 7 to 10 working days.

08/08/2006, 01:23 PM	#20
TKByrnes Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Fairfield, PA Posts: 1,331	I always used calcium powder mixed in water and then in a needle! inject the stalk of the little buggers and they curl up and die right up infront of your eyes! __________________ Baby it was on sale half price I PROMISE!!!! Current Tank Info: 90 gal mixed reef-55 gal sump-mag 9.5 return pump-10 gal frag tank 15 gal refugium. 2x 150 watt HQI outer orbit 4x pc actinic

08/08/2006, 01:47 PM	#21
aclos3 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 394	Ya, I don't know. He got some deal online for tons of them. Maybe it wasnt quite 50. It was at least 30 for sure.

08/08/2006, 02:15 PM	#22
Hop Carpe Noctem!!! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Western Colorado Posts: 8,548	a full 1-2cc Vinegar injected strait into the stalk via a syringe. You can almost hear them screaming __________________ Hop Current Tank Info: 300-gallon in-wall system (mixed reef)

08/08/2006, 04:10 PM	#24
Ciarán Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Ireland Posts: 268	Ive used ultra concentrated Calcium Chloride injected directly into the tissue of the Aiptasia, worked for me, though they never reproduced given the fact that all testable organics in my system are undetectable as i keep the bio-load really low.

08/08/2006, 04:38 PM	#25
adpgibso Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bloomington, IN Posts: 228	I would say I'm gonna go the nudibranch way, I just purchased more live rock and I don't want that crap spreading