Aiptasia!
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: General Help
Forum Description: The place to ask about pest, problems, hitchhikers, etc.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43833
Printed Date: April 25 2024 at 9:12am
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Topic: Aiptasia!
Posted By: apen801
Subject: Aiptasia!
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 12:05pm
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I have some aiptasia that is living in a large colony of zoea that I have. So far there are about 5 aiptasia in this colony. I bought 2 peppermint shrimp last Friday, and not even a nibble. The aiptasia is causing the zoea's to remain closed, and I have not seen them open for almost 3 weeks. I'm starting to get worried that they will die. I need some help here? ??????? Thank you, Aaron Pendleton 801 834 7066 |
Replies:
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 12:19pm
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I would inject them with kalk paste ------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 12:22pm
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Are these the only aptasia visible in the tank? You could get some joe's juice and inject them or get a syringe and get some vinegar at walmart and inject it. Peppermint shrimp are hit or miss with aptasia. Seems like they're less likely to eat large aptasia as well. You could look into an aptasia eating file fish as well, but once the aptasia is gone they will nip your corals. ------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: DLindquist
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 1:13pm
------------- A government strong enough to give you everything you want, is powerful enough to take everything you have. |
BobC63 wrote:Posted By: SGH360
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 1:22pm
| if you want the peppermint to do their job you need first of all starve them near death, i know it sounds cruel but its the only way the peppermint shrimp will even touch aiptasia for survival. grab them and put them in a container and put them back in the tank for a few days make sure it has holes. after that grab them and place them close to the aiptasia, they will start eating them like crazy. If i were you if only the aiptasia is the zoa colony i would QT before it can spread into your whole aquarium |
Posted By: apen801
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 4:28pm
| Thanks for the advise. There are a few other aiptasia in the tank. I should be able to get at those ones. The ones in the zoes are pretty small. I would say the largest one stands 1". every time I get close to them with a hypo needle they shrink up. I dont have another tank for isolation. The tank I have is a 24 gal aqua pod. similar set up to a bio cube. any other suggestions? is there a way I can post a pic on here to show what the problem is? Im kindove computer illiterate. |
Posted By: Jeffs_little_ocean
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 4:53pm
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I ususlly inject them with vinegar but its true that you have to be fast! If they are in a bad spot, or retract too fast, Aiptasia-X works good. Its kind of expensive compared to vinegar ($10 for a bottle at fish-4u) but they think its food and dont retract, just fill them completely up and poof, they are gone. ------------- Life is good....right? |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 5:11pm
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Snap a picture and put it on your comp. Then upload it to photobucket with a FREE account. Then you just copy and past the code they give you to your forum post. Photobucket has tutorials as well I believe. ------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: October 06 2010 at 9:34pm
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After killing or partially killing Aiptasia with Kalkwaser paste or vinegar, Peppermint Shrimp will sometimes clean up the Aiptasia. Repeated applications of Kalk paste or vinegar is often needed. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: badger126
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 12:59am
| I've had really good results with pickling lime. Just make a nice thick concoction and suck it up in your needle. I've killed numerous aiptasia in zoa colonies with this. If the aiptasia sucks into a hole or between zoas just fill the hole that it's hiding in with the stuff and it will kill it good. Won't hurt your zoas at all from my experience. |
Posted By: CapnMorgan
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 1:40am
I personally love aiptasia x. Kills them every time and they won't shrink up after applying it. They actually eat it, and then melt away. It's actually quite satisfying  ------------- Steve http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40637&PID=356246" rel="nofollow - My Old 180G Mixed Reef Currently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8 |
Posted By: SGH360
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 1:47am
| is there a medication that only affect anemones? that will totally eradicate aiptasia after removing any desirable anemones |
Posted By: cl2ysta1
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 3:45am
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you can use berghia nudibranchs :) best way to get rid of aiptasia ------------- I <3 Boxers Achilles tang lover |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 8:04am
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I agree with Crystal and she may have some for you. My experience with Kalkwasser/Pickling Lime paste goes along with Steve's. They seem to like the flavor.  I use the 1 ml syringe that comes with the Salifert test kits. I don't use the yellow pointed end because the end of the syringe is rounded and smooth. The Aiptasia sit's there and puts it's mouth around the syringe while I squeeze some paste down it's throat. It must taste good at first but a moment later the anemone starts to melt from the inside out. As long as the tank is not being overfed, the Peppermint Shrimp will come by later after the Kalkwasser/Pickling Lime paste has dispersed and clean up the remains.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Will Spencer
Date Posted: October 07 2010 at 10:27am
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Another vote for Aiptasia X. Although Nudibranchs are even better, they are much more difficult to come by. |
Posted By: mermaidcamille
Date Posted: October 08 2010 at 2:34pm
This is one of those subjects where you are going to get a million opinions. I am going to tell you what worked/didn't work for me. I had two tank that were completely infested. I started with Aptasia X, which works great, but realistically if you have a bunch of tiny ones hiding getting them all isn't going to happen. I tried berghia nudibranchs (spent a lot of $$$ for them) and got zero results  . I finally got peppermint shrimp. I think them with me using the Aptasia X did the trick. They are all gone now  Good luck!
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Posted By: Corey Price
Date Posted: October 08 2010 at 6:34pm
| Anyone have suggestions for my present tank? I have a 144 with a serious aptasia problem. I have Aptasia X, but it doesn't eradicate them. I have tried a copperband (it was beat up by a couple tangs and didn't make it). Peppermint shrimp are just a tasty meal for my swissguard basslet. I tried nudibranchs, but they disappeared and didn't do a thing. I've thought about selling all livestock and performing a complete remodel of the tank. |
Posted By: MadReefer
Date Posted: October 08 2010 at 6:53pm
| Peppermint shrimp worked for me. It was a couple of years ago and I didn't do anything special, just added the shrimp. Oh, I did pull some big aptasia out by hand and the shrimp cleaned it up and ate the small ones too. |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: October 08 2010 at 8:13pm
I know sanddune had it pretty bad as well and he got an Aptasia eating file fish that cleaned it out pretty quick. I was pretty impressed. ------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: cl2ysta1
Date Posted: October 08 2010 at 9:17pm
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for anyone who has had berghia and they didnt work... the only thing i can say is you didnt put enough in. The MINIMUM reccomended number of berghia for a tank that is moderately infested is one per 10 gallons.. so if you have a 150 gallon tank you need at least 15! more if your infestation is very sparse. Trust me they work. We can accidently contaminated our "aiptasia growout" tank a time or two with larvae from tweezers.. and lost hundreds of aiptasia in a matter of weeks. only after they had starved could we find them out of the rockwork. If you want to try berghia and you only have them on your zoas shoot me a pm i breed and sell them. i would move the rock out to a smaller tank 10 gallons or so and you will only need two berghia to clean them up. good luck ------------- I <3 Boxers Achilles tang lover |
Posted By: Jake Pehrson
Date Posted: October 08 2010 at 10:14pm
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Berghia will almost always work, as long as they are not being killed by something in the tank. I always recommend Peppermint shrimp unless you can't use them because of a large predator (unless someone is giving away or selling some Berghia for cheap). I recommend a lot of them. For large outbreaks I recommend 1-2 per 5 gallons. If you talk with a local pet store and let them know you want to buy a large number of Peppermints they can often get them for pretty cheap (~$3-4). After the out break trap all except a few and give/trade them to other hobbyists. ------------- Jake Pehrson Murray http://coralplanet.com" rel="nofollow - coralplanet.com http://utahbeeranch.com" rel="nofollow - :) |
Posted By: Bluespotjawfish
Date Posted: October 09 2010 at 9:14am
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Fortunately when you live in Texas you can collect peppermint shrimp from the gulf :)
If you have fish that eat them, introduce them at night with the lights out. They are pretty good at hiding out if you provide a place they can get to and the fish can't.
------------- Home of the baby Picasso! |