Aiptasia elimination

[luckycat]

OK... I have 4 aiptasia, one fairly large (1.5"), others relatively small (1/2-1"). I purchased a peppermint shrimp from lfs, it looks like a peppermint shrimp based on pictures I've seen on-line... but it hasn't touched them, or at least not as far as I can tell. I think when I turn on the tank two of them are usually hiding now in the rocks, as if they were hiding all night perhaps from the shrimp, but within a few hours of daylight they are fully extended. lfs recommended kalkwasser injection to destroy, which I've read about in this forum.

Where can I get a needle to inject these things? Should I be worried about this shrimp if it is not eating the aiptasia?

Thanks!!

 

[snapcrackler]

I have found that my peppermints don't like to mess with big aiptasia, but they readily gobble up little teeny aiptasia (I have seen them do it). And I have 5 peppermints.

You can get a syringe from your local farm-fleet type store that carries veterinary supplies for livestock and horses and stuff and you can mix up kalkwasser (pickling lime and water) or just use lemon juice (this works well too)

You may want to look closely to make sure that you have a peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni :
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/invertebrateincare/l/blpickpeppermin.htm

and not a camelback shrimp, Rhynchocienetes uritai: http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/shrimpcare/l/blpickcamelshri.htm

They look similiar but the camelback is not a good reef choice because they pick at corals.

 

[Anemoneman]

You can use a syringe w/o the needle. The kalk slurry will cover the offender and dissolve it. It's not necessary to inject, just cover. Put it in the oral disk and when it retracts cover the rest of it.

 

[luckycat]

Thanks, I actually do have a syringe type thing that we use to give our kids medication. I've been using it to extract small amts of water from the tank to perform water tests, so maybe I can simply put the kalk mix in that and inject it onto the aiptasia...

..is there a recommended mix for this kalkwasser stuff? I have Seachem Reef Kalkwasser.

And related...does this kalkwasser have any positive impact on my FO tank w/LR? Should I use it at all in regular maintenance of the tank?

Thank you!

 

[luckycat]

I'm fairly certain it is the Peppermint... although ours looks a little redder than the picture, a little bit less translucent. I don't recall seeing the red/maroon "lines" as clear in our shrimp, but will look at it tonight.

 

[luckycat]

OK so I created a kalk slurry, a paste-like substance with the kalkwasser. I put it in my syringe (no needle), and squirted some of it on the tentacles of all 3 of the anemomes (I couldn't find the 4th, so maybe the peppermint shrimp did eat it!).

They pulled in the little white cylinders, and after about 20-30s seemed to realize what was up and retracted..but they rapidly started disintegrating. After about 30 min small slimy strings started eminating from the inner ring, but all tentacles seemed to just disappear/dissapate.

Now I have some remaining kalk granules where the anemone was, and every once in a while some pieces fall off and fall onto the ground, or fly around in the water currents. I saw the peppermint shrimp chase one, grab it, but then throw it down and run into a corner.

Should I be worried about any extra kalk slurry that may remain in the tank? I injected only about 1/2 tbsp (max) into the 3 aptasias. If the shrimp wants to eat some of the remains of the aptasia, will it suffer an early fate?

 

[snapcrackler]

I got pretty righteous with some kalk paste one time and was blasting anemones left and right with a new shipment of LR.. I think I used up 2 big syringes full in one half hour period.. the paste just falls down and slowly disintegrates and will just raise your PH, alk and ca as it does no big deal.

The shrimp I would think would be too smart to eat the kalk-saturated dead aips. Taste some of that kalk and you will know what I mean. It seriously tastes like crap, I bet even the shrimp realize this. LOL that is probably why the shrimp ran away because it was a little caustic to his feelers too! heh

 

[Bearfan]

Wow, you probably are the kid the teacher wouldn't let have paste, huh? I had never thought of tasting my aquarium supplies.

Also, on a side note, I have had good luck with Joe's Juice for my aips.

 

[XXFirefighter]

www.joesjuice.com

nuff said !

 

[luckycat]

Great! Thank you! I'll trust your judgement on the taste of that kalk!

BTW when I was at the lfs, I noticed an 8' long aquarium with some pretty big fish, sign on it said "NOT FOR SALE". When I was talking to the lfs about kalk and aptasia, I asked him about Joes Juice. He said that the tank of fish with the NOT FOR SALE sign was there because of someone that used Joes Juice to try to kill aptasia...and it "crashed" his tank. So the lfs was holding his fish while he setup a new system. Perhaps he used it incorrectly, because I've heard nothing but praise for Joes Juice...

But anyway, looks like the kalk paste worked wonders, and I'll trust the shrimp will find it bad tasting as well.

Thanks for your help!!! Learning something new every day!!

 

[XXFirefighter]

I bet the guy dumped the joes juice into the tank... I used SMALL amounts into my Aptasia and they shriviled away to nothing. Can't even find a corpse...

 

[HoopsGuru]

That is the only caution for using JJ, kalk, or anything else that alters PH. If you use too much, depending on water volume you could have problems. JJ claims not to affect water chemistry, but I don't necessarily agree. I also had problems with it burning the fins of my fish, but I was also attempting to treat a large aiptasia problem. I would recommend it more for treating smaller amounts. I also now keep water ready and do small water changes to siphon the areas I treat to remove any residual particles. I would do this for kalk too if using larger amounts.

 

[snapcrackler]

I get to taste it when I mouth-start an airline siphon for a topoff with kalkwasser. Yuck!

I have not yet eaten the paste. I don't think I will try this.

Cmon you guys you can't tell me you haven't started a tubing siphon with your mouth and tasted gasoline, tank water, kalkwasser.....?