When Aiptasia attacks!!

[Cardinal3420]

So in my tank Aiptasia have decided to reproduce like crazy! Alot that I can not reach. Any good ideas on how to kill it off for good? Should I use shrimp? I do have a few dime size ones and most of the rest are pretty small. I thought about Aiptasia X but have heard bad reviews. Any thoughts?

 

[carey]

Shrimp are hit or miss I've found. I have one single small aiptasia in my cube and 3 peppermints, not one will touch it. LOL I don't have any corals in the tank so I havent injected mine yet. You can inject kalwasser soultion as well as aiptasia X which I haven't heard anything bad about. Theres also a product called joes juice that people use. I think you can even inject them with lemon juice and that kills them as well.

 

[Cardinal3420]

Yeah I may just try the Aiptasia x or juice for myself and see how it goes. I know I could get a copper banded butterfly but I don't want to add a fish just for that purpose but idk I just want all of these gone so they don't keep reproducing.

 

[carey]

I def wouldnt get that butterfly, what do you do when he's out of aiptasia? I've heard they are difficult fish to keep with dietary restraints. I;d try to inject them first and if you get tired of it you can just get some peppermints and see if they do the trick. Not to mention it's not a bad thing to have a few extra shrimp around, almost no bioload and they eat alot of the uneaten food.

 

[Cardinal3420]

Yeah I def do not want to add a butterfly it's just another larger bio load on my system too. The shrimp I think I'll try and hope for the best with injecting. There goes a weekend just killing Aiptasia haha. I need one of those Aiptasia zappers! Lol

 

[carey]

LOL I've seen them on amazon.com. Little pricey though! hehe

 

[Cardinal3420]

Yeah I agree! Maybe I should study the diy way, but then again i also don't want to take the chance of zapping myself hahah!

 

[carey]

If you have so many just do a few each day, it'll get done eventually. My friend got her tank used and it was absolutely covered in it, some the size of golfballs. It took her a few weeks to get them all, she even bought peppermints and they did nothing. lol It's just a long process, you can do it though.

 

[Cardinal3420]

Yeah time and patience is for sure! Especially in this hobby lol. For years I've never had trouble with these buggers until now. It was bound to happen sometime lol.

 

[carey]

You are inspiring me to take care of the single one I have. LOL It's been the same size for months, I just have been too lazy.....It's almost kinda pretty hehe...but yeah, I will inject that little bugger soon...

 

[Cardinal3420]

Lol! They would be fine if I didn't have corals to worry about lol. Have you seen the new Purple Chalice I just got last week? I got it on a trade as well as a montipora capricornis.

 

[carey]

Oh, very nice! I've been wanting a chalice and a monti! Just havent gotten to them yet! LOl On my list though

 

[Cardinal3420]

They are beautiful. The Monti needs some TLC I think so I'm gonna try and get it back to full strength.

 

[carey]

Wow, awesome looking! I'm sure it will be better than ever after a while of being babied.

 

[Cardinal3420]

I hope so lol. I shut my halide off on that side just dont want to shock it. So it's just under t5s and LEDs at night. Also a piece broke off on the drive home so hopefully the frag grows lol.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

I think I may have the same problem! Where can you buy needles to inject with? I have been looking online but they are rather pricey

 

[Cardinal3420]

I think if you buy Aiptasia X it comes with one. I'm in the medical field so Im just gonna use a 10 cc syringe and 20 gauge needle. It's also useful for water testing.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Oh rite cool! What are the affects of aiptasia? I know it is supposed to spread like crazy but is it harmful?

 

[Cardinal3420]

Yes it can sting and kill corals potentially

 

[hollywood11892]

i had some on live rock and i just took out the rock and put it in some really hot water and killed it off like that but i had no coral or anything