Aiptasia Explosion

[Charlie]

I have always had a few Aiptasia appear on a single piece of lr. I have been systematically knocking them off. Today, I noticed that I have about 15 teeny-tiny Aiptasia on a small piece of prickly like lr. The piece is about the size of a tennis ball and can be easily removed from the tank.

Can I just soak this piece of rock in something to kill off all of the little Aiptasia before they spread?

[Devilishturtles]

Boiling water should work.

How have you been "knocking them off"? Picking them or brushing (or anything like that) will only make them spread faster.

[Charlie]

NOPE - I inject them with concentrated lemon/lime juice. It has been fairly reliable.

I have never seen or killed on on this particular free-standing piece of lr. They just emerged after a month in my tank.

[norolo]

what do you mean inject them
do you mean in the same was as you feed coral "target feeding?"

[Charlie]

Not really. I have an extremely thin hypodermic needle that a friend had for diabetic injections. It can barely draw up the lemon/lime juice because the needle is so fine. I put the tip right into the Aiptasia's mouth (or as close as possible before he retracts) and give it a tiny squirt. I then put the needle into the rock crevis as far as possible and give it another squirt or two.

This method has never affected water parameters, presumably because of the tiny dose used. It kills most of the Aiptasia on the first try.

[indy]

Boil the rock, will kill all them at once. They should separate from the rock as well.

[ntswift]

You could also get yourself a peppermint shrimp. They work wonders for aptasia!

[Finatic]

Originally Posted by ntswift

You could also get yourself a peppermint shrimp. They work wonders for aptasia!

Agreed, I had two guys clean up about 10 aiptasias in about a week.

Some Peppermint shrimp are active in the daytime, some aren't. When I stand in front of the tank, both of mine come out expecting to get fed.

[Charlie]

Because the rock was small I just submerged it in a wide cup of HOT water from the water cooler in the office. I left it in the water overnight. Aiptasia have disappeared but the aglae on the rock turned bright green.

I guess boiling water will work for a piece here or there put I'm sure that it kills your bacteria too so I wouldn't use it to remedy the whole tank.

[dscount]

I recall seeing something about when one die's off it sometimes releases it's branches. Hence you might have your cause/effect from your injection. The leftovers of the original ones you killed spread and "Breed" so to speak.

Anyone else hear that? I've a smallAiptasia issue in my 75gal but just got a Peppermint shrimp to handle it early. So far he just stands around shaking side to side.