Chronic Aiptasia

[Sneaker]

As much as I use Joe's juice and remove aiptasia it comes back in a couple weeks, any ideas on how to combat this issue?

Is there some kind of change I can make to my water chemistry or anything else to be proactive?

 

[gear-head]

Try a couple of Peppermint Shrimp, they are supposed to eat Aips.

 

[Atari]

The juice is really the best method if you can keep up with it.. otherwise as gear-head suggested, Peppermint shrimp may eat them.. or if you can't do inverts then a Copperband butterfly.

 

[stresco]

Your not alone on this one Sneaker. I have an agressive tank, and i am constantly killing off aips. I have killed as many as 50 in one dosing. Still they come back. The problem is, you will always miss that one that is hiding in the back of your tank, under some rocks, in your overflow, or even in your tubing. I cant have any pepermint shrimp in my tank for more than an hour. They are snacks for my other fish. I cant have a CBB either. They stress too easy, first off and secondly, its too hard to find one that is big enough to survive a few minutes in my tank without becomming lunch. I have pretty much given into the fact that this tank will always have aips in it. I just try to keep them out of the front so you cant really see them. Although i do have a couple that are HUGE, and you can see them from across the room, at night, with your eyes closed.

 

[scuba_steve]

http://www.seaslugs.com/main.htm

try these if ya can !! they are the best but will eat a ton of them fast and then starve ! mabe someone close to you could use them when ya finish with them

 

[dralarms]

you will always miss that one that is hiding in the back of your tank

I have 10 to 12 peps in my 150, any aptasia never stood a chance, even the one that was 2 to 2 1/2. They just scurry around picking them off at will.

 

[Bearfan]

http://www.seaslugs.com/main.htm

try these if ya can !! they are the best but will eat a ton of them fast and then starve ! mabe someone close to you could use them when ya finish with them

Interesting. Anyone know anything further on these?

 

[scuba_steve]

i know they breed very very fast !! there is a guy close to me that was raising some but couldnt keep enough aptasia growing to keep up ! i cleaned my fuge once (i had a ton in it ) for him to help out !! he said they will hunt down every last one in no time
from what i gathered one will clean out a tank in a month time ! the babies alittle longer but they group up on one aptasia's at a time from what he told me !!
the issue with me from ordering was keeping a supply of food for them !! ya know aptasia grow fast but didnt know if there is a way to speed up the population ? one idea i had was to keep a 10 gallon for them use no skimmer and feed alot to try to keep food for the animal ! but thought if it was that easy alot would do it

 

[scuba_steve]

http://www.seaslugs.com

 

[Sneaker]

Thank you everyone, now one more question, I have a Banded Coral Shrimp
(Stenopus hispidus) will a Peppermint shrimp get along with it? I assume so since they are both pretty peaceful.

 

[scuba_steve]

should be ok

 

[Sneaker]

Your not alone on this one Sneaker. I have an agressive tank, and i am constantly killing off aips. I have killed as many as 50 in one dosing. Still they come back. The problem is, you will always miss that one that is hiding in the back of your tank, under some rocks, in your overflow, or even in your tubing. I cant have any pepermint shrimp in my tank for more than an hour. They are snacks for my other fish. I cant have a CBB either. They stress too easy, first off and secondly, its too hard to find one that is big enough to survive a few minutes in my tank without becomming lunch. I have pretty much given into the fact that this tank will always have aips in it. I just try to keep them out of the front so you cant really see them. Although i do have a couple that are HUGE, and you can see them from across the room, at night, with your eyes closed.

If only you could buy Joe's Juice in bulk at Costco...

Maybe get a CBB and raise it in a friends tank till it gains in size and try to introduce it to the tank... just a thought

 

[HoopsGuru]

Berghia Verrucicornis are indeed a cinch to breed, and a article detailing such is in the archives a few months back Reefkeeping Online Magazine: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/ac/feature/index.htm

The biggest issue I have found is that they do not find every aiptasia either, but rather as the aips disappear so does the population of Berghia. The aips then are able to make a comeback (and thus the Berghia population rebounds as well). I have yet to be able to study any long term evidence of if a side ever eventually wins . It would really depend on the size of the tank. If the tank is small, the Berghia could probably wander and find the last ones before starving and thus be very effective. However, if used in a larger tank..that is quite a bit of real estate to happen upon remaining pests.

 

[NightSpirit]

Berghia Verrucicornis are indeed a cinch to breed, and a article detailing such is in the archives a few months back Reefkeeping Online Magazine: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/ac/feature/index.htm

The biggest issue I have found is that they do not find every aiptasia either, but rather as the aips disappear so does the population of Berghia. The aips then are able to make a comeback (and thus the Berghia population rebounds as well). I have yet to be able to study any long term evidence of if a side ever eventually wins . It would really depend on the size of the tank. If the tank is small, the Berghia could probably wander and find the last ones before starving and thus be very effective. However, if used in a larger tank..that is quite a bit of real estate to happen upon remaining pests

Joes Juice is great but they multiply faster than I can get em. I'm thinking about agressive treatment. For my 110, I think I'm going to get 12 pepermint shrimp and about 3 Berghia Verrucicornis.

 

[HoopsGuru]

I would nuke with the JJ, and then follow up with the peppermint shrimp. Save your money on the Berghia. In a 110g, 3 will go there separate ways and have no real chance at establishing a breeding population. The only realistic option would be to take those 3 and set up a culturing station to rear a Berghia v. army....but then you are talking about the work involved to do so.

 

[NightSpirit]

True, plus they seem to be out of stock anyways.

 

[HoopsGuru]

www.inlandaquatics.com has and abundance in stock most of the time, at least when I ordered my starter culture back around May/June....if you decide they are an avenue you would like to try.

 

[stresco]

If only you could buy Joe's Juice in bulk at Costco...

Thats the first item on my list to Santa this year.

 

[Vicky]

Predators?

Does the Berghia have any predators? Will my Gramma eat it (he seems to eat everything else)?

 

[mattmku]

I tried joes juice for a while. It works well when you can get to them but no matter what you hear they won't just sit back and drink their death. I ended up getting a peppermint and couldn't be happier. The shrimp didn't eat for about a week and then one morning i got up and they were all gone