Aiptasia!! Help

[Brenden]

I put a additional 350 lbs of rock from liverocks.com yesterday. This morning I have at least 40 Aiptasia that I see (guessing). I stopped by the LFS today and they have a order of peppermint shimp coming in tomorrow. He also said he would order a copperband butterfly but I did not have to take it when it came in. Do you think the shrimp could control a population this large? Do I need the copperband? The lfs said you could inject them with lemon juice. Does that work? I have also heard of injecting them with kalkwasser.

 

[Jermz79]

I have heard everything under the sun .... the safest method to me sounds like boiling tap water and injecting them with that! I don't know if it's a proven method or not, but hey ... why inject all that other stuff into your system if Boiling water will work.

Good luck, let me know how it goes ... I have a few that are getting rather big!



Jermz

 

[Brenden]

How would I inject boiling water? If kalkwasser would work it would be easy to do and safe for the tank. LFS said lemon juice would not harm tank, It would just cause a slight swing in the ph.

 

[mykpoz]

Mike with LR.com told me when i was in his store, that the kinds they get on their rock, is not the rapidly reproducing aptasia (indo-pacific species) he mentioned he's had one in his tank for over a year without any ill effects.

You may want to call them to confirm this, and if that IS the case and you still want them out, I am sure the shrimp will take care of them especially if they arent the rapidly reproducing species.

 

[Jermz79]

I have a pep shrimp and it has not touched them ... mine don't seem to be spreading although they are getting bigger!

You could inject boiling water the same way ... with a syringe ... I would imagine!

 

[SJSobczyk]

Injecting with boiling RO water has worked best for me. You simply boil some water, take a syringe, and point it directly by the mouth of the aptasia. It might take a full syringe but you will notice it will go dark purple and release from the rock. That seems to be the only time my peppermint shrimp would grab it, once it was floating in the water. They never came back after that, it is simple and cheap!

Steve

 

[Brenden]

I just got off the phone with Mike from liverocks.com He said the aiptasia that is on the gulf and keys rock is not the rapid reproducing kind everyone fears, so mykpoz is correct. He said in around 6 months most of them will probably be gone. He said the ones to fear are the indo-pacific variety. He said he has receive one or two on a frag before and they basically reproduce overnight. Per his recommendation I am going to wait and watch before I do anything. If they cause a problem later then I will deal with it. Thanks for the replys

 

[dianeww]

I have a few which came on live rock from lr.com in April, and they are no problem at all, not spreading. I wouldn't worry!

 

[mjvincent]

My peppermint took care of mine...

 

[David03]

Brenden,
I got some aiptasia with my LR, and thought that I would just let it go, though there was a big guy (about and 1 1/2" across). Got a peppermint shrimp, but all he does is hang out upside down on a rock.

Woke up to find a few more, so decided to take action. Fluff always mentions joesjuice, so I got some.

The stuff is amazing. Just squirt a little around the mouth, and in a few minutes the thing is gone... I don't even know where it goes, just shrivels up.

Sorry to sound like an ad, but it is good stuff, and didn't seem to effect life around it.

So if your aiptasia becomes a problem, I would take a look at that.

Good luck. (BTW, how is the pH issue?)

 

[adacaro]

Boiling water is the best, go for it

 

[noodus]

peppermint shrimp!!! they didn't do anything for a day and then in about 15 minutes they ate medium and small aiptasia about 20 of them... i have 3 peppermint shrimp.... 2 too many... if i were you i'd buy 1-2. probably 1... good luck

 

[kimberly]

We tried Joe's Juice, but it was hard to aim at some of the buggers with the liverock configuration that we have. We got a couple of peppermint shrimp and they took care of our aiptasia pretty much overnight. Now they hang around under the rocks and come out when we feed the tank.

 

[ironmanxl1]

I got my rocks from LR.com also and aptasia was everywhere. I bought some STOP aptasia and a few pep shrimp. I have two aptasia left and they haven't reproduced at all so i let them be.

 

[Phyl]

My peppermints ate all of the aptasia I got on my rock. They're not much personality, but they sure do keep the aptasia at bay! Too bad I can't put a peppermint into my 65. I think the eel would eat him before he could get to the aptasia! *pout*

Good luck getting rid of it!

 

[AndySmithers]

Wow!
I had no idea that there were (at least) 2 different kinds of Aiptasia - ones that go crazy and ones that just, well, grow a bit!

I could never understand why my 5 or 6 aipatsia have been only 5 or 6 for over a year, never seeming to multiply and yet appearing in different places...

I used Joe's Juice over a year ago, simply because everyone said "Aiptasia = BAD, KILL THEM!". Then I kind of just left them and was surpriesed to see it never actually took off as predicted.
Hmmmm.....maybe aiptasia isn't "always" the villain that we make out?

 

[schoeplein]

As are many other things, Andy.

 

[StickyTuba]

I also would recommend Joes Juice.

I had about 5-10 Aiptasia when I set up my 21 gallon Nano.
I bought Joe's Juice, squirted around the mouth of the anemone, and it would disappear.

It was relatively inexpensive, compared to 350 lbs of LR and I still have a ton left over. It didn't affect anything around it either.

I agree with David03 and think that this may be a quick and efficient route to get rid of them.

HTH and Good Luck

 

[mykpoz]

if its not the 'rapid reproducing' sort, then why remove it...

maybe it will take of residence in the 'tougher' part of the neighborhood... away from the burbs... where all the tough fish and crabs can hang out...

 

[AndySmithers]

if its not the 'rapid reproducing' sort, then why remove it...

maybe it will take of residence in the 'tougher' part of the neighborhood... away from the burbs... where all the tough fish and crabs can hang out...

Exactly! And, if I understand correctly, aiptasia is great at consuming excess nutrients so, if it's not a plague then why not let it do what it's good at?

Perhaps we need to arm our fish with Joe's juice syringes so that they can uphold the law in the "tough" neighborhoods where the aiptasia hang out? Does the 2nd amendment apply to aquaria?