How tough are Aiptasia?

[Bob I]

A lot tougher that we might think. I took in a rock with a number of Aiptasia the other day. After watching them grow for a few days I decided on a radical treatment. I put the rock in a pail of FRESH water for a couple of hours. When I figured they had anough I put the rock back in the tank. A couple of hours later i saw one poking out again. He is looking worse for wear with most of his tentacles gone, but still ALIVE. :eek:

[AJ_77]

What temp was the fresh water? I think you need about 212 degrees C to get aiptasia good and gone. :D

Cheers!

tongue.gif

[ 24 September 2002, 19:04: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]

[Son Of Skyline]

Next time try vinegar instead of water. It might only take an hour to burn off their tentacles in that stuff.

[canadawest]

In my little nursery tank I have Aiptasia growing, and when a new brood is on the way here is what I do.

Take the rock out and run hot tap water over the little buggers until you see them detach and fall down the drain. Place rock back in tank.

Unfortunately you have to be careful of beneficial flora and fauna (such as worms and feathers) and the coraline where the hot water hits usually turns bright green but the Aiptasia doesn't make a return visit.

Then there is the natural route. Get a couple peppermint shrimp, they make short work of it.

[stephane]

Hi I have heard that injecting a kalkwaser solution with a sering in the bisal disk will kill them asap , no need for a drip and will even put calcium in your tank :D

[Aquattro]

I use muriatic acid in a syringe. This turns into water and chloride and won't affect pH if used sparingly.

[StirCrazy]

Originally posted by stephane:
Hi I have heard that injecting a kalkwaser solution with a sering in the bisal disk will kill them asap , no need for a drip and will even put calcium in your tank :D <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Stephane is right on the money there.. I have been using a thick kalk mix and injecting them with a seringe.. you just have to be carfull you don't put to much in the water as it can raise yout PH. out of 13 aptasia and 50 of them Manjo polyps about 2 Aptasia lived and about 5 Manjo's.. doing another round tomorrow night :D

Steve

[fishboy]

I had good luck with injecting boiling water using a syringe. Only the local area of the rock died off then came back fairly fast. Use heavy rubber gloves to protect your hands from the hot water.

[aquamansilver]

50/50 mix of Muriatic acid & FW works for me! I tried the FW long dip without success (I even let the rock in the open for a few hours just to see them emerge again after putting the rock back in the tank!!!). Just have to make sure it does not hit anything else in the surrounding...

[Bob I]

Aquamansilver, the way I read your post is you are saying even a several day dip in fresh water does not work? I am sure that anything else in the rock would be dead by now, so whatever I do to that formerly live rock cannot hurt. Muriatic acid is vinegar, right?

[stephane]

Originally posted by Bob Ipema:
Muriatic acid is vinegar, right?<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is real acid you could buy it in any
hardware store but in gallon only it is cheap
6-7$ if my memory ok

But be realy carfull whith that stuff as it is
very dangerous it burn skin in no time a splash in your eye and your blind even the vapor
will praticaly knock you. dont play with it in a stainless sink because it will make spot and you wife......(I have made the experience :( ) Glove and protection gass are realy needed

IMO if kalkwaser work or boiling water you beter go that way
;)

[ 25 September 2002, 16:42: Message edited by: stephane ]

[Bob I]

OK, thanks Stephane. I will just leave the rock in fresh water for a week or so. Then I will try it again. If nothing else I will get a Peppermint shrimp, and turn the nano into a shrimp tank for awhile. :D

[fishboy]

Thanks for telling me about my broken link. I switched servers on the weekend and forgot to update it. It should work now.

[Aquattro]

Originally posted by Bob Ipema:
Muriatic acid is vinegar, right?<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Bob, Muriatic acid is a dilution of hydrochloric acid. If I recall correctly, it's about 43% HCL

[Bob I]

I more or less posted the note to show how tough the little buggers are. I realise the beneficial stuff is now dead anyway. The rock is isolated in my new nano so I can take it out and leave it in fresh water for a longer period (days even). I did consider the Peppermints, but the problem with those is that when the Aiptasia are gone one now has peppermints. They too can become pesky. I had them chew on Featherdusters and reduce their crowns to nothing. :( :mad:

And to fishboy, the link to your 54 gallon reef does not work.

[ 25 September 2002, 12:51: Message edited by: Bob Ipema ]

[Aquattro]

Originally posted by Bob Ipema:

And to fishboy, the link to your 54 gallon reef does not work.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Fishboy, you need to edit your link to read /reeftank.htm not /reeftank/

[Doug]

I have always used the kalk paste. Works well for me.

I have seen Jayson use the acid solution, but dont know what mixture he uses. Looks scary to me. :eek: