Your aiptasia experience/s?

[kwirky]

I found some aiptasia in my tank a while ago, panicked and removed the rocks, then found some more tonight. Sounds common place, yet it doesn't, at the same time. So figured I'd post a poll...

For those who've gotten rid of 'em, or had them under good control, what are/were your method/s?

I'm looking for peppermint shrimp tomorrow, and finding out where to buy NaOH.

[Moogled]

I have 4 of them right now. They've stayed in the same spots for almost a month now and no new ones have intruded. I'm scared of jinxing it so I've left them for now.


Hoo-ah, soldier!

[kwirky]

i don't think mine are safe to leave alone. I've found 4 tonight that weren't there this morning. And plus there were the ones on the rock I removed about 2 weeks ago. I'll begin my war this week :twised:

[andresont]

If i see one it must go to aptesia heaven.

[Ticketyboo]

How detrimental are they? i have quite a few in my tank and im assuming that they are a pest, so whats the best method of removing? livestock?

[Finaddict]

I had a bout 20 or some came on some live rocks, got 2 peppermints and i two week they have all disapeered evn large ones.
I also recently added some joe juice to a few that were on a coral.
so far so good!

fyi , red coral has lots of peppeermint in right now!

[Cam]

I have two peppermint shrimp that took care of my aiptasia but cant keep them because im adding a picaso soon that will eat them. If someone has an aiptasia problem in edmonton and wants to buy them pm me.
Thanks
Cam

[BMW Rider]

I keep a couple of peppermint shrimp, they keep the aptasia under control. I do have a patch of mojanos that I need to nuke though.

[christyf5]

I have a couple in my tank. Been slowly nuking them with Joes Juice. I do about 2 a week or as I can find them. Its only been a couple of weeks so I don't know about those that have used JJ and had them grow back in greater numbers etc. I'm not sure how fast these things grow so I'm not sure what to expect. I think there are a group hiding in secret in the back of the tank where I can't reach but previously I had a whole (smallish) rock with lots of small ones on it that I just yarded out and put in the sump.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Never had any. Yet. Knock on wood....

[KrazyKuch]

I am battling aiptasia right now and I found that if you inject the stem with lemon juice that it seems to kill it.....

Lemon juice - $2
Diabetic Needle - $0.99

Getting rid of all the aiptasia - Priceless!!

[mark]

Had tried injecting vinegar, seemed to work but they came back after a few weeks.

After seeing on Canreef, mixed up a little Kalk paste with water from thawing out some mysis then slowly apply paste over them with a syringe.

Little buggers eat the stuff and die right out (been months). For the few that I couldn't reach, got a couple of peppermint shrimp and they took care of them.

[fortheloveofcrabs]

I was lucky. I've only had about six ever and boiling water and a needle cooked 'em up real good.

[kwirky]

yeah i'm getting some peppermint shrimp today. If they don't work after a bit, I'm going to try to get my hands on some sodium hydroxide. heard it's the best way to deal with them. just all the places in the city want to sell 20L worth in one shot ($150 worth) when a litre's a lifetime supply for aiptasia nuking lol.

[untamed]

I'm unable to answer the poll because it seems to be assuming that Aiptasia are, or have been, a problem.

I've had a few in my tank for 3 years now. I notice small ones popping up here and there over the years, but they rarely seem to survive.

To give some idea. I had one large one in my tank two years ago...now I have two. In fact, I haven't seen the second one for a few days now. It may have died.

If it isn't Aiptasia, it is an incredibly indistinguishable close relation. My tank is mainly SPS and I dose Kalk 24/7.

Of note, I also cannot keep Xenia...and have limited success with soft corals. My star polyps survive, but don't thrive. Something in there makes my tank not right for Aiptasia reproduction.

[Scavenger]

I'm unable to answer the poll because it seems to be assuming that Aiptasia are, or have been, a problem.

I've had a few in my tank for 3 years now. I notice small ones popping up here and there over the years, but they rarely seem to survive.

To give some idea. I had one large one in my tank two years ago...now I have two. In fact, I haven't seen the second one for a few days now. It may have died.

If it isn't Aiptasia, it is an incredibly indistinguishable close relation. My tank is mainly SPS and I dose Kalk 24/7.

Of note, I also cannot keep Xenia...and have limited success with soft corals. My star polyps survive, but don't thrive. Something in there makes my tank not right for Aiptasia reproduction.


This is my experience almost word for word (Just not SPS dominated or kalk'ed 24/7). I have a very unscientific and unconfirmed theory on this (in my case anyway).

I've seen apstasia once or twice and have killed off both my attempts at keeping xenia. The first "clearance" was when I did a water change in which I hadden't notice the heater had cracked in the mixing tank. The second was after I dropped a screw into the tank that took a couple of weeks to find and remove. (very rusty by then).

I suspect that both species have a very low tolerance to metal or the oxidation of metal. I also use well water run through a Brita for top up and changes. I have no idea of metal content in the water.

I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't hesitate to suspend a screw in a test tank containing apstasia to see if I'm right or not. I just haven't had the time, motivation or apstasia to confirm this.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Had a couple here and there, never a huge problem, knock on wood.

Doug

[marie]

I keep a couple of peppermint shrimp, they keep the aptasia under control. I do have a patch of mojanos that I need to nuke though.
This would be my post word for word :lol:

[DJKoop]

My son had a very bad infestaion of them a couple of months ago. He has a 35 gal. tank and nearly every surface was covered. Rock, overflow, pumps, you name it. He bought a Racoon Butterfly and within a month they were all gone. Now the fish nicely eats flake food and is doing great.

[BC564]

I had some little ones poking out at the top of my rock....but I have 3 red legged hermit crabs which seemed to have fixed the problem. I didnt know they even liked the stuff.

[kwirky]

got to Gold's and their peppermint shrimp were inaccessible, hidden inside some rocks. So I got some joe's juice. seems to have done it. I'll know for sure in a couple days. It drove my skimmer crazy though once the pumps started back up.

As for xenia, my pulsing xenia grows like a weed in my tank. Probably means the aiptasia has perfect conditions for it.

[Johnny Reefer]

..... He bought a Racoon Butterfly and within a month they were all gone. Now the fish nicely eats flake food and is doing great.
Hmmmm. Interesting. Particularly the eating flake food part. Good to know. Thanx for the input.

Cheers,

[Hightower]

Had quite the infestation, to the point it was stinging corals. tried everything including, joes juice, peppermints, vinegar, kalk, hot water all of which would only make a dent in the population or knock them down but not out. They came back with a vengence.

Finally decided to chance with a Copperband butterfly.

Best thing I ever did. within 2 days there wasnt one stitch of aiptasia and to this day there doesnt remain one, and even better than that hasnt touched mt corals.

[rudy]

Thought they were a cool hitchhiker. Turned out to be the biggest mistake I have ever made. I tried everything and eventually left salt as it drove me nuts. I will never have a big enough tank that I can't pull down the day the stuff hits me again.

[safety4fire]

I counted over 100 Aiptasia in my 230g tank mostly medium sized, I got a copperbanded butterfly fish and now most of them are gone. I'm glad I got him.

[briansmyth]

Found calcium hydroxide, not sodium hydroxide as mentioned in this thread, at Home Depot and got all kinds of powder. Mix with water, heat in microwave and check to see if it is the consistency that can be shot through your syringe.

This mix was not as effective as Joes's Juice, say 60% effective versus 90% effective, but it was way less expensive. I keep both on hand. although I've wondered if Joe's Juice loses some of it's effectiveness after it has been opened ... I try to use all of my Joe's Juice within a week of opening it. I have tried vinegar, lemon juice, and hot water and have less than a 30% success rate, I'd estimate.

There are 220 pounds of liverock in our 90 gallon tank, so there are places for aiptasia to grow and not be noticed ... I spend about 20 minutes every month hunting for this pest and also for majano.

Can these pests cause real trouble? Definitely yes. I have a pagoda which has been stung at it's edges by aiptasia, mojano and pulsating xenia - it has never recovered from this. I also have a finger leather coral ( nicknamed Sideshow Bob), it is now 1/6th of it's former size - a very, very small aiptasia was stinging the base of this coral where we couldn't easily see it. I think this coral was weakened enough that other health issues have arisen.

[Cazoom]

aside from calcium hydroxide(heat and serve) as Brian mentions
i won't mess with any other way.. did the vinegar and lemon juice and hot water... and they only spread..insanely!!
the calcium seems to stun them then they dissolve as you inject them..
aside from taking the rock out and running under hot water(yeah it kills everything too!) i have had shrim and coperbands and they didnt work...
would really like to know the success of the nudibranch that eats it though...

[Scavenger]

A little update on my aiptasia experience. As I posted above aiptasia and xenia just don't seem to be able to live in my tank.

Got a nice Acro this weekend and it had an apstatia on it's rock base.

Day One: Fully expanded
Day Two: Shrivelled up
Day Three: Gone, no where to be seen.

I don't know if my longnose (new addition) or another inhabitant ate it, but I didn't see a single critter go near it at all. I even did some after lights out peeping.

It's nice to be lucky in at least one area of the reefing hobby.
Maybe I should bottle and sell my waste water as Scav's Juice. LOL!

[Cazoom]

what you running your calcium at..?
kinda wonder if high calcium kill em???

[TrailFish]

I was aptaisia free for years until I traded rock with another reefer and I've been battling them ever since (1 year). Should have practiced safe reefing.

[Psyire]

I've been battling the little creatures for quite some time. I find it nearly impossible to eliminate them from my Tank, Refugium, & Overflow all at the same time....

[bv_reefer]

I had two big ones on a piece of tonga, one tiny squirt of joes juice and i've never seen any ever again, YET, it's true what they say it's a pest that almost all reefers have eventually, i didn't think the scourge would ever see my tank but two of them tried and died :mrgreen:

[CST]

I've had few aptasia one of my tanks, but they mostly seem to attach to the peltata cualerpa. I cut the shoot it is on and *flush*. :wink: I cant/wont risk the peppermint shrimp (Tank is home for my 2.5 foot snowflake eel) so I have had a copperband butterfly added. Seems to work great!:smile:

[CST]

I like the JJ in a pinch, but seems to make one dissapear and half dozen new ones show up the next day for me.....mystery.