Aipetasia has reached plague conditions

[JaiWiz]

I have a 55 gal tank which is beautiful all parameters are where they need to be salinity is at 1.024, all things are great coral is doing good fish are happy as flies on terd. but one thing i had a few aipetasia and now i have hundreds i couldnt no matter how hard i tried to get rid of them i used the red sea injection stuff but i couldnt keep up with the growth of the damn things i do feed quite heavily other then that what is the best way to get rid of these lil A$$HOLES!!!

[The Grizz]

I recently got a Matted File fish & an Apitasia Zapper from Paul @ Oceanic Corals. The file fish did a lot of hard work before I got the Zapper but took take of some of the big ones myself.

Edit: nice to see a newbie to the forum form Red Deer, Welcome.

[JaiWiz]

how much did that run yea and where is oceanic corals ? it would be nice to get in there and zap those things gone

[The Grizz]

With shipping it was around $100, they are one of the sponsors here and are located in Alder Grove, BC. I should have bought 2 so I could rent one out :biggrin:

[JaiWiz]

ha yea no kidding apitasia's are horrible. So do you deal with Dan at red deer reptiles much ?

[The Grizz]

NOPE!!! I will not deal with that jerk as long as I live. I would like to put him out of the SW business for good, but can't seem to find enough people interested in taking a 15 min drive out to my place if I was to set-up shop here.

[JaiWiz]

lol that seems to be the rumor with dan lol but i hear ya its to bad a store like that has alot of potential so why not start up your own outfit in red deer. i have thought long and hard about a business plan to do something like that i'm not all that serious i have other priorities right now but a well stocked shop with fresh and salt livestock and then all the foods and additives to go along with them and have a wall of snakes/lizards/ and other wier things and your prime

[The Grizz]

Just to set- up a decent SW shop alown is in the neighborhood of $40k. I would only do SW fish, coral, supplies and equipment, I already have a few suppliers that I can call on when needed.

[Rogue951]

Kalk paste and some persistance?
I don't have much in my tank but it seems to work quite well.
and it's nothing I'm not already putting, or need in my tank.

[JaiWiz]

so i just mix up this paste and what use a syringe to apply it on them or what

[Rogue951]

I make it just thick enough to flow through the syringe. ( I use a kent sea squirt) and squirt a small puddle onto the head and bury it when it retracts.
If you have as many as u say you probably want to throw in some water changes in there because Kalk will raise PH. but since I got so few (maybe 4 or 5 every few weeks or less if I find them) I don't have to worry.

[Twinn]

Just my 2 cents but if your problems has already reached plague problems it may be to late to do something like kalk paste as it will affect your water chemistry if you use too much. If you have them overtaking your tank I would lean towards a matted file fish, peppermint shrimp or berghia nudibranchs. Just remember that some of these natural solutions will either look to your coral for food or starve and die when the aipetasia is gone.

[JaiWiz]

Just a shot in the dark but i have read lemon juice and a syringe and you inject it into the base works miracles as long as you do your tank section by section giving your tank a few days between attacks on those annoying little bastards so your ph dont get all frigged up

[outacontrol]

Peppermint shrimp all the way, as long as you have no triggers or other shrimp eating fish. For all the people that say that they had no luck with peppermint shrimp it is because they feed too much. Put the peppermints in and cut back on feeding and sit back and watch the magic.

[JaiWiz]

i've heard that if you happen to get peppermint shrimp that come from the indo area they dont eat the aiptasia but the peppermint's from florida do eat them. I dont know if this is true but jus sayin

[intarsiabox]

i've heard that if you happen to get peppermint shrimp that come from the indo area they dont eat the aiptasia but the peppermint's from florida do eat them. I dont know if this is true but jus sayin

I think a lot of people confuse camel shrimp with peppermint shrimp as they look very similar. They are really good for very small aiptasia and continued control after all visible ones have been eradicated. I had a tank years ago that had lots of these pests and kalk paste and 2 peppermint shrimp did the trick. I still have the shrimp after 5-6 years and have never seen another aiptasia since.

[outacontrol]

The article in the Coral magazine says all peppermints eat aiptasia as long as they are not overfed. It also states that they eat the entire aiptasia unlike most fish, therefore the aiptasia cannot regrow later. Best control available hands down. 1 year after my shrimp died I still had no aiptasia.

[globaldesigns]

Personally I would use some KALK paste and a syringe. Works wonders and it is only 25 cents for a syringe at your local drug store and Kalk is also cheap.

Mix some KALK in little bit of water so you can suck it into the syringe. Turn off all your pumps so you have a calm tank, and start sticking each beast and inject some kalk, then squirt some on top of it and leave it. Do a bunch and let them stand in a calm tank for 15 minutes. Turn on your pumps, kalk will start lifting off rocks, but this process has always worked for me. Killing them in one dose.

Good luck!

EDIT: If you have hundreds of them, don't kalk them all at once... I would do 20 or so a day, so the Kalk doesn't through your water param's out of whack.

[365seasons]

We've had the most luck with peppermints.
Just ask your LFS to show you that they are eating first.
Got 4 from Red Coral Calgary a while back, and haven't had aiptasia since!
Kevin put some aiptasia in the tanks and within minutes the shrimps were all over it.
=)

[Ya Dude]

Ive battled those for years and found success only by removing the rock and scraping them off with a screwdriver.Dont waste your time injecting or zapping they always come back eventually.Its only 50g tank,YOUUU CAAAAN DOOO IT

[globaldesigns]

Ive battled those for years and found success only by removing the rock and scraping them off with a screwdriver.Dont waste your time injecting or zapping they always come back eventually.Its only 50g tank,YOUUU CAAAAN DOOO IT

I disagree... Why disrupt the environment. I inject Kalk on my 180G DT with great success. Just did it last night to one. I have never had any invasion in my display, I just kalk them when I see them.

[The Grizz]

I disagree... Why disrupt the environment. I inject Kalk on my 180G DT with great success. Just did it last night to one. I have never had any invasion in my display, I just kalk them when I see them.

+1 as well, I just zapped 20 or more Apitasia in my tank over the weekend and there is no sight of them again and did not have to move a single rock.

[Megalodon]

I found Joe's Juice works better than any other liquid injector. It's heavy and bury's the aipetasia instead of floating around.

[asylumdown]

I'm about ready to throw in the towel with a 90 gallon because of aiptasia. An ounce of prevention would have solved this by being militantly aggressive when I first spotted them, but that was back before I knew what an aiptasia was, or how awful they could be.

I find the kalk paste doesn't ever kill the whole thing. It melts off their tentacles and part of their head, but they're back out a week later looking like nothing ever happened (and likely have released thousands of tiny clones in the process).

The only thing I've found that completely kills them to the point where they cannot regenerate is to take a very fine gauge syringe (the kind diabetics use), fill it with lemon juice or some other acid, then very gently spray a small cloud around the tentacles. The acid is strong enough to denature the proteins of their tentacles on contact, so they curl up against the body. This also stuns their "RETRACT!!!" reflex. After that, you've got about 20 seconds to get the syringe right up deep inside the body, either through the mouth, or by injecting straight through the side. After about 20 seconds (whether you inject them or not) they'll figure out they need to retract and disappear.

If you spray the tentacles first, you can even get tiny aiptasia this way.

However, if you've got as many of them as I do, you'll likely not ever bring them under complete control. When I move to my new tank, every piece of live rock in my current tank is going to be making a pit stop in a rubber maid full of bleach first.

The first aiptasia I see in my new tank will find it's host rock immediately removed, and then discover what the blue flame of a butane torch feels like.

[Megalodon]

Threadfin butterfly fish or Joe's Juice. Kalk paste never worked for me.

[globaldesigns]

I'm about ready to throw in the towel with a 90 gallon because of aiptasia. An ounce of prevention would have solved this by being militantly aggressive when I first spotted them, but that was back before I knew what an aiptasia was, or how awful they could be.

I find the kalk paste doesn't ever kill the whole thing. It melts off their tentacles and part of their head, but they're back out a week later looking like nothing ever happened (and likely have released thousands of tiny clones in the process).

The only thing I've found that completely kills them to the point where they cannot regenerate is to take a very fine gauge syringe (the kind diabetics use), fill it with lemon juice or some other acid, then very gently spray a small cloud around the tentacles. The acid is strong enough to denature the proteins of their tentacles on contact, so they curl up against the body. This also stuns their "RETRACT!!!" reflex. After that, you've got about 20 seconds to get the syringe right up deep inside the body, either through the mouth, or by injecting straight through the side. After about 20 seconds (whether you inject them or not) they'll figure out they need to retract and disappear.

If you spray the tentacles first, you can even get tiny aiptasia this way.

However, if you've got as many of them as I do, you'll likely not ever bring them under complete control. When I move to my new tank, every piece of live rock in my current tank is going to be making a pit stop in a rubber maid full of bleach first.

The first aiptasia I see in my new tank will find it's host rock immediately removed, and then discover what the blue flame of a butane torch feels like.

Hmmm... Do you use a syringe and inject them with the KALK. Reason I ask, is that I use Kalk with a syringe. And they always die on the first attempt for me. Just wondering if you are just covering them in Kalk or actually injecting them.

[asylumdown]

the kalk keeps gumming up my syringes, so I have to use a gauge that's too big to pierce anything but the biggest aiptasia. You can only buy syringes from your local pharmacy so many times before the neighbours start to talk...

I might just be doing it wrong and not diluting it enough. I found the same problem with aiptasia X and joe's juice. How dilute of a solution can you make and still get effective results?

[Flash]

if you're ever in edmonton, Blueworld (where i work) has a few files fishes in stock!

[Ya Dude]

[QUOTE][/I disagree... Why disrupt the environment. I inject Kalk on my 180G DT with great success. Just did it last night to one. I have never had any invasion in my display, I just kalk them when I see them.]

(did one last night).sound like they came back to me?

[Dive_dry]

peppermint shrimp and a coper banded butterfly fish worked great for me

[xblade]

I had about 25 or so pop up in my tank very quickly..I went on a hunt for the best solution.Got a demo of what pepperment shrimp do to aptasia at RC.. bought 2 and less than 2 weeks later,there is not 1 I can see.

Thanks for the demo Kevin :)

[Madreefer]

Threadfin butterfly fish or Joe's Juice. Kalk paste never worked for me.

Somone please correct me if i'm wrong but is'nt Joes Juice actually kalk paste?

[asylumdown]

I had about 25 or so pop up in my tank very quickly..I went on a hunt for the best solution.Got a demo of what pepperment shrimp do to aptasia at RC.. bought 2 and less than 2 weeks later,there is not 1 I can see.

Thanks for the demo Kevin :)

Man my tank must be too full of more delicious food than aiptasia. I bought four from Kevin after watching them destroy one that he fed them.

My aiptasia problem has gotten way worse since then. Maybe there's just too many for them to make a dent.

[JaiWiz]

yea see theres so many aoptions out there and every tank is different in what works aaaggghhhhh i'm going crazy whatever i'll try each one slowly

[xblade]

Man my tank must be too full of more delicious food than aiptasia. I bought four from Kevin after watching them destroy one that he fed them.

My aiptasia problem has gotten way worse since then. Maybe there's just too many for them to make a dent.


I forgot to mention that I cut back my feedings to every 3 days as well.
Also cut my daytime lighting back to 8 hours, instead of 10.
They did the job for me.

[Wayne]

3 Peppermints and injecting the big ones with Lemon juice and I haven't seen aptasia since :lol:

Even with just the shrimp alone, they will do all the work and you won't have to stress out waging war.

[JaiWiz]

I will try that i'll have to make a trip to edmonton and buy a little army of peppermint shrimp

[intarsiabox]

I will try that i'll have to make a trip to edmonton and buy a little army of peppermint shrimp

I wouldn't buy to many, after the aitasia is gone they are very greedy and steal food from fish and corals. They are very interesting however and will clean your hand if you put it in the tank near them.

[Wayne]

They are little zombies that come out at night and will clean up your woes :biggrin:

Unfortunatly when you buy them will be one of the last times you see them as they hide really well during the day :neutral:

[Rogue951]

I have a high death rate with peppermints. 1 in 10 live longer than a few months.
I drip acclaimate them over an hour and everything.
camel shrimp no prob, coral banded.... just peppermints.
like right now I got one good sized guy thats made it out of my last 5.
IT's possible they're getting eaten by something. Doubt it's the coral banded cause it's just too slow to catch a fleeing peppermint. Plus theres lots of places the peppermint can hide that the coral banded won't go.
I know I got pistols somewhere I hear them but can't catch them.

[JaiWiz]

yrea shrimp can be weird i had a coral banded and went to Atlanta for a few day came back and he was gone no skelton nothing just gone lol so who knows i kknow i dont have a mantis no fish have ever gone missing lol i will try a army of peppermint shrimp like i said and just cut back to feeding every 2 or 3 days to cut back the left over food the peppermenits like to scavenge on rather then eatting apitasia

[Lysa.anne]

I recently got a Matted File fish & an Apitasia Zapper from Paul @ Oceanic Corals. The file fish did a lot of hard work before I got the Zapper but took take of some of the big ones myself.

Edit: nice to see a newbie to the forum form Red Deer, Welcome.
What's an apitasia zapper? I could sure use one, I'm sick of trying to inject the darn things! They just keep coming back no matter how many I get!