effective way to kill aiptasia (now with moar lasers!)
So with more room to have a look at my pre-established rocks I had been finding a few small buggers in addition to the large 3 or 4 I have known about for months (and did nothing about because they were not easily gotten to).
1. grab a wooden bbq skewer 2. remove top of your bottle of crazy glue 3. DIP and coat the first inch of your skewer 4. sneak up on pest and lay the skewer across it and twist the skewer The glue forms a skin so my first few attempts were fails. Then I found that continuing to rotate the thing does a great job of breaking that skin and coats the vermin. I've killed 6 this way including two that were far underneath a colony's 'umbrella'. With this technique access just means a hole or gap you can horizontally insert your skewer. Only have 1 left and it's moved within the rockwork and lived thru three 2-part epoxy attacks. It's glue time! |
I've always used Kalc a syringe and a piece airline tube. This has worked good for me until this tank. They just keep coming back, so I'll give your method a try, sounds like a good plan of attack.
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Personally I have always used a syringe and Kalk.
I take about 5ml of water, mix with about 1ml of Kalk and then suck it in the syringe. I turn off all pumps to calm the tank down, then go to work. If I can actually stab the bugger I do, but if it pulls into the rock, I inject the rock area where it is with the Kalk and then also lay some of the mixture on the surface. It always works for me on the first try everytime. Once applied I leave the tank calm for about 15 minutes or so, then power everything back up. Kalk will then be lifted and float around to eventually dissapear, but always works. Only catch is that if you have too many pests, then you need to do this in many attempts, as you don't want to add too muck Kalk to the tank. You can go to shoppers to buy the syringes, I just bought 3 new ones with larger blunt needles for $1.62 incl/GST. |
Oh I thought you had to actually inject for kalk to work hence me never trying it. Sounds cheaper too so I may give the traditional method a shot if I find any new ones.
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I use aiptasia X but it's expensive and they keep coming back. Your tric is good but must be pretty hard to do on the tiny buggers that hide within zoanthids colonies. I hate those with a vengance. They anoy my zoanthids and yet they are so small that they are very hard to kill as they retract too fast. It is also tricky to put aiptasia X or any other stuff in a zoanthid colony, so it is a real bummer. I am thinking of getting a few berghia.
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Luckilly I can't keep zoas alive for the most part :lol: Hoping a larger playground for my tank means the Kole's harassing grazing will be spread out and they can flourish.
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Cheap and effective, give it a try. |
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Nudi's work well, I bought 2 for my sump, and they bred. They cleaned up the sump really well. But, they died off, because they had no more food. Time has passed, and some aptaisa have come back in the sump. I don't bother anymore, there are not many, and my DT is clean of them. I just keep on top of things. |
I have a file fish that doesn't eat them, I have peppermint shrimp that don't eat them. I use Kalk paste a well, I coat them and it seems to work.
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aptasia
i always use berghia-tried peppermint shrimp-never worked,kalk paste or joes juice just released all the daughter cells,injected them with lemon juice.at least the berghia go everywhere and i don't have to do any work
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I don't think it matters what you inject them with - kalk, vinegar, liquid calcium, strontium - anything that's toxic to them when injected but reef-friendly should do the trick. I inject them when they're small and make sure I inject all the way in. It might take two or three injections to kill them dead so they detach and can be removed from the tank. Powerheads off, of course.
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Three months later, you couldn't find any aiptasia in my tank. And what's great also, the Pearlscales taught the Copperband to eat them, too, and he started hunting them as well, and helped clean them out of the deeper holes with his longer beak. |
I'm convinced you'll never really get rid of them until you get yourself an Aiptasia-eating critter. I've been fighting them in my 90g since day 1; I swear I've used every method there is, (kalk paste, Joe's Juice, Aiptasia-X, boiling water, lemon juice, sodium hydroxide, epoxy, and the zapper). I can keep the population down but if I don't keep at them constantly they just come back with a vengeance.
I have a CBB in the 225g who has a taste for them and haven't had a problem since I got him. I move smaller rock infested with the little bastards from the 90 to the big tank and within days he has eaten them all............. I love that little yellow guy! |
How long do you have the copperband? Usually what we hear is that they eat all the aiptasias and then die. I am wondering if it is not toxic for them and slowly kill them?
Mine does not touch any aiptasia and I have him for a year. Quote:
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I got it from a fellow reefer in May 2009. How long she had it for I don't know. It eats all fresh or frozen meaty foods but will not touch flakes or pellets.
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I bought a CBB from a fellow reefer and damn it's got an apatite for apitasia & those little white feather dusters ( had thousands ) I have a zapper for my FOWLR & office tank, tried the kalk paste & apitasia X as well but nothing is as good as Buckbeek( my CBB ).
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Sorry to have mislead you guys. Seems I have to wait 48 hrs to make a call. Half of the buggers survived the crazy glue @#$%!
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I've been patiently waiting to find a CBB that's eating in stores, I haven't had any luck so far. |
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If injection is the method of choice, feed them first with some mysis. They engorge themselves and then it's harder to retreat into the ittybitty holes (they still will but at least it slows them down some). |
Found this website that will ship Berghias to Canada. I'm going to order some as soon as the holidays are over to clean up my tank.
http://www.saltyunderground.com/inde...ath=6&CDpath=7 |
Ok but is it a proper time of the year to order them? Even with a heat pad, would it not be too cold as they are sensitive and delicate creatures?
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Bought some from Salty Underground and they are doing really well. The shipping is a small fortune but it's next day delivery.. BUT don't be surprised if they get hung up in customs for an additional day. Mine did, but luckily it was nice weather and they all made it. I ordered 20. I put 6 in my little cube, 6 in the RSM 250 and 7 in the big tank. Four months later the big tank is still full of aptasia, the cube is completely cleared of aptasia as is the RSM. Once the aptasia are gone the nudies starve to death, BUT they really start searching once they get low n aptasia, and you can find most of them on the glass. I was able to find all 6 from the cube and 5 or 6 from the RSM, along with a dozen babies.:mrgreen:
I'm thinking the reason they flourished in two tanks but didn't in the third is the big tank had a Bangia Cardinal. Since both the banger and nudies are nocturnal, and the banger hunted ALL night, I think she either ate them, or tried to eat them. I gave the banger away, and have put most of the gathered up nudies in that tank, crossing fingers.. I was really surprised just how big these guys get.. Good inch and pretty meaty too.. Heres a couple of pictures taken of some Im raising. Theres a standard frag plug in the first one for size reference. the second pic is of a couple of young ones already laying eggs. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...a/IMG_0302.jpg http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...a/IMG_0298.jpg |
I had a couple in my tank I couldn't inject so I covered them over in 2 part epoxy about 2" proximity around them. No more aiptasia so far.
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Ohhh if they only eat Majanos....
i have like maybe 5 aiptasia... vs 200+ Majanos |
Here's an alternate method of attacking Aptasia, Majano, and almost anything else you can "see" in the tank. I'm going to either build or "borrow" one for my Japanese Clove Polyps that are killing some of my Zoas.
http://youtu.be/Cbk7mA5PuAQ |
Saw that last week as well. Looked into buying one even, found a few suppliers. :lol:
In my case though, with pets and small kids in the house, and all the males in the house with the exception of the cat being huge science and sci-fi nerds ... this would be one horrible purchase to make (to be filed alongside other epic mistakes of judgment such as "bought the 6 year old a real lightsabre and he accidentally cut his grandma in half" http://youtu.be/TXMX_xm7IRo ). Obviously you have to be extremely cautious: reflections from the glass are possible so nobody can be in the room with you, including pets; steps to be taken to keep fish away from the spot so they don't get instantly blinded or burnt .. and so on. I'm also curious if the beam passing through the glass might do some residual damage there as well, perhaps creating a weak spot? Cool idea though in theory! Come on, it's freakin' LASERS! |
I'll admit I wanted to see what my frontosas would think of a laser pointer once. They took immediate notice and went crazy trying to get it!
I am not sure how you could have that thing shining in there that long and not have a fish notice (see) the end point. Equal parts awesome and risky here. |
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Yes this is a VERY risky process and truly no one else should be home let alone in the same room or in an adjacent room where the beam could be reflected to. The 2 people I've talked with indicate that something makes the fish "not interested" in the end-point (sound of the boiling flesh maybe?) but none the less precaution needs to be taken to help ensure you don't have a stray "Swim By" event. Lucky for me my tank in question only has 3 fish so putting them in "Time Out" wont be a huge matter. |
so what is the name of this laser thing and where can it be purchased?
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I've spoken with (2) people and each of them took a different route. You can buy one ready made or you can save a few $$ and buy a kit.
http://www.dragonlasers.com/catalog/...m-p-16456.html Be sure and get the corresponding protective goggles, that beam hurts! and here is a shopping list from the reefer who decided to make his own from a kit Quote:
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I can understand the frustration that aiptasia cause (I would have broken down a system because of them if I wasn't moving anyway), but this seems awfully risky. The potential consequences to you or someone else in your home if safety precautions are ignored for even a second seem relatively high compared to what it's being used for. To quote billsreef over at reef central:
"Just to throw in some perspective from the research side of life, in a university research lab setting, just as much weight is given to safety and tracking of lasers as radioactive material". and this is an interesting thread from the laser pointer forum. The laser that hit this guy's eye was less powerful than what most people are buying for their aquariums. His avatar picture is what his retina looks like now: http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hi...ser-69469.html Just my two cents, but I'd rather take out and boil all my rocks before risking my, or someone in my home's vision. |
Yes this could be very dangerous but with proper safety precautions no more dangerous than many of the other things we deal with in and around our tanks.
Goggles goggles goggles! Such a simple piece of equipment could have saved this person some hassle. It's too early to know the full extent of the damage but hopefully he'll have a significant amount of improvement after today's surgery. |
Good to hear about the glass. I wasn't sure but I guess that makes sense now that I think about it.
In spectacularly poor judgment I must say I am tempted to try this myself. I don't much care about majano and aiptasia or but I must admit the possibility this could work on valonia .. has me wondering. :lol: |
Even tho it's hot... I doubt you'd do more than burst it Tony... and make things worse?
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It would be interesting to try it on a "Test Tank" just in case. ROFL Quote:
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Oh well it was a nice thought while it lasted! I wonder if any LFS has about 6 or 7 emeralds I could pick up. :lol: Nowhere as cool as a FREAKIN' LASER though!!!! :lol: |
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These lasers can permanently alter your, or someone else's life if mishandled for even one half of a second. My dad had an ocular aneurism in his right eye three years ago. It's not the same thing as laser injury, but the functional result was the same. The effect it has had on his quality of life has been nothing short of devastating. Ultimately people will probably do it, and to be honest I was tempted until I read that thread on the laser forum. More than anything I know these threads are searchable on google so I just want to make sure that any conversation regarding these things for aquarium purposes have enough posts about the dangers so others who aren't necessarily members of the boards get a complete picture of the risks when they look for info. |
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