What option is best for ridding aiptasia from tank?

[soapy]

Sometimes if the aiptasia does not have its foot buried in a hole you can suck them out with a turkey baster. I got lots this way. Just be careful not to break them up, they reproduce from the little pieces.

[Aquattro]

I've used all the methods mentioned, and from now on, I'll only use a matted filefish. One little guy cleaned my tank of plague proportions in less than 3 weeks. And the odd one that pops back up gets eaten pretty quickly. Once they're all gone, he ate mysis, so not a critter that will starve after the pests are gone.

[asylumdown]

I've been fighting the war with aiptasia in my 90 gallon for about a year. I was brand new to the hobby when I started this tank and was actually excited (lord what an idiot I was) when these 'cool' little anemones started popping out of one of the rocks I bought. Once I learned what they were, I tried aiptasia-X on the biggest of them, but they were on a base piece of rock at an awkward angle so I couldn't get them completely.

Apparently, my botched attempts to remove them triggered a mass reproduction, and over the course of months, thousands (I do mean thousands) started popping up everywhere. On the glass, on the overflow, on every single rock, under corals, in the sump. They spread so far and so fast I couldn't get all of them.

I've tried: Lemon juice, aiptasia-X, joes juice, berghia nudibranchs (probably 700 bucks worth), peppermint shrimp and finally when I took all my rock out to catch two expensive wrasses that were fighting this week, I bought a propane torch and cooked as many as I could find. The smell was disgusting, but oh so satisfying. I tried a lighter, but a normal lighter doesn't get hot enough fast enough to really work

If you miss even a small piece of the foot, they can come back. I've blasted some with lemon juice (injecting with a small gauge syringe) and watched it melt over a couple of days, only to find 3 nearly microscopic versions growing around the perimeter of where the parent had been a week later.

I find a combination of lemon juice injected right in to the mouth or body works, but it works better if you carefully squirt lemon juice al over the tentacles as a second step as well. In close proximity the acidity seems to be able to denature their proteins before it dilutes too much. I usually then smother the collapsed aiptasia with kalk paste to really seal in the death.

The key is getting them before they spread, so if you're going to blast them, try and take the rock out to do it. When they're disturbed they can launch millions of cells in to the water to start clones on all your other rock, and the super tiny ones are too small to inject with anything, so you have to cover them with kalk paste (which kills everything else under it as well). If I had a time machine I would go back and take that one piece of rock out and boil it, even though it would have meant taking my tank apart.

Because of aiptasia I'm building the entire reef structure of the 320 gallon tank I'm building in my new house out of dry eco rock, and only putting in a couple pieces of new, religiously quarantined live rock to seed coralline algae.

I never thought I could hate an animal as much as I hate aiptasia.

[donlite]

I have made my own, but you can buy a aptasia zapper. It has a rod with an electrode on the and when you push the button it cooks it in about 1 second. This is the most fun I have ever had killing somethig Just google it.

[bauder1986]

just pour a half of cup of turpentine and you should be golden

[globaldesigns]

I know, I know.... Start over, and use Eco-reefer rock! HEHE, a free plug here for them.

Just kidding, on a serious note, I bought 2 nudis and thought it was a waste of money. Well I am wrong, I have many now. Lots are like 1.5 inches long, lots of babies and lots of swirl egg colonies. And the hundreds/thousands of aptaisa in my sump are almost gone. Maybe have about 10-15% left to what was there prior. So I recommend the nudi's, you just have to be patient with them.

Also, I am not selling any yet, so please don't ask... But will be soon, once my aptaisa farm in the sump is gone. Don't want the critters to die, so will eventually hunt them down, quarantine them and sell them.

[daniella3d]

wow, that's scary. Now I am scared I will never get rid of mine.

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Apparently, my botched attempts to remove them triggered a mass reproduction, and over the course of months, thousands (I do mean thousands) started popping up everywhere. On the glass, on the overflow, on every single rock, under corals, in the sump. They spread so far and so fast I couldn't get all of them.

I never thought I could hate an animal as much as I hate aiptasia.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

wow, that's scary. Now I am scared I will never get rid of mine.

daniella why not try the matted filefish?? they can be turned to frozen very easily , some dont nip at all, they are very hardy , and they are awesome looking.....not to mention they are aiptasia destroying machines!!!!!

[daniella3d]

I am afraid for my $$$ prized zoanthids. I know some people who's zoanthids disapeared eated by those fish. I would be afraid that before turning to frozen they would make a short work of my beautiful zoanthids.

I am also hoping that my copperband will eventualy find a taste for them. It is still small and acclimating so I will give it a chance.

If the copperband manage to find them and start to eat them, then the filefish would be too much competition.

Originally Posted by reefwars

daniella why not try the matted filefish?? they can be turned to frozen very easily , some dont nip at all, they are very hardy , and they are awesome looking.....not to mention they are aiptasia destroying machines!!!!!

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

I am afraid for my $$$ prized zoanthids. I know some people who's zoanthids disapeared eated by those fish. I would be afraid that before turning to frozen they would make a short work of my beautiful zoanthids.

I am also hoping that my copperband will eventualy find a taste for them. It is still small and acclimating so I will give it a chance.

If the copperband manage to find them and start to eat them, then the filefish would be too much competition.

i would give him time once he finds them and discovers they are food i bet he will be good to go, and fwiw copperbands are just as riskey when it comes to zoas and alot of them discover the taste while finding aiptasia in between their heads and then discover a taste to zoas