LF advice or opinions on the aptasia zapper

howdy20012002 · #1 07-19-2011, 04:09 PM

just wondering if there are people out there who have bought the aptasia zapper?
if so, are you happy?
I have an aiptasia problem in a few of my tanks and just wondering if this will actually work.
thanks in advance
Neal

The Grizz · #2 07-19-2011, 04:11 PM

It does work as long as you can get at the apitasia, zaps them to nothing.

Lampshade · #3 07-19-2011, 07:00 PM

Paul let me test the one at OC a little while ago, i must say, not only did it zap the thing, it completely disolved it. It was almost a little bit fun actually. ... who am i kidding, i was giggling while i did it. If i had to battle that stuff again i'd be getting one for sure, much easier than syringes.

damtrees420 · #4 07-19-2011, 08:43 PM

anyone in edmonton got one to borrow i have about 4 that just showed up when i changed my bulbs should prob get them now when there is still only 4

Lance · #5 07-19-2011, 09:39 PM

Yup, it works, but like Grizz said, you have to be able to get at them. I find the Aiptasia scoots back in its hole and the zapper is not long enough to get in there. If the Aiptasia is a good size you have to zap it for a good ten seconds or so.

asylumdown · #6 07-19-2011, 10:32 PM

I found that the aiptasia would disappear in to their hiding spot before the juice could do much more than singe a few tentacles. It worked great on aiptasia that were on flat surfaces, but in my tank that was probably 20 out of 2000 individual aiptasia. You need to really hold the probe up against the main body of the anemone for it to work, and I found that it was next to impossible to do that in my rockwork. The wand is also not the world's most maneuverable piece of equipment, so if they're under a ledge, or behind rocks, you won't be able to reach them (this might be something you could easily mod though).

My tank was nearly ready to be torn down due to my aiptasia problem though, so maybe my experience was indicative of it already being too far gone more than the device itself. I do know that I spent probably 5 hours total with the thing and I can confidently say that no more than 5 aiptasia were killed completely.

However, others have great success with them, so it might have just been me.

If you've only got 4 of them, I would take out the rock and blast them with a butane torch. If you miss with the zapper even a little, you could just be encouraging them to release thousands of clones in to the water. That's not a risk I would take again.