Losing battle with aptasia
 

Well ive been useing joes juice and they dissapear for a couple days then come back twice as bad. Im running out of options. Can someone list the animals that eat these suckers and what negative effects they may have on the reef. I hear copperbanded butterflies, but what else might they eat.

I have always had awsome luck with peppermint shrimp... Haven't noticed any impact on the tank

I have 4 peppermint shrimp in there. But they dont seem to eat the aptasia.

they may not actually be peppermint shrimp... there are impostors (sp) that look very similar... apparently the impostors have a longer rostum ( the thingy that looks like a mosquitos blood sucker)

save your money. use a Hagen pipette with regular vinegar,squirt&hold for 20 seconds longer for larger ones

copper band butterfiles are also known for eating aptasia. Maybe you could borrow one for a week or 2?

I have used vinegar too with a one ml syringe. First turn off the powerheads for about a minute so the vinegar won't be blown all over. Then inject, if you can, the vinegar directly into the aptasia which will probably retreat when you get close to it. If you can't directly inject the aptasia, poke the syringe as far into its hole and gently squirt the vinegar. Leave the powerheads off for 2-3 more minutes for maximum effect.

Are you talking with a needle tip?
If so where do you pick them up?

You can pick up syringes at any medical supply store. There is one near the university on Whyte Ave. You can pick up a syringe for a few bucks.

Ryan,

Got my needle pointed syringe from the vet when we had to inject antibiotics into our ball python several months back.

I would look at nutrient control for keeping the Aiptasia down, and directly inject the few remaining ones ones the nutrients are at a low level.

Nutrient contral? As in over feeding. well i can guarantee im not over feeding. And the peppermint shrimp are the ones everyone in calgary has, from golds where albert said they were the real ones. I saw one eat a aptasia in another tank but he doesnt like the ones in this tank. Ill see if i can find a syringe somewhere. Maybe ill head over to the vet and see what they can do for me.

I sure didn't have any luck with vinegar or Kalk injections they seemed to come back almost immediately. I used diabetic needles as my neighbour was diabetic and in his infinite wisdom would just toss his used needles in the garbage can.

Doug

Joe's Juice seemed to work at first but I think it just POs the aiptasia & they spread after a few days. Tried vinegar in an insulin syringe & it works great, especially if there are peppermints to pick off the weakened survivors.

Anthony

I use a 10 ml syringe with hot water, (well, as hot as my hot water tank will put out), and blast it 3 times for good measure. I have yet to have one come back from it. Hope that helps.

Robert

Just Hot water Robert?

Doug

The syringe with the curved tip (dental purposes) works real well. For stubborn ones a 3-pronged attack of Joe's Juice, then if they come back boiling water fresh from the kettle, then finally (if they come back again), straight vinegar.

Haven't seen any come back after all that.

And to think some local fish store tried selling them as rock anemones.... $5 each.. heck most of us could get rich like that.

Doug

I have used a very drastic approach in the past. I remove the rock containing the Aiptasia from the tank, and submerge it in boiling water for a few minutes. :eek: I am fully aware that the rock will no longer be live. I just use the treated rock as base rock. The rock will in time become live again, but the Aiptasia will not. :biggrin:

Sometimes drastic is the best way.

Doug

reply
 

Try the hot water method, but use a turkey baster. You don't have to inject the lil' buggers if you scorch the whole thing. Hole or no hole the turkey baster method will mely it because of the higher colume of water.

Ok thanks for all the tips guys, the battle begins tommorow.
I will start with another attack of joes juice
then if they come back its to boiling water with a turkey baster
then if all else fail some viniger.


But with the vinager wont it change some of the parameters in my tank?

Use the Turkey Baster if you wish. Just remember the tenacity of Aiptasia is incredible. I have one particular rock that was treated with the baster. Then many months later I looked , and saw an Aiptasia on that rock. Sometimes you think you have them beat just to have them show up again. :mad: . I finally used the boiling water submersion method. On top of that I have isolated the rock in a 15 gallon nano type tank. :eek:

Hey Doug... yeah, just hot water. Mind you, I have my hot water tank set on HOT, so, the water that comes out of there, sure feels like it came out of a kettle. Three shots of 10 mls each, and it doesn't come back, (I don't use a needle, so, I blast it everywhere :biggrin: ). Also, rather than dumping the whole rock in boiling water, why not just pull it out and use a BBQ lighter to burn the little S.O.B.? :biggrin: Would it really come back from that?

Good luck.

Robert

I didn't have more than a few aptasia at any one time, and didn't use too much - just a few good squirts from the small-tipped syringe. You wouldn't use a turkey baster with vinegar, of course.

I don't like putting too much of anything into the tank. Some good tips here, you should win this battle.

Ok so im resurecting an old post, I have tried boiling water, joes juice, peppermint shrimps, and i currently have a copperbanded butterfly. Well its gotten to the point where all i can see is aptasia. Every rock in my tank has at least 10 of them on it. I need a solution. Im willing to take out every rock and dip it(now this is ALOT of rock) but i have no idea what to dip it into. And I cant do it if it will kill the rock. Please Help.

find about 4 pepermint shrimp but the ones with the red tail. and not camel shrimp.. they take a bit to get going but once they do they eat them like crazy.

Steve

Maybe that big bad hermit i gave u will eat them? :lol:

A quick place to pick up a syringe with needle is at the Ink Jet refill places. You can find them in most Malls. They use them for filling the printer ink cartriges. Or find someone who got a refill kit as they have one in them.
As for local (Victoria) I have a bunch if someone needs 1 or 2.
dave.

It sounds like the situation is totally out of hand Sean. I am sure nutrient control is not going to help. The only solution I see is the boiling water trick with each and every rock. Unfortunately it will kill the rock. However, I see no other cure. Do you have any source for all new rock :question: Base rock even :question:

My Copperband wiped out the Aiptasia pretty quickly.

If a Copperband suits your tank that is a good option. The only downside so far is he eats the food (mysis) out of my LPS corals, this may be a factor in my Bubble Coral going downhill. He will also eat small feather dusters.

Losing battle with aptasia
 

I use boiling hot water with a turckey baster and it works every time.
I will also try to suck out the dead aptasia with the baster to ensure
it's all gone.

Ill keep trying with boiling water and see how that goes but so far it doesnt seem to do a thing to them. This is over 200 pounds of rock there is no way im going to kill it all by dumping it in boiling water.

Can butterflys life with eachother?

Sorry I didn't see the earlier post about how you already have a Copperband. I would suggest starving him for a while, I'm sure he will take a liking to your Aiptasia.

Hi,

If you have peppermint shrimp, you need to starve them a bit before they will even touch your pesky friends :) If they are too full from eat fish food, they won't bother eating those ugly pests. I would try to feed less...or stop feeding altogether.

- Victor.

rely
 

How hard would it be to remove all live contents of your tank and do hyposalinity treatment of the tank itself? A couple days at 1.09 would kill them, but your rock stands a better chance of surviving than boiling.

I hav e nt had any luck getting rid of mine either.. I have tried Joes Juice, Boiling water thant I boiled on the stove so it was extremely hot. it helps for a bit but they come back in the same spots 9 times out of 10

I am going to try the vinegar method tonight.

Jim

My brother had about 4 million of them, no joke, every rock was covered. 3 pepermint shrips took care of them in about 1-2 months. it took them the first month to figure out that they were supposed to eat them :rolleyes:

If you're looking for syringes you can try Vancouvers' downtown east side. Joking aside you can get them from your local pharmacy that carries supplies for diabetics.

doug

and then if the boiling water doesn't kill them, hepatitis is sure to do them all in :razz: