apistasia help

BRS
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I am surprised no one has mentioned peppermint shrimp. I have had outbreaks of aiptasia that have been relatively severe. I enlisted an army of them. It takes only a week or two to nearly eliminate the problem and it is fun to watch them work. I almost always have aiptasia in the tank, but with the Shrimp they never grow large and are no real problem and very inconspicuous.

FWIW I used lemon juice and had some effect. No reason to introduce that though. I have put up to ten shrimpthe tank when things were bad. Now I make sure I always have one or two in the tank.
 
Nutramar Foods
jmfugett said:
I am surprised no one has mentioned peppermint shrimp. I have had outbreaks of aiptasia that have been relatively severe. I enlisted an army of them. It takes only a week or two to nearly eliminate the problem and it is fun to watch them work. I almost always have aiptasia in the tank, but with the Shrimp they never grow large and are no real problem and very inconspicuous.

FWIW I used lemon juice and had some effect. No reason to introduce that though. I have put up to ten shrimpthe tank when things were bad. Now I make sure I always have one or two in the tank.
Click to expand...
May buy a few in the near future!
 
I've only had a few. But I used Joe's juice. It worked amazing. They never came back. It also helps I'm sure that I dip and QT every coral now, and I started with dry rock. Have fun trying other methods.
 
Chewy.com
I have never been very lucky with AipX. It always seemed like the next time I saw Aiptasia it was twice as many. My favorite trick is using super salty saturated boiling water. I dissolve as much salt as possible in hottest of water using the microwave and shoot it in the mouth with a syringe. I never notice any more after that. And the salt is already in the tank and the small amount used never affects my #s. I also keep peppermints in tank but they only clean up young aiptasia. When aip's are too big they won't touch them. You won't see them work though, they do their damage at night. Unfortunately, they all become a snack for my wrasses eventually.

And I also love Butterflyfish. They are beautiful and take care of aiptasia!

Good Luck
 
I'd suggest against getting a lifeform for the sole reason of eliminating another unless you're absolutely infested. Targeted kill is best (AipX/superglue) IMO. Unless you were planning on having peppermint shrimp anyway..

If you can temporarily remove the rock it's on, your job will be much easier.
 
Tidal Gardens
I'm a big fan of removing all rock and bleaching it while letting the tank remain fallow for X number of days and zapping anything that shows up. When you're clear for 15-30 days put the rock back in. If you have corals; same process, just remove them to QT.
 
I have hundreds of them in my tank,a lot i can not get too,i have been using a small bottle of apt-x ever week but can not get on top of them, i am thinking of trying a copper band butterfly
 
I'm not usually in the camp of "There was an old women who swallowed a fly" method but if you have small aiptasia in your reek tank just go the peppermint shrimp route. They clear them out in days and they are easy to catch. They come right to the top of the tank during feedings and you scoop them out. Injecting these turds with an individual needle or basting them with boiling water is a joke. Put in peppermint shrimp wait 5 days and easily catch them. They are cheap and LFS will take them back. If they are large or it's massive outbreak, peppermint shrimp may not be sufficient though.
 
Tidal Gardens
Snookin said:
I'm not usually in the camp of "There was an old women who swallowed a fly" method but if you have small aiptasia in your reek tank just go the peppermint shrimp route. They clear them out in days and they are easy to catch. They come right to the top of the tank during feedings and you scoop them out. Injecting these turds with an individual needle or basting them with boiling water is a joke. Put in peppermint shrimp wait 5 days and easily catch them. They are cheap and LFS will take them back. If they are large or it's massive outbreak, peppermint shrimp may not be sufficient though.
Click to expand...
I have put 5 in there, no good
 
Are you sure they are peppermint shrimp? Then you may have been duped with camelback shrimp. Where'd you buy them?
 
You'll be fine because you've identified the problem and won't let it get out of hand.

Years ago I had 100s in my tank because of my lousy technique trying to wack them. I removed the heavy covered rocks and used aiptaisa X every few days and not trying to get rid of more than 20 in each session. Make sure you cover the disk completely so they can't release any eggs or split. Also, invest in 10 peppermint shrimp - they will eat all the new babies, Overtime they will die out but as of now if you have 1 you have more readying to bloom. Good luck
 
Tidal Gardens
Well the one I saw is gone, i superglue him two days ago. Apistasia x is due here later today for any others that pop up. I have had only 2 (that I know of and can see) in my 4 years of reefing so I have been lucky. Although I could have more hiding (I do inspect tank once a day and can't visibly see them) I QT everything :)
 
BRS

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