Kalkwasser to kill aiptasia

[Willbiker]

Hi all. I have a few aiptasia right at the base of my rockwork. I probably won't be able to reach it with a needle and syringe. I do have some kalkwasser calcium hydroxide and along turkey baster. Does kalkwasser have to be injected into the aiptasia to be affective or will target squirting it kill it like joes juice?

Thanks

 

[reefwiser]

The answer is yes. They are very fast and just squiring it will not do much.
At the base of rocks they will retract under the rock work. If you have a few ther are more in areas you are not seeing. One of the best tactics I use is to use reef epoxy to smother the little beasts.

 

[Garf]

Hi all. I have a few aiptasia right at the base of my rockwork. I probably won't be able to reach it with a needle and syringe. I do have some kalkwasser calcium hydroxide and along turkey baster. Does kalkwasser have to be injected into the aiptasia to be affective or will target squirting it kill it like joes juice?

Thanks

You’ll get a lot of Kalk floating in the tank trying to use a turkey blaster, a syringe with airline arrangement works to coat them. That said, this method is very ineffective. If you can putty them into the rock, that works well.

 

[Willbiker]

Thanks for the reply. I just cant reach that far down. I usually use a litter picker to reach that low. Maybe ill have to try the joes juice as this seems to be affective with just a squirt....so I have read.

 

[GardenReef]

A little late to the thread but I do use a small syringe with kalk paste mix. It takes practice to not shoot it all over the place but it works like a charm. I turn off all pumps for sure. Let the current settle then put a glob right in their mouth and stop when they close they start melting in minutes. Leave the pumps off for a good while and have a turkey baster to suck up any excess if it starts floating toward any corals. Then before the pumps come back on i use a smaller syringe to clean any leftover so it doesnt blow onto everything. Time consuming but successful for me. Ymmv. Practice first though. That made a world if difference when someone here recommended that to me. Best of luck

 

[Willbiker]

A little late to the thread but I do use a small syringe with kalk paste mix. It takes practice to not shoot it all over the place but it works like a charm. I turn off all pumps for sure. Let the current settle then put a glob right in their mouth and stop when they close they start melting in minutes. Leave the pumps off for a good while and have a turkey baster to suck up any excess if it starts floating toward any corals. Then before the pumps come back on i use a smaller syringe to clean any leftover so it doesnt blow onto everything. Time consuming but successful for me. Ymmv. Practice first though. That made a world if difference when someone here recommended that to me. Best of luck

Thanks for this advice. In the end I tried joes juice and it worked really well! I put the smallest amount i could in a turkey baster and coated it. Its not yet returned so I assume thats a success!

 

[GardenReef]

Awesome!! Joe’s works just as well too. Congrats - that is a success!!!

 

[Willbiker]

I also added a peppermint shrimp but he didn't touch it. Since the moment I added it I've not seen it since. I do hear the odd loud click so he must be in there somewhere. I was hoping he would pair with my chalk goby but that hasn't happened either.

 

[theocorals537]

be very careful using kalk in tank improperly. Will melt corals if come in contact

 

[Doctorgori]

2nd on the epoxy, no escape!

 

[GardenReef]

Agreed. Have to be extremely careful around corals. Thats a judgement call as to proximity and practice level.

be very careful using kalk in tank improperly. Will melt corals if come in contact