need help with aiptasia

gonewild34 · Jul 19, 2011

i have an outbreak in one of my tanks of aiptasia i have peppermint shrimp in there and i have been hitting the with lemon juice but there seams to be more popping up now the tank is loaded with them

paulduong · Jul 19, 2011

try pickling lime , it works for me

Curtie44 · Jul 19, 2011

Do yourself a favor and get on top of it before it gets out of hand. I had a huge outbreak in my 120 that I thought was going to be a lost cause. I tried manually removing them with some success, but their numbers were so great that it didn't look like I did anything. Aiptasia X seemed to work pretty well, although some of them I had to treat several times before it killed them, while some it killed after the first application. I think it's all in weather you apply the solution properly to the anenome. I think ultimately what got rid of most of them for me was Berghia nudibranch. I ended up buying a total of 15 berghia for my heavily infested 120G tank after not being satisfied with the results of the first two removal attempts. I made a mistake and only bought 5 the first time. For an impatient guy like me, I should have bought about 30 for my size tank. The thing about Nudibranch's is you MUST BE PATIENT. The only time you will see them is immediately after you put them in the tank. They are nocturnal animals and hide when the lights are on. They are also so small that they are hard to spot even if they do come out during the day. If you want quick results you will need to start with a bunch of them. It took a couple of months for me to start seeing the nudis work (probably 9n part because my tank was so overrun with aiptasia). There would be that one aiptasia that always caught my eye...you know, the one right next to your prized piece. You keep telling yourself.."I need to get in there and treat that one before it stings my favorite coral to death". Then one day it was just gone...completely. Then a few days later another aiptasia would turn up missing...and so on. One day they are there, the next day thay are gone. Then, before you know it, your tank is just about back to normal. I actually saw one of them last night after the daylights went off and it was just actinics. I breathe a sigh of relief 'cause you always wonder if you just threw $200 down the drain since you never see them. Sorry for the length..just trying to share my experience.

Kbra · Jul 19, 2011

Curtie44 said:
Do yourself a favor and get on top of it before it gets out of hand. I had a huge outbreak in my 120 that I thought was going to be a lost cause. I tried manually removing them with some success, but their numbers were so great that it didn't look like I did anything. Aiptasia X seemed to work pretty well, although some of them I had to treat several times before it killed them, while some it killed after the first application. I think it's all in weather you apply the solution properly to the anenome. I think ultimately what got rid of most of them for me was Berghia nudibranch. I ended up buying a total of 15 berghia for my heavily infested 120G tank after not being satisfied with the results of the first two removal attempts. I made a mistake and only bought 5 the first time. For an impatient guy like me, I should have bought about 30 for my size tank. The thing about Nudibranch's is you MUST BE PATIENT. The only time you will see them is immediately after you put them in the tank. They are nocturnal animals and hide when the lights are on. They are also so small that they are hard to spot even if they do come out during the day. If you want quick results you will need to start with a bunch of them. It took a couple of months for me to start seeing the nudis work (probably 9n part because my tank was so overrun with aiptasia). There would be that one aiptasia that always caught my eye...you know, the one right next to your prized piece. You keep telling yourself.."I need to get in there and treat that one before it stings my favorite coral to death". Then one day it was just gone...completely. Then a few days later another aiptasia would turn up missing...and so on. One day they are there, the next day thay are gone. Then, before you know it, your tank is just about back to normal. I actually saw one of them last night after the daylights went off and it was just actinics. I breathe a sigh of relief 'cause you always wonder if you just threw $200 down the drain since you never see them. Sorry for the length..just trying to share my experience.

Do they go after you Zoas once they finish their job? Im assuming they are all dead now with no other food...