Trick to kill the aiptasia?

[DSC reef]

Big palms, but figured I should kill them as they are probably seeding the tank. But then again any small particles of food that go into the overflow are probably getting caught and eaten by that giant colony instead of rotting in the sump sock so maybe I will just leave them alone.

I was concerned about the seeding part but honestly I haven't seen an outbreak from them in DT since i stopped messing with them about 7 months ago. The ones in my overflow (drilled) survived without water for over 8 hours, no joke. I thought them drying out during the tank move would end them. They are amazingly durable. They catch left over food before the sock so I just accept them as part of the CUC. lol.

 

[slipknotgrrl83]

I had 2 that i made retract and then glued them in, have had no more since

 

[DMan]

Be very careful with types of peppermint shrimp! I came across a few threads here on R2R and other places documenting which peppermint shrimp from which regions were the aptasia killers so if you do go the shrimp route make sure beforehand! I went with the berghia nudibranches and have not seen a single aptasia in the tank since. A bit more costly up front but the nudibranches can get into the crevices that the other methods cannot.

Some places will sell Camel shrimp as Peppermints. But they do nothing.

 

[DMan]

My favorite methods is by making my own paste from kalkweisser. Couple of tbs of kalk to a couple tsp of boiling water will make a nice thick paste. More water may be used to thin it up for a syringe ( I've also started adding a few squirts of vinegar to the paste as well)
With this method as with Aptasia x or Joes it is extremely important to turn off all circulation for 10 to 15 min. And to squirt the or apply the paste to the centre of the disc. The Aptasia has to ingest some of it to work. Don't poke or prod them because their main defense is to release spores which float away in the water column. And become more Aptasia brats.

Natural methods are great if the creature goes for it. And if they do eat them what happens when the Aptasia are gone. Then you have a fish ( if that's the way you go ) that either starves or has to be trained.

Either way Aptasia are a pain in the butt. And the Reefers worst nightmare if they get out of hand.

 

[DSC reef]

My favorite methods is by making my own paste from kalkweisser. Couple of tbs of kalk to a couple tsp of boiling water will make a nice thick paste. More water may be used to thin it up for a syringe ( I've also started adding a few squirts of vinegar to the paste as well)
With this method as with Aptasia x or Joes it is extremely important to turn off all circulation for 10 to 15 min. And to squirt the or apply the paste to the centre of the disc. The Aptasia has to ingest some of it to work. Don't poke or prod them because their main defense is to release spores which float away in the water column. And become more Aptasia brats.

Natural methods are great if the creature goes for it. And if they do eat them what happens when the Aptasia are gone. Then you have a fish ( if that's the way you go ) that either starves or has to be trained.

Either way Aptasia are a pain in the butt. And the Reefers worst nightmare if they get out of hand.

Plenty methods do work and some inject aptaisia with good success. I don't agree with fish starving though. Every file fish, copper band I've owned never soley lived on aptaisia alone and never had to be trained on fish food after the aptaisia was gone. The only issue with starvation would be nudibranchs since that is the only thing they eat. I agree with that they are a reefers nightmare!

 

[coralbeauties]

I literally burned one with a lighter for 20 seconds+ till I could see nothing but black. It was on a frag disk too and not in a hole...... ******* came back 3 weeks later exactly the same spot.....
Only thing that's ever worked for me was peppermint. I had to remove my wrasses last time as they ate them like popcorn.
I did have them pick at a purple long tentacle anemone once.
I've never tried nidibranchs due to cost and having some sort of wrass or cleaner shrimp in the tank.

what is it that the wrasse ate? Peppermint shrimp? I have a large melaranus wrasse and would like to add some peppermints.
Jeff

 

[jd371]

what is it that the wrasse ate? Peppermint shrimp? I have a large melaranus wrasse and would like to add some peppermints.
Jeff

Yeah, mine ate the peppermints. I have a bunch of snails, cleaner and a fire shrimp that he won't touch but when I added some peppermints for aptasia they didn't last long, it was an expensive snack for my melanurus. I can't add peppermint or nudis because of the wrasse.

 

[Outdrsyguy1]

They grab the shrimp by the head, bolt over to a rock and slam them against the rock thereby tearing them in half in one fluid motion. Then they gobble the two halves. It's quite fast. Mine was a melanarus also. I put in 3. 2 made it to safety while one was eaten immediately. The other two were eaten within 36 hours no matter how good of a hider they were.

 

[Robink]

Berghia for $16. buy it! I have seen them for MUCH more. Berghia is the best option. That is all they eat. When you are done you can sell them. Also, be very careful where you buy live stock. If the LFS has aptasia, go elsewhere otherwise you are buying aptasia with your coral.

Berghias are the best solution. You need one for every ten gallons of tank. They hunt together in packs and will reproduce. You can then trade the ones left when you run out of aiptasia to eat.

 

[DSC reef]

Berghia for $16. buy it! I have seen them for MUCH more. Berghia is the best option. That is all they eat. When you are done you can sell them. Also, be very careful where you buy live stock. If the LFS has aptasia, go elsewhere otherwise you are buying aptasia with your coral.

I agree that berghia are a great way to go but I have to add that you shouldn't stop purchasing from a store because you see aptaisia. Every store either has it or will get it. I've purchased many frags from some of the well known suppliers including big sponsors here that came with aptaisia. My point is don't judge a retailer because you see aptaisia. It's the buyers responsibility to look at what's going into the tank as well.

 

[Cessna89811]

I just ordered some Berghia Nudibranchs from reeftown to eat the aiptasia in my nano.

 

[Whipples]

I agree that berghia are a great way to go but I have to add that you shouldn't stop purchasing from a store because you see aptaisia. Every store either has it or will get it. I've purchased many frags from some of the well known suppliers including big sponsors here that came with aptaisia. My point is don't judge a retailer because you see aptaisia. It's the buyers responsibility to look at what's going into the tank as well.

Not just that, but it is everywhere in the wild! In my experience so far, zoa frags are the most likely to carry it as they can cover them when they are small. Dip diligence and inspection is your friend, and having a few natural predators doesn't hurt

 

[BluewaterLa]

Absolutely correct as others have mentioned that stressing these nasty pest out will cause them to spread in a horrible manner.
If any tissue survives it will grow back. If stressed or feels in danger it will release Planulae into the water column and these will settle into many different areas of the system to grow into new glass anemones, process that happens all the time.
There is no absolute way to 100% eradicate these aiptasia anemones without some spreading.
Best methods are to remove the rock and treat the rock outside the tank water and rinse well after ensuring all tissue has been removed.

I have used multiple products in the past with differing results, seems that the battle will continue using said products.
Removing the rock and cutting the rock with bone cutters or a diamond blade saw sacrificing some of the rock is a solid method.
The pain in the rump part is when aiptasia are mixed in with things like cloves or zoanthids.
Natural predation is a good method, for peppermint shrimp most LFS that have some should know if they eat aiptasia or not. We have one LFS that keeps a tank filled with peppermints and will use these little boogers to clean up a coral frag or rock that has aiptasia on it which is good proof that you are buying a variety that actually eat what you want them to.
Berg. Nudi's are also great and can be a good critter to pass along to someone in your local reef club that needs their services so they do not have to starve to death per say.

I have never tried to glue or epoxy one into a hole before, may have to try a little experiment in a tiny tank using this method and see if it works well.
In no way am I discrediting anyone claiming this works, I would just be worried about the possibility for survival through compromised sealing of the anemone or small crevasse / connecting small hole that the anemone could propagate itself or release planulae into the water column.

Anyone having good success with the Laser method of burning them out and not having a continued problem ??

 

[bblumberg]

Lots of good advice from previous posters. I second the notion that biological control is better than most other methods when trying to deal with an Aiptasia outbreak. I have had the sad experience of using a chemical method to kill the single Aiptasia I could see and finding a month later that I had an entire tank of them. Others may have had good results, but unless you only have a few and do the eradication PERFECTLY, trouble is likely to follow.

I have had great success with a matted file fish, Klein's butterfly and occasional success with peppermint shrimp, which are hit or miss in my experience. I think that once you have Aiptasia in the tank, they are likely to always be around at a low level, particularly if you have rocks with deep crevices like the Pukani that I have. The filefish and butterfly control those that are accessible in my 150, but I can see some Aiptasia tentacles down in the crevices. I may try a Copper banded butterfly or Berghia to get these, but so far they are too few to worry about.

Good luck,

Bruce

 

[Cessna89811]

I just ordered some Berghia Nudibranchs from reeftown to eat the aiptasia in my nano.

My Berghia from ReefTown have arrived! They are so graceful and beautiful. There laid a couple coils of eggs in the container. I am acclimating them and will place the container in the aquarium so that they will disembark together to go after the aiptasia .

 

[Whipples]

Make sure that container is tight against a rock and in a lower flow area, it took mine an hour or two to figure it out

 

[savetheocean]

I wish aiptasia was pretty so at least it wouldnt be as bad.

 

[Engloid]

I use pure white vinegar and one of the small needles like they use for insulin. If you get a shot into the APT Asia either in the head of it or the stalk, it will kill them every single time. They physically cannot live once the pH in their body is that drastically different.

 

[coralbeauties]

I use pure white vinegar and one of the small needles like they use for insulin. If you get a shot into the APT Asia either in the head of it or the stalk, it will kill them every single time. They physically cannot live once the pH in their body is that drastically different.

Yea but do they come back like all the other chemical methods?
Jeff

 

[DSC reef]

I use pure white vinegar and one of the small needles like they use for insulin. If you get a shot into the APT Asia either in the head of it or the stalk, it will kill them every single time. They physically cannot live once the pH in their body is that drastically different.

The spores they release sure can.....