Aiptasia Assassin in Training...

[Rue]

The next hurdle in my SW tank are the Aiptasia. I've ignored them so far since they weren't really doing anything bad, but now several are quite big and there are just too many of them.

I bought some aiptasia killer way back when, but was too chicken to use it. *bwokbwokbwok*. But today I had a first-hand demo of how to use the product...so I'm set to go!

I still need to work up some courage overnight. I'll try to kill one tomorrow morning. You have to space out the kills so the toxins in the poison don't affect the tank regardless, so I'll be in assassin mode for a few weeks - playing it safe.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[William]

Good luck, killer!

[Rue]

Thank you. I'll need it.

I can't believe I feels so guilty either...:help:

[Sasquatch]

What kind of aiptasia killer? We used Aiptasia X (Red Sea?) and it worked well. Just keep an eye on your skimmer. When we used it and turned the skimmer back on it was frothing quite a bit.

That said, I was quite surprised at the effectiveness of peppermint shrimp. We have two 108g coral display tanks at the LFS I work at and they were full of aiptasia. We dumped 5 peppermints in each tank about a month ago and the aiptasia has all disapeared since.

[MCHRKiller]

Peppermints and kalk injections are the best failproof ways to kill aiptasia. Plus it wouldnt have the potential to nuke your tank.

[Sarkazmo]

Wear all black and use a blow gun! :P

Sark

PS: You get extra points of you do this whilst hanging from the ceiling light or the top of the nearest cupboard.

[Rue]

Sasquatch; I'm using Tailored Aquatics Aiptasia Destroyer.

MCHRKiller: Until I get the tank into better order, no more inverts. I'm not sure why, but they don't like the tank. Not to mention, I don't think the Peppermints do well in smaller tanks. I have tried in the past.

So far I haven't bothered mucking around with kalkwasser either...but I do like the idea of not poisoning the tank.

However, to that end...I have messed and messed around with trying to do things naturally until I'm pulling out my hair. Then I cave...use a chemical...and *poof* - problem solved. At that point I kick myself for having tried so long! :help:

Sarkazmo: If I could hang from the ceiling - in any capacity - I'd be in a different line of work.

So...I know you're all 'dieing' to find out...:14: Did it work? Yes! Like a charm. Killed them immediately. I used up what was in the syringe and that did 4 of them. A few drops that floated to neighbouring aiptasia also did some serious damage.

I will play it safe and only do 3-4 every 2-3 days (that's below the recommended minimum). Hopefully I'll have no colateral damage. When I'm done I'll do a larger water change...that should be a bit of a safety buffer too...

[labnjab]

I'll have to give it a try.

I've got hundreds and I've tried everything too kill them, kalk, joe's juice, boiling water, peppermint shrimp. I even spent $100 on 3 berghai nudibranches and they haven't made a dent in them. I'd probably need a dozen of them to keep up. I haven't seen the berghai or any missing aptasia since I added them so I'm assuming their gone anyways

[Rue]

It was gratifying to see them shrivel...(as much as I hate killing things...I still found it gratifying...)...

[Rue]

Round II was successful.

There must be at least 20 more...so I'll be a while at it...

[Rue]

Round III successful!

I'm feeling like a pro! :hmm3grin2orange:

[Rue]

Well...something is up. I've held off killing aiptasia to see what would happen. I think some recover. I have very pale...almost invisible ones popping up. They're still very small.

Either that or the stress of killing some of them has released something that encourages reproduction???

Either way...I think I have as many now as I did at the start...just that they're a lot smaller.

I suppose I just need to stay on top of it...eventually I should be able to get rid of them. Just need to be more careful how I do it (even though I thought I was being very efficient)...

[kaybee]

Aiptasia's can form from cellular remnants of the 'parent', either when the anemone (slowly) transits (leaving a trail of remnants in its wake) or if living microscopic fragments remain after an eradication effort didn't completely destroy the 'parent'.

[Rue]

Yeah...probably didn't kill them as well as I should have...but it's very hard to tell. It's not like I rushed.

[jttt27]

They break apart and the little pieces can spawn more Aiptasia. I tried a bunch of things, but all I ended up where a lot more little ones and a constant maintenance schedule.

I went the Peppermint shrimp route and found they are a roulette spin, but a lot easier.

Some will take a liking to them, others will not. I generally buy 3 peppermint shrimp and see if they take to eating the Aiptasia, if not, I sell them and buy 3 different ones until I found a set that do. 1 peppermint shrimp can take out an entire tank of Aiptasia and keep it gone.

I find 1 in every 3 peppermint shrimp will eat them, so about a 33% chance per shrimp.

James
Clearwater, FL

[labnjab]

Well I'm going to break down and try this stuff. I was putting it off because someone was going to loan us their aptasia eating threadfin butterflyfish. Its been several weeks and no word from them so I give up on natural methods, lol. The aptasia are starting to harm coral so they gotta go. Where did you buy the tailored aquatics aiptasia destroyer? I'll probably need 2 bottles cause I have hundreds. I won't be able to get to them all, but I'll get it down to a more manageable amount, so that our berghai can keep up (if their even still around, lol)

[Rue]

I bought ours from our LFS...but you can buy it from the website. I've talked with the guy who owns the company...he seems very nice.

I need to get on mine again, before the little ones get bigger...

[Cliff]

I'm kinda glad the only hitch-hikers I've only found two little star fish in my tank

[labnjab]

I bought ours from our LFS...but you can buy it from the website. I've talked with the guy who owns the company...he seems very nice.

I need to get on mine again, before the little ones get bigger...

We've got some huge ones :ssuprised: I'll order some next week. I can't stand looking at them anymore, lol

[Rue]

I felt bad killing the big ones...they are as personable as the GBT (and very enthusiastic eaters)...but they got so big I was scared they'd eat one of my fish!