how to remove aiptasia

[junxu95]

I just wonder how you folks remove the aiptasia - pest anemone. I tried to scrub them off, but they withdraw into the rock. Any easy way to get rid off them?

[Entropy]

Here you go... :)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=803632

[junxu95]

looks like it is very difficault to control aiptasia. I saw only one 3 weeks ago. Now they multiplied to 5 with much bigger size.

[fancyfish]

peppermint shrimp. These are the best solution. I had manjo anenome and some apasia that were somewhat problematic. I used joes juice hot water etc. once I bought the shrimp problem solved

[junxu95]

How many peppermint shrimp should I have to control aipatsia?
In addition, I have a sally lightfoot crab. Could it kill the pippermint shrimp?

[loves saltwater]

1 or 2 peppermint shrimp should do the trick but make sure they are true pepperment if not they will not touch the stuff.

[junxu95]

how to tell if true peppermint shrimp?

[returnofsid]

Whatever you do, don't try scrubbing it anymore. If you break off any pieces of Aiptasia, it will spread faster. Use pickling lime. Mix it with freshwater to a toothpaste consistency. Using a medicine dosing syringe, squirt the paste onto the anemone. It will consume this and melt before your eyes!! Works great.

[puffer21]

pepermint shrimp

[frederickk]

The other one's are called camel shrimp they do quite ressemble to the peppermint one but their back look like a camel.

I would go with three peppermint shrimp for your aptaisia problem.

[Pharmboy]

I had an aptasia problem. I tried to inject Kalsiwater (sp?) into them, but it is a pain in a large tank. I tried 3 peppermints, now no more aptasia. It's a hit or miss like everything in saltwater.

I still get one or two that pop out every once in a while though. If they get too big, I'd just inject them since they are less likely to be eaten.

[beaker5]

I inject with vinegar. That seems to do the trick

[junxu95]

Did you guys take the rock out and inject with chemical, or just did this inside the tank?

I bought a peppermint shrimp today, but I don't think it will do the job. I saw the shrimp just passed by the aiptasia without any interest.

[beaker5]

Left the rock inside the tank.

[JR719]

Inject while in the tank. If you let it go too long it will get out of control. That's what I did and geez do I regret it. I try and zap several every few days with joe's juice to cut them down. It's a never ending battle and I have 2 peppermints in there.

[saltman123]

Joe's Juice also works wonders :)

[luvmyreef]

I added about 5 peppermint shrimp to my 75 gallon tank after spotting several aptasias. I have no more problems...They usually tear into them at night. The ones that seemed to big I roughed them up a bit them shrimp finished them off at night.
Good Luck

[Wrench]

Joes Juice works good but you have to get it right on the mouth.

You could also try injecting lemon juice into them.

[ricwilli]

Won't the aiptasia spread while the pepermint shrimp are chomping away at it? I am sure that some of it spreads around with all the pumps running in the tank. To me something like Joes Juice would work better. I actually found this website while reading up on aiptasia. It has a video on how to apply the juice.http://www.aiptasia.it/filmato.html.
I am in no way promoting this product. I am sure there are other products that can be used to kill aiptasia.

[frederickk]

No that's why if you put three in there they are working as a team. I saw them go. One of them is hitting the bottom and they others are catching what's getting out. I guess I was fortunate enough to see that but it was very special.

[Bambalam]

I use a paste-like mix of Kalkwasser and RO water. Put it in a 3 CC syringe and squirt it right on buggers. They will instantly retract and melt down to nothing, and the paste will burn and kill anything it touches, even coralline algea. Don't use too much at once, as the Kalk will throw off your levels. HTH

[frederickk]

You can try it with vinegar also.

[returnofsid]

If you use Kalk, it won't burn and kill anything it touches as was stated above. I've had to kill aiptasia that were in the midst of Zoanthids. I squirted them with Kalk paste made with Pickling Lime. Zoanthids were not effected at all.

[garyw68]

I bought some LR the other day which had a aiptasia on it. I zapped it with boiling ro/di water and it seems to work. It has not been back. If it does, I think I will try about three or four peppermint shrimp.

[luvmyreef]

I think peppermint shrimp work best. They don't harm anything else and gives an extra something to watch

[thecichlidpleco]

As long as you only have a little bit of aiptasia, I would leave it alone, or only get peppermints. Sometimes when you try to remove it, the pest will only come back in greater numbers for some reason. I bought two peppermints for one stalk of aiptasia that I found and they didnt touch it, but then again it is the only aiptasia that I see in my tank.

[Bambalam]

If you use Kalk, it won't burn and kill anything it touches as was stated above. I've had to kill aiptasia that were in the midst of Zoanthids. I squirted them with Kalk paste made with Pickling Lime. Zoanthids were not effected at all.

Kalk paste strong enough to kill aiptasia will kill or burn anything else it touches - it doesn't discriminate. There's a white spot on my coralline-covered live rock where I nuked an aiptasia last week.

[uscharalph]

I got 2 peppermint shrimp at first and I got impatient, so I bought 2 more. Still nothing seemed to happen, so I bought some Joe's Juice. But before I used it the peppermint shrimp got the job done.

The great thing about the shrimp is that they'll get the Aittasia you can't see.