Hyposalinety and aiptasia

[king1522]

I have been reading that aiptasia can be eliminated in a tank using hyposalinity. My question is how long must the treatment last to be effective? There will be no live stock in the tank, only live rock. Also, what happens to the "critters" in and on the rock. Will this kill them all?
Thanks
Don

[java]

lemon juice injected into them worked great for me.

[king1522]

Thanks Java, but this tank is 225 gallons and there is no way I can reach them all to inject them. That is why I'm interested in hypo. I've tried copperbands, but none of them lived long enough to have any effect. Peppermint shrimp sounds like a good idea, but stocking enough for this size tank would break the bank.

[seapug]

I don't think it'll work. Aptasia are some of the hardiest, most persistent creatures you'll ever battle. I've put small rocks with aptasia on them in a dish of tap water sitting in a utility sink for over a week and repeatedly flushed them with cold tapwater and still had them live. It wasn't until I blasted them with searing hot water from the tap that they finally died and let go of the rock.

[K' Family Reef]

might recom a small colony of peppermint shrimp
buy as many as you can afford (perhaps 10 or more)... give it some time and the aiptasia will surely be gone... have always had good luck keeping aiptasia at bay using peppermints...

good luck atleast they are not majanos!

regards

[sps1-2-b]

Raccoon butterflies or kleins butterflies are hardier than copperbands and will eat aiptasia.

[LockeOak]

Salinity shock won't kill them. There are tons of Aiptasia in Florida Bay, which regularly fluctuates as high as 45ppt and as low as 15ppt (and sometimes an even wider range)!

[lilchris]

I have read the Berghia nudibranches does wonders w/ aiptasias. I will be trying them here in a few weeks. I probably start a thread on it. They are a little spendy though. I think you can get a trio for $45 and then you have to pay for shipping. From what I read is that they only feed on Aiptasia. So you will have to judge on how many to get. Once they eradicate the aiptasia population then they will start to die off. Just a thought for you.

[king1522]

lilchris, where can you get the Berghia for $45 . So far I haven't found them cheaper than $25 apiece.
Thanks

[lilchris]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13251373#post13251373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by king1522
lilchris, where can you get the Berghia for $45 . So far I haven't found them cheaper than $25 apiece.
Thanks
http://www.berghia.net/marketprice.html Scroll all the way down.

[200gallon]

I had an out break in my 210, bought about six peppermint's and the clear them out. Just make sure they are kinda translucent when you get them, not dark red...