View Full Version : Aiptasia Invasion
Perc Fan
07/06/2010, 08:27 AM
Hello,
My husband and I have had a 65 gallon reef tank running for a year. We are upgrading to a 150 gallon in a couple of weeks time.
We currently have a massive invastion of Aiptasia nastys.:furious:
We were advised by our LD to take out and boil any rock with them attached. This is great, however, we have both corals and a bubble anemone that are attached to some of said rock.
So, I'm wondering if any of you could advise which chemical works best to rid us of these nastys?
I appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Lynda:wave:
gonpostal
07/06/2010, 08:51 AM
Peppermint shrimp will eat them.
MarkD40
07/06/2010, 09:08 AM
I have tried Joes juice in the past but after a week or two they always came back. I recently got some Aiptasia RX? made by Red Sea and this stuff works unbelievabley well. It sticks to the oral plate of the aiptasia like glue and they starve to death. Very gratifying to see. Give it a try. BTW in my experience peppermint shrimp don't work all that well, and putting up with the finicky diet and eating habits of a copperbanded is not worth it.
sanchoy
07/06/2010, 09:10 AM
I have went to war with aiptasia for 1 year now.
DO NoT waste money on the berghia nudibranchs unless you have a small tank with no flow. and no big fish or peppermint shrimps. They will eat them.
What worked for me was filefishes and copperband butterfly.
Perc Fan
07/06/2010, 09:15 AM
Many thanks. We have some Peppermints, but likely not enough of them to do battle with the sheer number of the nastys.
I will try the Red Sea chemical, which sounds REALLY promising.
Have also been thinking about getting a Copperband Butterfly.
Lynda
MarkD40
07/06/2010, 09:30 AM
Checked out the name. It is Red Sea Aiptasia-X 2oz (60mL) and sells fo $8.79 at Marine Depot. The 60ml should be enough to treat hundreds of the little buggers. I have had a Reef tank for 14 years and this is one of the best products I have encountered. It really works great.
jgrog76
07/06/2010, 11:37 AM
I used to use the Joe's juice, aptasia x and so forth. I have had better luck with getting a needle and syringe at the feed store and injecting the aptasia directly with vinegar. It takes a few trys sometimes because you have to get the needle into the tissue and then fill the inside with the vinegar. You will know when you do it right because you can see the stalk swelling as you inject it. The aptasia will die into a slimy goo in a few minutes and be gone.
Aquafred
07/06/2010, 11:57 AM
Copperband butterfly.
A bit difficult to get to eat or live longterm however if you're lucky to have one that eats aptasias it will finish whatever you have in no time.
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