Kent Tech M and Aiptasia?

[ZoesZoo]

We have a growing problem with Aiptasia in our 29g nano - right now a small plantation is growing, and attempts with Aiptasia-X have only been partly successful.
LFS is recommending dosing the tank with Kent Tech M - I see lots of references to this curing Bryopsis on line, but nothing definitive on its effects with Aiptasia.
Anyone used this method?

Thanks all.....

[slief]

Thats a new one to me. I know it works for Bryopsis as it helped me win that battle. I was told the other day that the reason it works is because it has a little bit of copper in it. Not sure if I believe that though. I used to raise my Mg to nearly 2000 and let it come down on its own. Some of my corals may have receded a bit for a while but no casualties to speak of. Why not just get a Copperband Butterfly and or a bunch of peppermint shrimp. You could even augment that with some Kent Tech M if you really wanted to but you need to be cognizant of where your Mg is at before you start and set a goal along with the number of days to achieve that by raising it somewhat slowly every day. Or you could experiment and set a goal of 1700 and see what it does to the Aptasia and let us know!

[ZoesZoo]

Thanks for the quick answer.... I've read that Tech M is almost a miracle cure for Bryopsis - luckily we havent had to cross that bridge yet. I would much prefer a natural solution (and appreciate the recommendations). I think the copperband will be too large for this tank, as its only a 29g. I'll try the peppermint route and see where that takes us.
We're looking to upgrade this tank up to a 90-ish at the end of the year so the copperband is still a possibility.

[Spyderturbo007]

I can confirm that Tech M does nothing to kill Aiptasia. I increased my Mg levels to 1600ppm to kill Bryopsis and it did nothing to the 3 Aiptasia I've been trying to kill in my tank. I hate those things.

[ZoesZoo]

Thanks for that, Spider - I think that I'll stop the Tech M dosing. My LFS must have got confused with bryopsis. Ho Hum, back to the X....

[Buzz1329]

Peppermint shrimp worked for me.

[AcroporAddict]

Who in the heck started that lie? Tech M does nothing to aiptasia.

Read this and give it a try:

http://www.reefscapes.net/articles/breefcase/aiptasia_control.html

I christened this stuff "Reef Napalm" several years ago, and many in my local club use it. Great for majanos, aiptasia, nuisance polyps, or any aggressive corals you want to kill. Kills most anything it touches (corals), so you need to apply it in still water. Same ingredient as in AquaVitro balance (sodium and potassium lye blend + water), except much stronger. Rooto brand drain cleaner is 100% sodium hydroxide (lye), and is what I use.

In use, it raises pH a bit, but not much. Just use common sense with the amount you use at a time. The smaller volume of water in your system, the less you will want to use at any single time. This works better than any of the commercially prepared liquid killers for aiptasia.

Figure about a 80% kill rate for majanos and aiptasia. Any that survive are much smaller. Go back over the area a week after you treat the first time and reapply to any you see. When you apply it, it turns a translucent whitish color and is only slightly less buoyant than water. It will cling to nuisance shrooms and aiptasia. Great stuff.

As an example, I just did a majano/nuisance paly kill in my 465 net gallon SPS system, and I probably used 300 ml of the stuff, and it raised my system pH by .05 units of pH for an hour or so after I started the pumps back up. No big deal.