aiptasia RIP!!!

[triciod]

I have a 24gal nano cube with about 10lbs live rock. Anyways, this live rock contained some aiptasia on it. As im new to reef keeping, i didn't think much of it. Long story short, these buggers started to spread all over. Remedying the situation i stopped at the LFS and picked up "Joe's Juice" This stuff freak'n ROCKS. The box says "works in minutes"...lol they aren't kidding! I watched them do the death tango for about five minutes, until they shrank in little blobs. I was talking to the own of the LFS and he guided me to buy a Peppermint Shrimp to keep the aiptasia down...apparently they eat them. Is this true about this species of shrimp???

[Vegas RN]

hit or miss is what i heard.

[jdieck]

It will come back :D

[BristlewormKing]

In most cases, the aiptasia will return. Your best longterm investment is to buy some berghia nudibranches. They don't harm any corals, and usually stay outta sight until night. Every tank I have has at least three berghias in there somewhere. On occasion, I even spot a coil of eggs or a baby or two they have produced (which I catch and use for new LR deliveries). The shrimp is also an option, but I think there are some corals or softies they are fond of also (please don't quote me on that - but, I thought I read that somewhere when I first investigated getting rid of the aiptasia). The berghias are small so they are actually able to crawl inside the rock crevices and get to the little aipatsia sprouts.

[triciod]

I thought i read somewhere that nudibanch are a creature that are best avoided in the marine aquarium. I believe that the idea was that nudibanch aren't so hardy. What do you make of this?

[triciod]

How much should i expect a nudibanch to cost?

[theop]

I just use kalk paste which is cheap and easy to use. I agree that they will likely come back. I've accepted that in my 12g nano it will be a chronic problem and every couple of weeks I have to go hunt them down and inject any new ones. In a small tank this isn't hard to do but may be cumbersome in a larger setup.

Berghia are hard to find and expensive (~$20+ per animal plus shipping). This is the only place I know of to order them is http://www.berghia.net/ and they are currently not in stock.

There is a LFS here in town which I wish would get some. They have a scary number of aiptasia in their tanks.

[1jared1]

They don't work very well.

[bureau13]

My peppermint shrimp can often be seen lounging in the vicinity of the few aiptasia I have in my tank. Worthless little cretins! I had to try Joes Juice, which seemed to work, at least for now.

jds

[acidlittle]

I tried a pepper shrimp and he didn't touch them, so I guess they are hit or miss, next time (hoping there isn't) I will try the berghia.

[MJAnderson]

I have 3 pepermints. Never seen them anywhere near my aptasia. My emerald crabs don't seem to like the bubble algae either. I want a refund!!!

[Galilean]

I have seen peppermint shrimp eat aptasia to extinction but this typically takes a while (~6 months) because the shrimp would rather eat easier prey, the shimp are small, people only buy a couple of them, and the anenomes are usually numerous. Consequently peppermints won't really start making progress until they run out of other food options (typically abundant in a reef tank). Also, larger anemones are harder to deal with for the shrimp so the largest aptasia will usually not be eaten. So peppermint shrimp are effective preventing aptatisa from taking over, but rarely will completely eliminate them.

Berghia are speciallised to eat the aptasia and so will likely starve to death before eating the last one, thus they will return after the nudibranch dies. This can only be regarded as a permanent control mechanism if you have reproducing population of nudis.

Many butterfly fish, particularly Raccoon Butterflies are the best anenome eaters. If you want to ensure that incoming live rock does not have aptasia, just let a Raccoon Butterfly have a few days with it. This works best with a LFS keeping the butterflies in their liverock tank. But the butterflies will eat coral as well so this is not usually a good solution for the home reef aquarium.

[BristlewormKing]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8143145#post8143145 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triciod
I thought i read somewhere that nudibanch are a creature that are best avoided in the marine aquarium. I believe that the idea was that nudibanch aren't so hardy. What do you make of this?

There are different types of nudibranches - some of which secrete toxins that damage corals (like the blue velvet nudibranch, etc.). However, berghias do not secrete such toxins. I have bought some berghias from saltyunderworld? I think was the name. Try a google search if you are interested in them - price these days is around $15-18 each. However, they start laying coils of eggs before reaching adulthood. When I received mine, there was already a coil of eggs in the shipping bag. A pic of the berghias in one of my tanks is below:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/567/133898DCAM6658.JPG

[theop]

^ But did they eradicate your aiptasia?

[BristlewormKing]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8145009#post8145009 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by theop
^ But did they eradicate your aiptasia?

In three tanks, the berghia wiped out the aiptasia and I haven't seen the "weed" in those tanks in almost a year. In the other tanks there are still some aiptasia, but mostly because I started removing the berghia and spreading them out to other tanks - basically there are three per tank now. I figured out that if I lowered the berghia population, there would be a balance of the aiptasia and berghia so the nudibranches wouldn't starve to death, but I wouldn't have unsightly aiptasia all over my rocks. Now I can usually see one or two small aiptasia if I look really hard, and they will end up getting eaten within a week of being spotting.

In essence, if you unleash a large number of the berghias in your tank and leave them in there, they will wipe out the aiptasia, but to the point of starving themselves to death. If you pull them out of the tank too soon (which absolutely is impossible to determine), the aipatisa that wasn't consumed will simply repopulate the tank. It is up to the individual to decide which approach to take - I just didn't like the idea of them starving to death simply to make my tanks look nicer.

[danieljames]

What kind of flow did you berghia keepers have in your displays?

[aclos3]

Joe's juice certainly does kill the aptasia, but it is tough to find all of them sometimes, and even impossible in a larger tank depending on the level of infestation. In our 125g we had literally thousands of aptasia. We tried all sorts of chemical remedies with no success. My dad was reluctant to get a copperband butterfly fish from things he had read, so he finally bought like 50 peppermint shrimp and all the aptasia were gone within a few weeks. Now, we have a lot of shrimp, but they eat flake food eagerly out of our hands and don't seem to bother anything else in the tank.

[BristlewormKing]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8152515#post8152515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by danieljames
What kind of flow did you berghia keepers have in your displays?

I have variable flows in different portions of each tank - but only two tanks have a very brisk current. Since they mainly stay in the rocks, they will usually avoid areas that are in the direct path of the water return nozzle(s). The key is to make certain the overflows are screened off or the little suckers will crawl in (I have even found a coil of eggs on the outside of a skimmer before I realized those guys will crawl everywhere when the aiptasia gets too low in the tank).

[Cubman777]

In case you happen to have a basslet, you may not want to waste money on getting a peppermint shrimp, because it most likely will eat it. Your tank is small enough that you may be able to control the rock anemones with just Joe's Juice. As far as the nudibranches, many people don't have success keeping them alive because they tend to get sucked into power heads/pumps since they're so small. Good luck getting rid of the aiptasia.

[Cubman777]

IMO a 24 gallon tank is way too small for a butterfly.

[triciod]

Yeah i haven't seen any progress with the peppermint shrimp as of yet.

[veilside1987]

I tryed joe's juice and it worked for a little bit but then the aiptasia came right back, so I got a peppermint shrimp and have not seen any aiptasia since

[triciod]

Well i think keep feedings for the shrimp down-- to motivate aiptasia consumption...see what happens.

[SuperNerd]

I have not had any success with peppermint shrimps and I've tried numerous times. They would rather starve then go after the aiptasia. I've resorted again to joes juice.

If I keep smothering them with it will they eventually use up their energy trying to rejuvenate and die?

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8168048#post8168048 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SuperNerd
I have not had any success with peppermint shrimps and I've tried numerous times. They would rather starve then go after the aiptasia. I've resorted again to joes juice.

If I keep smothering them with it will they eventually use up their energy trying to rejuvenate and die?
I have a rather large system and I tried them in two ocasions and just ended up feeding my Wrasses. 25 Shrimps the second time, quite an expensive meal.

[triciod]

This might have totally been by mistake, but it appears that the Joe's Juice, when resting upon liverock, either bleaches of kills the Coraline algae. Has anyone experienced this?

[theop]

I don't know what's in Joes Juice (and never seen it posted on RC), but it's almost certainly does not have an aiptasia-specific or an anemone-specific toxicity. I'd imagine that it would irritate or kill whatever it gets on, coralline included.

[lux_06]

ive got 1 small pep in a 100g, with some aptasia, just when im complaining i can see a big one splitting the next day there both gone i was stoked, but theres still lots more, and theres plenty of majano's too will the peps eat those or any other little critters i can employ?

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8176664#post8176664 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triciod
...it appears that the Joe's Juice, when resting upon liverock, either bleaches of kills the Coraline algae. Has anyone experienced this?

Yes.

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8176684#post8176684 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by theop
I don't know what's in Joes Juice (and never seen it posted on RC), but it's almost certainly does not have an aiptasia-specific or an anemone-specific toxicity. I'd imagine that it would irritate or kill whatever it gets on, coralline included.
It is not a secret as it is patented. Patent say Saturated solution of Salt and Calcium Hydroxide (Kalk)

[triciod]

So what would you recommend to control where the Joes Juice goes? I mean, after application, the pumps spread it everywhere

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8182759#post8182759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triciod
So what would you recommend to control where the Joes Juice goes? I mean, after application, the pumps spread it everywhere

Just keep your main pump on.

[Ooulophilia]

I have witnessed PP mints devouring countless aptaisias - I used to keep a tank full of them just for that purpose

For dealing with aptaisa, you need quite a few PP mints - for a just a few anenomes, 1 per 10 gallons - for an infestation, 2 per 5 gallons. They work well with joes juice (or kalkwasser, if you want to go by the common name) - it injures the anenome then the shrimp attack. They cannot deal with huge ones though - your best bet at that point is to throw your rock out. I have seen aptasisa survive week long tapwater baths.
For Manjanos, try this - put a small saucer on top of them. They will climb on it looking for light, then scrape off. Repeat as needed.

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8182817#post8182817 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ooulophilia
I have witnessed PP mints devouring countless aptaisias - I used to keep a tank full of them just for that purpose

For dealing with aptaisa, you need quite a few PP mints - for a just a few anenomes, 1 per 10 gallons - for an infestation, 2 per 5 gallons. They work well with joes juice (or kalkwasser, if you want to go by the common name) - it injures the anenome then the shrimp attack. They cannot deal with huge ones though - your best bet at that point is to throw your rock out. I have seen aptasisa survive week long tapwater baths.
For Manjanos, try this - put a small saucer on top of them. They will climb on it looking for light, then scrape off. Repeat as needed.

What do you mean by saucer?

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8182759#post8182759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triciod
So what would you recommend to control where the Joes Juice goes? I mean, after application, the pumps spread it everywhere
Turn off all circulation during the application. After you are done wait 10 to 15 minutes and turn your circulation back on.
After this time the Joe'ss juice is mostly harmless calcium carbonate (as it reacted with teh dissolved Co2 in the water) so some of it will just blow off without harming anything.
Note that if you use too much your PH will increase.

[Ooulophilia]

small non clear plate

[triciod]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8182827#post8182827 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SuperNerd
What do you mean by saucer?

Why would one ever find it necessary to throw out a whole piece of rock? That just doesn't make sense to me...IMO.

[triciod]

oops wrong quote...lol

[triciod]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8182817#post8182817 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ooulophilia
I have witnessed PP mints devouring countless aptaisias - I used to keep a tank full of them just for that purpose

For dealing with aptaisa, you need quite a few PP mints - for a just a few anenomes, 1 per 10 gallons - for an infestation, 2 per 5 gallons. They work well with joes juice (or kalkwasser, if you want to go by the common name) - it injures the anenome then the shrimp attack. They cannot deal with huge ones though - your best bet at that point is to throw your rock out. I have seen aptasisa survive week long tapwater baths.
For Manjanos, try this - put a small saucer on top of them. They will climb on it looking for light, then scrape off. Repeat as needed.

Why would one ever throw out a piece of rock? That doesn't make sense...imo

[Ooulophilia]

By throw out I mean turn into base (or "cured" as you may know it) rock

[triciod]

Alright, makes sense! Besides Joe's Juice, i was informed from another RC member of another option. They said that injecting Calc into the aiptaisa would be affective as well. Having a Calcium buffer (i forget which brand) consisting of calcuim salts, i tried it out. The results were just as good, if not better...though Joe's Juice wasn't injected but instead fed through the mouth.