Aptasia

[alazo1]

I know a lot has been written about it but this is a little weird.

I tried Joe's juice after some reading of archives here. My results were that they seem to have killed the aptasia but within a few weeks not only did they come back but there were a lot more then before. Has this happened to any of you?.

I had some peppermints that kept them in check until I added a fish to the tank. Sorry, I don't remember the type of fish but looks like a small grouper. This guy ate all 4 of them. If I can get rid of this fish I can buy a few peppermints that at least last time I had good success with.

I have 3 chromis, 1 tomato clown, 1 algea blenny , 1 yellow tang and the grouper type of fish. Short of starving the tank I don't know how to get this guy.

Albert

[alazo1]

Just remembered, it's a hawkfish. Not the longnose.


thanks,
Albert

[Fraggot]

Ah, aiptasia...The bane of all reefkeepers.

I've had nothing but sucess with Joe's Juice however, yes, sometimes aiptasia will come back to haunt you. One thing that will help: you'll notice that after you hit them with Juice they turn into little blobs of...Well, they just turn into little blobs. Anyways, siphon out those little blobs, because that part is the oral cavity, where spores are kept and are very much still alive and ready to grow.

If you don't have any corals, try adding a copperband butterfly. There are problems with having one, though. Sometimes they'll ONLY eat aiptasia, sometimes they won't eat them at all if first introduced to a better food. Usually though, they'll eat aips.

[Fraggot]

Ah, aiptasia...The bane of all reefkeepers.

I've had nothing but sucess with Joe's Juice however, yes, sometimes aiptasia will come back to haunt you. One thing that will help: you'll notice that after you hit them with Juice they turn into little blobs of...Well, they just turn into little blobs. Anyways, siphon out those little blobs, because that part is the oral cavity, where spores are kept and are very much still alive and ready to grow.

If you don't have any corals, try adding a copperband butterfly. There are problems with having one, though. Sometimes they'll ONLY eat aiptasia, sometimes they won't eat them at all if first introduced to a better food. Usually though, they'll eat aips.

[RandyStacyE]

A buddy of mine took in a grouper. He got it in his mind to catch it and tried many different methods including chasing it around with a net.

He ended up doing it the old fashoned way using fishing line and a hook. He filed off the barb though. It worked ... it might not be the "best way", but its a way.

[alazo1]

Wow, I can't believe you mentioned to fish it out. This is exactly what I did today. On the advice of my lfs. I got a #16 tri hook and dremeled out 2 of the hooks. Also filed the barb. Put a piece of scallop, got him on the second attempt. He's in the sump now. So glad to get this guy out..LOL

Albert

[RandyStacyE]

I take it back then ... it is the best way! Good going. This had to involve a beer or two also right?

[the other tang]

Joes juice works but i mixed up kalk in a almost paste solution and injected it in the mouth with a hypo needle and wow did that work. Apparently the pests don't like the sudden ph change. I also didn't get what is described above when using the kalk, but joes juice did leave the spores alive to infest the rest of the tank. When juicing these guys i'm not talking about a ph swinging ammount here, but rather cc's.

[Fredfish]

Aiptasia will regenerate from a few left over cells so it is virtually impossible to get rid of them with joes juice or kalk paste.

You may also find pepermint shrimp hit and miss. They worked for me, but did nothing for others. This may be because what we see as a single species, L. wurdmanii is actually a group of closely related species. Probably only some of the species actually eat aiptasia

Good luck.

Fred

[RandyStacyE]

I always had great luck with the pepermint shrimp until the died and I brought in some new rock. Aiptasia all over again.

[olin]

I've had good luck with peps also. There is also a nudibranch, berghia, that eats them. The nudis usually aren't bothered by fish...pump inlets are another story though ;)

[the other tang]

exactly what type of nidi's eat them?

[Fredfish]

Berghia nudibranks have been less effective than pepermints in eradicating aiptasia.

I would try pepermints first.

Fred

[jdieck]

I might have broken a record this weekend. I used JJ for Aiptasia and it kept comming back multiplied by five. Tired of the game I let it be for quite some time until it reached plague proportions.
Last week I replaced some snails and noticed they could not graze on the rock, every time a snail touched an Aiptasia the snail twitched and stayed in as if it was hurt, three days after my snails were dying (I blame the Aiptasias sting) so fed up with that I set up this weekend to kill them all.
I lost count at 400+ Aiptasias, by the looks of it I must have got 99% of them, I plan to continue hunting them at first sight until none returns.

[alazo1]

This had to involve a beer or two also right?

We went to a Christmas party that night so yes I did have a few:lol:

The main reason for me getting the hawkfish out was to get more of the peppermint shrimps. I never had a problem with aptasia until the hawkfish ate the shrimp so, I'm assuming that they kept them in check. I'll get a few more from the same place and see if it works.

Albert

[Alphabet]

Joe's Juice. Hot water works too. As far as any leftover cells I tried to vaccume the substrate, I will have to wait a few weeks to see what happens.

My CBB had no intrest in them, not much luck with Peppermints either.

[jdieck]

Just keep on killing whatever pops up again.

[Fredfish]

Just keep on killing whatever pops up again.

I did this faithfully for 4 months when I had my infestation. They just keep coming back. I'm just glad I have none in my current tank.

Fred

[Fraggot]

Yeah Joe's Juice is good stuff, but like I mentioned, siphon out the blobs left over. Also, the "fishing" method doesn't work very well as a few cells are left over. Also, don't put it back in the sump, because it'll just get huge and start spitting out spores which will make their way into the display.

[RandyStacyE]

What do you think about UV? Do you think that UV will kill many if not most free floating cells? Of course after sucking up the majority.

[Fraggot]

UV sterilizers usually only kill single-celled organisms. I doubt they'd take care of an aiptasia spore.

[RKM]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8728433#post8728433 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdieck
I might have broken a record this weekend. I used JJ for Aiptasia and it kept comming back multiplied by five. Tired of the game I let it be for quite some time until it reached plague proportions.
Last week I replaced some snails and noticed they could not graze on the rock, every time a snail touched an Aiptasia the snail twitched and stayed in as if it was hurt, three days after my snails were dying (I blame the Aiptasias sting) so fed up with that I set up this weekend to kill them all.
I lost count at 400+ Aiptasias, by the looks of it I must have got 99% of them, I plan to continue hunting them at first sight until none returns.

What exactly is your method of destruction. I am in your shoes. I have a big tank and it is full of this crap. I am at the point that I thought of pulling the large pieces of LR and scrubbing them under fresh water to see if that will take care of them. Although it will probably kill my LR. I to have 100's of these things now.

When I had my UV on the tank I never had these things. Nor the green bubble algae I have now.

[Fraggot]

PEOPLE:

If your Aiptasia problem has hit plague proportions, there's only a few things that I'D reccomend doing:

1. Throw in a few copperband Butterflies but be ready to take them out once they've cleaned out the tank. You can also throw in Racoon BFs too, they do a good job as well.

2. FORGET THE PEPPERMINT SHRIMP. They only eat the babies. I also have a theory that they don't actually eat the aiptasia, but rather they are immune to their sting and just make them hide.

3. Hit 'em with all the Joe's Juice you can buy. Buy a whole bunch of the Juice and just Nuke 'em.

4. Forget taking out the rock and rinsing it - that'll just kil the fauna and most likely still have some aiptasia spores left.

5. If none of this works, buy a dog or something.

[Fredfish]

I also have a theory that they don't actually eat the aiptasia, but rather they are immune to their sting and just make them hide.
Wrong. I personally have observed them eating aiptasia. I did not have any huge ones, but they sure ate the small to medeum sized ones.

That suggestion on other butterflies is actually a good one if you do not have other corals in the tank. There are a number of butterflies that will rid a tank of a plague. Of course, you need someplace to house it after its done.

Fred

[Fraggot]

Wrong. I personally have observed them eating aiptasia. I did not have any huge ones, but they sure ate the small to medeum sized ones.

Interesting. Thanks

[pjf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8728345#post8728345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fredfish
Berghia nudibranks have been less effective than pepermints in eradicating aiptasia.

I would try pepermints first.

Fred
I'm surprised. Aren't the Berghia verrucicornis obligate aiptasia feeders as well as prolific breeders?

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8750313#post8750313 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RKM
I am at the point that I thought of pulling the large pieces of LR and scrubbing them under fresh water to see if that will take care of them. Although it will probably kill my LR. I to have 100's of these things now.

IME freshwater won't kill aiptasia before everything else on your LR is long dead. I left some small aiptasia from pedal lacerates in tapwater to see how long they'd live. FIVE DAYS in chlorinated tap water. And I wouldn't guarantee they wouldn't grow back once the rocks were back in saltwater either, we left LR from an infested tank out of water for months, then soaked in limewater for days. It took a few months but the little buggers came back. I hope you can get peppermints to eat 'em now that the hawkfish is out of the tank.

-Sonja

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8761345#post8761345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pjf
I'm surprised. Aren't the Berghia verrucicornis obligate aiptasia feeders as well as prolific breeders?

They are, but they are also tasty snackage for fish and crabs, and they're so small they never win in a nudi vs. powerhead contest. I've heard that taking infested rock out of the tank to a dedicated nudibranch tank w/ no predators or pumps works. I hope it does else we're trashing 100+ lbs of very nice LR rather than risk getting aiptasia in our new tank when we get it set up. :(

-Sonja

[Volcmreefer]

I have had the best results with injecting warm kalk paste into the sucker. Then siphoning it out when it dies. GOODLUCK!

[culdublvd]

I've had great results making a kalk paste and simply covering the whole aiptasia in paste. You'll have a white spot in your tank for a while, but I haven't had any grow back after doing this method. Maybe I'm just lucky.

[Fredfish]

culdublvd. This is exactly the method I used. Tiny Aiptasia just kept popping up everywhere.

These guys are very hard to get rid of.

Fred

[culdublvd]

I definately covered the whole aiptasia and at least covered a total of 2-3 square inches just to be sure I didn't miss anything.

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8771180#post8771180 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fredfish
culdublvd. This is exactly the method I used. Tiny Aiptasia just kept popping up everywhere.

These guys are very hard to get rid of.

Fred


Yeah, I've done this too, and it makes them go away for a few days then apparently the full-size ones come right back. One thing I'm trying now, in addition to peppermint shrimp until I can get things set up for a nudibranch tank, is to cover the larger aiptasia with small rocks or pieces of Chaetomorpha. The theory is the aiptasia will move on top of the rock or algae and then you can pull it out of the tank. Peppermints apparently won't eat large aiptasia but if I can get the large ones out hopefully they'll eat the small ones. Very frustrating, I'm just glad this is just in our QT and not the display tank!

-Sonja

[vtrider]

why not cobberbands? I've had one in my tank for months and no aiptasia at all. Its never bothered my corals at all

[alazo1]

4 days into 2 new peppermints and no sight of them. I may have to wait a bit longer for them to get comfortable. Also, this time they were fairly small compared to the bigger ones I originally had. I may get a few more from another store. I'll keep updating.

thanks,
Albert

[jgsensor]

I have tried it all and the only way I ever got rid of it was adding a Raccon butterfly and a Pearlscale Butterfly to the tank. I have had a CBB in the tank for over a year and he never touch the aptasia or my corals. The pearlscale did ok, but the Raccoon cleaned them out in no time. The down side is they both like LPS. I had several torch corals in the tank and they ate all but one. The Pearlscale is the worst culprit, but i have caught the Raccoon now and then. They haven't bothered anything else. I will take the trade off with if they will keep the aptasia out of the tank. It was killing off most of my corals anyway.

[Grey Reefer]

I had a problem with aptasia when I set up a 20g Nano reef. Live rock came loaded with the little bastards. I got a pair of peppermint shrimp and boiled some R/O water filled up a baster and hit the ones I could see with boiling water. The Shrimp took care of the rest. No problems since.

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8776619#post8776619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Grey Reefer
I had a problem with aptasia when I set up a 20g Nano reef. Live rock came loaded with the little bastards. I got a pair of peppermint shrimp and boiled some R/O water filled up a baster and hit the ones I could see with boiling water. The Shrimp took care of the rest. No problems since.

Welcome to Reef Central! I don't have the cute animated gif to post but I'm sure someone else will come along with it soon.

-Sonja

[jdieck]

Welcome!

[Grey Reefer]

Thanks for the welcome.;) Like I said I would try boiling water and squirting the ones you can see the heat should cook'em real nice like.

[scottflanagan]

is there a down side to having pepermints in your tank. do they mess with orther fish or coral?

[Fredfish]

The big downside to pepermints or any other shrimp is that they will eat all the small critters in your rock and sand. These guys are very important in cycling waste/detritus and nutrients.

If you run a big skimmer and don't care about little crawly things, there is no real downside.

Fred

[Fredfish]

If you have something like a sun coral that you are trying to target feed, shrimp can be a pita becasue they are fast and never seem to stop feeding.

I always wondered if I just kept feeding a shrimp if it would keep eating until it exploded. :rolleyes:

Fred

[ADA33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8788597#post8788597 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fredfish
If you have something like a sun coral that you are trying to target feed, shrimp can be a pita becasue they are fast and never seem to stop feeding.

I always wondered if I just kept feeding a shrimp if it would keep eating until it exploded. :rolleyes:

Fred

LMAO:lol:

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8788597#post8788597 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fredfish
If you have something like a sun coral that you are trying to target feed, shrimp can be a pita becasue they are fast and never seem to stop feeding.

I always wondered if I just kept feeding a shrimp if it would keep eating until it exploded. :rolleyes:

Fred

LOL

They might eat until they have a "forced" molt. :D

-Sonja