kalk paste on aiptasia

[palmer373]

i have a few really big aiptasia i need to get rid of. i have some kalkwasser and local reefers in the club suggest it so im going to try it. the problem is i dont know what the solution should be like. i was told "make is pastey, like really thick", any ideas on how much water and how much kalk? i only need to kill like 3-4 aiptasia. also, should i inject the paste under the skin of the aiptasia, into the mouth, or just smother the whole dang thing with it? thanks for the help!

[Mmckibben]

I've tried every trick in the book. My tank started with one aiptasia, did what your doing now. One month later I had roughly 120 aiptasia in a 36 gallon tank. I then went with special aiptasia "eliminating" products. That would keep them down to a population of 20 as long as I bough a bottle once a month. At $20 a bottle it wasn't a solution. Fed up with chemicals I bought a small copper banned butterfly fish. He ate most of them, but eventually he found it more easy to eat my copepods instead. Finally I bought a pair of peppermint shrimp. These guys are hit and miss, since one of them eats the aiptasia, and the other one wont. They ate every last aiptasia, accept for this one that sits out in the middle of my display. Any others that have popped up they eat up on the spot, just not that one. Since not all peppermint shrimp will eat aiptasia, I cant say thats the solution to your problem. All I can say is it worked for me. I hope you found my reply helpful, good luck.

Just to let you know... DON'T EVER INJECT IT UNDER THE SKIN YOU WANT TO COVER THE DISC. IF YOU DONT THEY WILL RELEASE EGGS INTO THE WATER, THUS MORE AIPTASIA.

[sedor]

I got fed up over the chemical route as well. I tried Aiptasia X and Joes Juice and I guess I just didn't have the dedication to get rid of everything. I ended up getting a copperbanded butterfly as well who slowly took care of every last one. Now its one of my favorite fish

Try the kalk paste first though, and like the previous reefer mentioned, just cover the entire disk with kalk paste. The stuff will literally eat the aiptasia away like acid, but the key is to burn it all away so try and get the paste right down into the rock.

[lbaldrey]

I had a tough time nailing the 50+ tiny aiptasia in my tank...i was patiently nuking them with Kalk and Sodium Hydroxide...

Something interesting happened...I accidentally increased my Alk to about 12-13dKh by dosing Kalk and the Aiptasia disappeared...i cant see a single aiptasia in the tank now.

[SaltydawgI]

I just tried this a week or so ago and so far is working. I mixed about 2 tsp with just a few drops of water pulled the rock from my tank and smothered the ap in the mouth, at the base, all over. Let it set for a couple and just put the rock back in. I didnt disturb the paste, (just left it) Today you can still see a small patch of the paste and no ap. I am new to this and this is what I tried.

[SaltydawgI]

oh and the ap that I was talking about was about the size of a quarter or half dollar.

[hardiel]

"This month I am going to start a series of articles on pest and algae control in reef aquarium farm tanks. You can rid your tank of these pests by this method

Prepare stock solution

1. 1 tsp. pickling lime - food grade calcium hydroxide
2. 2 tbls. tap water.

boil water and lime in microwave for 40 sec.
keep closed plastic container in cool place.
You will need a vet syringe from a pet store that sells vaccinations

This mixture comes out of the needle very thick. You do not need to inject the Aiptasia.
Just release a small amount on to the aiptasia and it will take it in. This mixture seems to stick to the
anemone, but it does not stick to the other inverts. We also use this mixture on problem hair algae.

We have killed 20 or 30 at a time in 55 gallon reefs and it did not hurt anything"

http://www.garf.org/news7p1.shtml#PEST

[BlueCoast]

I've tried a few of the usual methods, kalk, aptasia-x, etc. I have found I have better luck doing a water change after and trying to suck up any remaining pieces from the rocks where I nuked them. Any shred of aptasia left will regrow and taunt you(ask me how i know!)

[palmer373]

thanks for all of the replies and ideas everyone. i was thinking of a CBB but ive heard they are hard to keep in captivity. is it just the small ones (<2) or what? the main one that is popping out the babies like crazy is about 6-7 inches from base to end on tentecles. im going for that guy first and then maybe hit some of the bigger (2-4") ones if i feel like it. the is a LFS near me that i am 100% comfortable buying peppermint shrimp from cause he posted a vid on youtube of about 50ish chrimp attack aiptasia. should i go with like 5-6 for my 75? ive heard they are most effective in groups. i would be willing to try a CBB but that would mean i couldnt get a flame angel and that is something i want. thanks for the imput.

SaltydawgI- great i would like to hear how it goes. I cant pull my rock out that the sucker is on cause the rock is about half the length of the tank and is halfway covered in sand. cloud i use a plastic syringe to smother the aiptasia? my mom said she would buy me an xbox live card if i could get rid of the big guy so im trying to hurry up since i ran out of membership. i guess i have two addicting hobbies lol, COD and Reefing

[cromedogg33]

CBB's are definately a little harder to keep but not impossible. One thing you need to think about for CBB's is that most of the juveniles in my experience won't eat aiptasia until they reach the adult stage or until they figure out they can actually eat aiptasia.

Just my personal experience with them.

[sedor]

Baby fish are much harder to keep in general so ya an optimal CBB would be medium to large size. They really aren't that hard to keep as long as your water quality is generally good. Mine didn't eat anything but the critters in my rock work for a couple weeks, then just when I was panicking it started mowing down the aiptasia although I never saw it actually happen. Now the aiptasia has been gone a long time and he eats solely frozen mysis. Now i'm working on getting him to eat other types of food.

[mayjong]

peppermint shrimp probably won't eat an aptasia that big, imho

[SaltydawgI]

Yep just use a little syringe (no needle) and smother that bad boy.

[Jstdv8]

How to kill aiptasia with pickling lime or kalkwasser mix

1.) Mix 1tablespoon and 1/2 teaspoon of Mrs. wages pickling lime with 1 1/2 Teaspoons of water to make a nice paste. The paste should not be running, but it also must be thin enough to get injected through the syringe.
2.) Apply a layer of the paste to the oral disc of the aiptasia. Sometimes you can get them to think its food by teasing their tentacles a little and then injecting the paste onto the oral disc. If they suck back into their hole right away just cover the hole with the paste.
3.) wait 45 minutes to an hour
4.) suck out the paste and the aiptasia with a turkey baster and dispose of them.

I bought 100 lbs. worth of live rock from a fellow reefer who was tearing down her tank. The rock was covered with aiptasia (estimating over 300). Some of the rocks also had some corals on them (mushrooms, green star polyps and Kenya trees)
I put the rock on a 55 gallon tank that I used as a holding area while I treated the rock before putting it into my display tank.
I mixed up a small batch of the lime paste and started injecting the aiptasia with the method used above.
I recommend doing only a few at a time as the paste can cause a PH spike in your tank if you do too much. Keep in mind Pickling lime and kalkwasser are similar products that are used for correcting alkalinity and calcium problems and can be used safely if in small doses.
Be sure to cover the whole face of the aiptasia with the paste to ensure that it cannot release its seed into the tank and make more aiptasia later. You also must get it out of the hole as even a small piece of aiptasia can grow into a whole one over time. Do it right the first time.

Other methods that work include Peppermint shrimp, Copper banded butterfly, joe's juice, aiptasia-x, vinegar, boiling water or just leaving the rock out in the open air for a couple of days(killing everything on it.)

Peppermint shrimp work well as long as they don't have a different food source they like better. It is also very important to get the correct shrimp as there is an imposter shrimp that doesn't feed on aiptasia that looks very similar. When you are buying the shrimp ask for L. wurdemanni. Do Not accept the shrimp if it is a L. californica.
Peppermints will also not attack a large aiptasia so these will have to be removed in another way. There is also no guarantee that the aiptasia will not release its seed into the water which they tend to do when in danger. This will cause more to pop up later.

The Copper banded butterfly's require an established tank to safely house one (preferably 6 months or longer). Some for whatever reason don't prefer aiptasia though (the upside here is that these ones are reef safe)
If you choose this method you risk the fish devouring other corals in your tank that you wanted to keep once it has eaten the aiptasia. And again, there is no guarantee that they won't release their seed into the water when attacked.

Aiptasia X is similar to the paste that I described above and it comes in a nifty little syringe with a straight and an angled head for getting at aiptasia in hard to reach places.
The downside here is the cost. At 20 dollars a tube it gets pretty costly, especially if you have a lot of aiptasia to treat. A jar of Mrs. Wages pickling lime costs about $4 at Wal-mart and you will have a lifetime supply.

Boiling water, vinegar and Joe's juice all have been known to work but as with most methods are very hit and miss. While one person says they had great success the next may say it didn't work at all.

Best of luck to you and good hunting!

[Skiquatics]

FWIW I have used Joe's Juice and had great success with it in the DT...although since then more have decided to reside in my fuge, but have not continued to multiply. I just nuke them with Joe's whenever i get around to it. Aptiasia X has been almost as good, i just prefer Joe's.

Side note - make sure if you use Joes or anything else that the flow is off since you dont want any of that stuff floating around and getting into the mouths of any of your other corals. May seem obvious to some, but thought i would offer it up.

[Jstdv8]

good call, i should add that to my write up.

[palmer373]

Jstdv8- ok so if i dont add the pickling lime would it jsut be a 1 tbsp:1tsp ratio for kalkwasser and water? does anyone know the biggest size peppermint shrimp will hit? my plan is to kalk the biggest aiptasia now and then grab about 5-6 shrimp at the LFS saturday to finish off of the small ones, does someone see this not working? i heard the best way to get peppermints eating aiptasia is to starve then in a sense for a few days. i might try that. also should i keep the flow off for the 45 min-1 hour period? thanks jstdv8, ur a great help! also thanks everyone else with your info it was great too!

oh sedor- how large do you consider a medium CBB? would one work in a FOWLR with a 4 inch yellow tang, 3 blue green chromis, royal gramma, yellow watchman goby, lawnmower blennie, six line wrasse, and a B&W ocellaris and a nice sized cleaner shrimp? if there is a risk of the CBB eating the cleaner shrimp i wont get one period cause this is my favorite little guy, he has molted 5 times in 7 months.

[disciple]

I can't believe no one has mentioned bergia nudi branches. With a population of aptaisas that you have a few would wipe them all out till they starve to death since that's the only thing they eat. They tend to be expensive but not to bad. You woulnt need but a few since once they start eating they would lay lots of eggs. Only thing tho is if you have fish that could eat them they might not be for you.

[BlueFaceAngel]

File fish do a great job taking care of aiptasia...not coral safe but easy to keep

[palmer373]

well i was just about to ask, what fish or inverts do people suggest will eat aiptasia? i was looking at the bistletail filefish cuase ive heard good things about them but i guess they eat or nip on inverts? would one be ok with a cleaner shrimp? im considering kalking the big aiptasia and then when i get my 33 up i can move the corals and cleaner into the 33 and get a filefish. what other fish do people suggest? i know of the CBB, bristletail filefish, maybe peppermints (hit or miss), what else? im starting to get desprate lol.

[BlueFaceAngel]

a blowtorch

[palmer373]

Originally Posted by BlueFaceAngel

a blowtorch

im pretty sure that isnt a fish or invert but good idea never the less! lol

[disciple]

Here check out this website. This is your answer www.berghia.net/

[palmer373]

ooooohhhhh the look perfect, ive got to do more reasearch on them tho. i guess im stuck between a bristletail filefish and some berghia. any ideas people?

[palmer373]

is the only thing the berghia eat are aiptasia? im worried what will happen when all the aiptasia is gone.