safe ways of getting rid of aptasia

[AlienAnchovies]

I found 4 aptasia's growing on the rock a few months ago and theyre staring to split what i wanted to know is what can i use to get rid of them
i tried buying a seringe with a needle the other day to stuff the aptasia full of kalk paste but no body wanted to sell me one

[Tim Marvin]

The kalk method is very dangerous and if your not carefull you can kill alot more than aptasia. Try a copperband butterfly or peppermint shrimp.

[AlienAnchovies]

what would happen to the butteryfly when i run out of aptasia?
and where could i go about getting a nano sized copperband

[longhorn_20m]

I purchased a peppermint shrimp from Austin Aquariums and in less than three weeks all of my apitasia was gone.

You might try that.

You can borrow mine, but I've tried thst last three days to move it to another tank, since I have a pair of clowns in there trying to breed.

But no luck, he is a sneaky little thing.

[AlienAnchovies]

if you could catch him and loan him to me that would be awsome
the only thing i can thing that worrys me about pepermint shrimp is that i read they go after zoo's and palythoa as well

happy new year people

[longhorn_20m]

I have seen him pick at one or two, all they do is close up. I have never seen him actually demolish one.

Yea he is a pain to catch. I will let you know when I do.

[matt]

Probably the best way I know of is to take the affected piece of rock out, put it in a small aquarium where you can really check it out, and carefully feed each aiptasia with kalk paste. Then, when it dies, try to scrape off every trace of it and I would even cover the area with a little more kalk paste. This will kill everything in that small area of rock, but IMO that's a small price to pay. No matter what you do, the aiptasias are likely to come back. There's a new product called "Joe's Juice" that makes some big claims about eradicating aiptasias; if it works it will be a VERY popular product. Salifert also makes something called "Aiptasia Exit" which is worth trying.

People have mixed results with the peppermint shrimp; I'm going to get a couple to put in a smaller aquarium in which I'll put my infested rocks and see what happens. Same thing with copperbands; although they're probably a better bet than the peppermint shrimp.

But, the best thing I imagine is to get a colony of berghia nudibranchs going. At some point, I've got to try this. Their sole diet is aiptasias, and supposedly, if you can breed them successfully, they will absolutely wipe out the anemones. Inland aquatics sells breeding pairs, but usually there's a long wait. About a year ago, I went on the list and never heard back from them. I have some primo pieces of rock that I took out of my tank when I made the switch recently, only because they're covered in tiny aiptaisas.

[Instar]

Copperbands, racoons, heniochus(sp), peppermints all eat aiptasia. Trouble is there are a few ins and outs to it. first you have to get healthy ones or have the means to get them healthy, second they have to be at home in your tanks and their needs met for shelter. Then they have to be the right size. Size and health are everything. Once their needs for safety and security are met, then the aiptasia they can get to will be gone in short order. They will not eat aiptasia so long as their mucous membranes are not healed from shipping or irritated by things we add to the tanks. Most people get specimens that are too young to actually eat the aiptasias, or they get the wrong species. Thats part of the reason for the mixed results.

I have had great results with peppermints, but they eat everything else too. Copperbands eat feather dusters and bristle worms.

One method I used successfully is to remove the rock from the tank and get a screw driver. The screw driver I use is a stout, 10 inch long, flat blade with a good handle. I heat the tip of the screw driver with the flame on my gas stove till its red hot and fry the closed up aiptasias. It takes a couple fries to get all of it down into the rock. Then, scrub that spot off with a tooth brush in some salt water and back into the tank. It works as long as you get all the animal fried. Then the cleanup critters get the rest of the little parts I fired and eat them. I get close to 100% of the ones I fry. As long as the rock is wet, animals living close by are not harmed unless you get clumbsy and slip with the hot blade. When you get those aiptasia, it sounds like french fries cooking and thats how you know when you got it all. If I had a nano, I would do it that way. For my big reefs, that doesn't work. I can barely lift some of the rocks, so other methods are used.

[Henry]

Larry I like your method. I can just picture you with the screwdriver and the rock laughing as you're frying the little pests.

[matt]

Yeah, wearing a cape and goggles and laughing diabolically. I'm gonna try that that method!

[Sherri]

I got 2 peppermints and I no longer have any aiptasia at all. I have plenty of zoos and have not seen any evidence that the peppermints are bothering them. Am I just lucky so far?? What good are peppermints if you have no more aiptasia?

If you go the peppermint route...Alex is putting together an order with Reeftopia...I believe they are $6.

[JeffCo]

I just ordered some of the Joe's Juice and I will try it out and let everyone know how it works.

[JesterGrin_1]

Well put me inline on what works I am in drastic need of getting rid of these critters. I have tried a Copper band did not work. I have some pepperment shrimp no workie either and a nudi no luck there as well. So anything that will fix this would be fantastico :)

[Ed]

Joe's Juice is in stock now at AA. $9 per bottle.

I tried it on 3 Aiptasia and 2 Majano last night and this morning there was no trace of them. It does sound too good to be true, but so far, it appears to work as advertised.

-Ed

[matt]

The question is, when you kill them with this stuff, do they just pop up elsewhere? I've killed dozens of these things; they just reproduce too fast to completely eradicate.

[dan]

how do you apply the joe's juice? so many drops per gal?

[Ed]

how do you apply the joe's juice? so many drops per gal?

Dan,

The instructions say:

For Aiptasia: gently place syringe over mouth, use syringe to place small amount of mixture on mouth.

For Majana: spread a small amount of mixture on the center.

I used approx. 2 ml total on the 3 Aiptasia and 2 Majana I 'treated'.

Very easy to use and very quick results.

HTH.

-Ed