Aiptasia Anemone Eradication!

[RNall]

In 10+ years of reefkeeping, I have been lucky when it comes to some things. I have never had an 'outbreak' of anything, including aiptasia. I have probably only had 5-10 total aiptasia anemonies in all of my tanks combined over the years.

So, I have heard to use Joe's Juice, kalk, lemon juice concentrate, boiling water, etc. From what I know, some of these methods work better than others but there common additional outbreaks that follow. Guess I could sell them on eBay and make a fortune!

So, I'm getting 150 pounds of good quality live rock and 100 pounds of live sand that have a really bad infestation of aiptasia. I have the opportunity to do whatever I can to try and definitively kill this stuff off. Of course, I would prefer to not kill the rock at the same time. I could set this stuff up in a seperate temp system (large trash cans with lots of flow and pendant light) to do what I need to do, whatever.

What generally causes outbreaks (high nutrients)? How do they reproduce?

I know copperbands, scarlet hermits, berghia and peppermint shrimp will help but I do not want to put this rock in my 215!

Is there a 100% surefire way to kill it all off other than sitting the rock on the patio for 2 days?

I'm going to pick some of this up today and the rest next week sometime What do you guys recommend?

As always, thanks!

[jim1000]

I am selling all my systems, and if you want live rock and sand with aptasia (bad) call me at 558-9126.
I live off babcock and hubner.

[mathias]

even sitting it out on the patio for couple days still wont kill this crap.... any small part of one could cause problems down the road.. personaly Im a fan of the natural way of getting critters who eat it and over time win the battle....

[RNall]

Jim, it's Ron Nall, the person you spoke to last night and a few minutes ago. I'm actually referring to your rock/sand! :D

I just wanted to get a head start on plans for cleaning it up.

[RNall]

Mathias - I'm looking for the absolute best method i can find to really knock these guys down. Knocked out preferred but at least to a point to where I can manage it in my tank. If there are just a few remaining , I can get a few critters to keep it in check but I can not add 150 pounds of infested rock to the tank without doing something....

You really think 2 days in the sun wouldn't kill them? I'm accustomed to anemone being so fragile. Are they the Terminator strain of anemone or something?

[JeremyGlen]

I've found those **** things growing inside a hangon filter that had absolutely no light whatsoever coming into it. I couldn't figure out why they kept coming back. They'll live anywhere and everywhere.

I say, the best you can do is cook the rocks and just use the rock to build up your base for the exsisting rock structure you've got. Same for the sand, I guess.

[Bill S]

I've tried Joe's Juice, I just got the Tropic Marin product, and a CBB. NONE seem to work partularly well. The CBB eats out of my hand, but leaves the aptaisia alone. The Joe's Juice sort of worked, but it clogs so easily, it's a paint to work with. I just got the Tropic Marin product, and it, so far, didn't do much... I'll let you know.

[RNall]

Wow, I figured that considering that I would not need to place it in a stocked tank that my options would open up. Surely there is something I can do. As I understand it, if I cut this stuff out by hand, any left behind pieces will grow back. Perhaps I leave each rock in a very concentrated kalk solution for 30 minutes then take it out, place it on the patio in the sun for a day then take a flame thrower to it. Guess I'd have to re-cure the rock though....

Seriously, keep the thoughts, experiences and opinions coming. I appreciate it.

[Marlin]

I've had success with both peppermint shrimp and Copperbands.

[MattK]

I've also had success with Peppermint shrimp.

[RNall]

I figure that when I add the rock to my tank I will have a copperband, a few more peppermint shrimp and a few other things to try and keep it in check in case it comes back again.

[RNall]

Is this a goofy idea? Anyone ever turned a can of compressed air (like for pc's & electronics) upside down? It's freezing cold - literally. Wonder if I could freeze the little boogers off?

Maybe a mild acid or something like sodium hydroxide? if I was careful.....

[seamonkey2]

Berghia is the best, but expensive

jose

[RNall]

I know...I was going to look into where to get them locally (if anywhere) once I put the rock in the tank. I do not want to spend the $$$ or the time (multiple months) it would take to do that in a temporary tank.

[lhoy]

The Peppermint Shrimp I got absolutely sucked the stuff down in no time. They haven't bothered anything else and simply saved me so much time in trying to remove them myself. I don't know why everybody doesn't go this route.

Wonder if one could take a large tank with 5 or so peppermint shrimp and start an Aptasia removal service??

Lee

[RNall]

I think all peppermint shrimp are not created equal. I need to look into the 3 (i think) types and which ones are the correct species for eating aiptasia for my tank after I put the rock in.

Thanks,

[safeuerwehr]

hey ron if im not mistaken i think instar is the berghia breeder....hes usually on this site so hit him up. also i read some where that anenomes will release when exposed to extreme temps hi or low so im curious if the air can would work.....or even better using a micro torch to burn them ..let us know....

[RNall]

I will definitely let everyone know how it goes. I have a lot and may try a few different methods. I think trying to burn/freeze then a good wash off with FW may work. That may minimize LR die off. I wish their was a known solution I could dip the rock in or apply directly to them to get them to detach. That would be great.

I sent him (instar) a PM earlier, thanks.

[safeuerwehr]

and like i told you about joes juice...it works great on the larger ones if you inject directly into the mouths and fill them up before they pull back and die off.....only problem with this is that they sometimes release thier "spagetti" and usually infect your tank even more....but thats where the critters come into play as they will eat the smaller heads

[SBreef]

I would NOT DO a FW rinse or bath. And if you try to nuke those in your tank, only do a few at a time. You do not want an ammonia(sp) spike, caused by the dying aiptasia. Some also use Lemon juice.

[RNall]

Depending on what works best, I plan on doing a little at a time. I plan on taking small pieces of rock first, treating however I end up doing it then adding to the 215 when i feel it's safe to put in. I do not want remnants of aiptasia on the rock at all when i add it to the tank.

I'm still very open to new ideas. I plan on trying multiple physical and chemical methods to rid the rock of these guys prior to putting anything in my tank.

How about a really strong vacuum? Like a shop vac with rigid tubing attached? Anyone ever tried something like this? Use the vac then apply something to try and ensure that if anything is left over, it's dead?

[RNall]

Forgot to ask, why no FW?

Thanks,

[SBreef]

FW, It may/will kill all of the benfical stuff. Plus the Aiptasia will pull back in. If you find it in a "Hole", you could just seal up that hole with epoxy. I thought that I had it under control when I had a piece of rock in my 10 gallon, there was only 1 on it. Now that it is in my 125, I can see alot of little ones sprouting up. It is a "Battle". I think there is a picture somewhere where Brian, greenmako, used a Torch on some.

[RNall]

Brian, where is that picture?

I was thinking like a syringe with FW to clean the area out. Yes, I would have some die off, I'm willing to accept a little. I want to do everyting I can to minimize that though. I guess I could use SW. I'm sure it would be gone if I used a torch, then lemon juice then rinsed with SW....

[OldSalty]

Get a-hold of instar, he needs these to feed his Berghia that he raises, If ya dont need the rock asap maby ya could put it in his system untill there all gone. It might be worth a try

[Ping]

OldSalty has a good idea. If instar wants them and you can spare the rock, might even have some hitch hickers when you get the rock back. I have use the Bergia nudibranches with good luck in the past. I feel they would work very well with your rock if it was isolated from any fish or predators.

[matt]

Get a-hold of instar, he needs these to feed his Berghia that he raises, If ya dont need the rock asap maby ya could put it in his system untill there all gone. It might be worth a try

That's what I was going to say; for sure you should talk to Larry; I'll bet he could house the rock for you in a tub and use it to feed his berghias, and give it back to you with some berghias on it. You should accept the fact that you're probably not going to completely eradicate the aiptasias, but if you eventually put it into a system with a copperband, which BTW Larry also knows alot about, you should control it to the point where you hardly ever see aiptasias. Because of their reproductive method, pedal laceration, any teeny tiny speck of tissue way down in the crevasses of a rock can become a full anemone. For this reason, the "Joe's juice" (which I'm sure is basically kalk powder and lemon juice to keep the ph reasonable) and other products are not likely to work well.

If you end up having to get rid of the aiptasia yourself, I would set the rock up in an isolation tank; could be anything from a different tank to a big tub with a few powerheads, and get the berghias on it. I'm pretty sure nothing else will work as well. Good luck and keep us posted, I'm curious to see how this works out.

[ou812pezz]

pepperment shrimp cleaned my tank. I've had feed back from others that the shrimp did the same in there tanks. I have 3 shrimp left to sell for $12.00 if you're interested.

[Ping]

I just bought some pepperment from ou812 for another system. They are alot cheaper than the Bergia's. No problems with them so far in my tank.

[Texreefer]

here is an idea that takes some room, lots of macro algea and some patience,,, i have plased the rock in my sump covered it with macro algae where it gets almost no light and they will crawl onto the algae to get more light i then just pick off the inividual blades with aptasia attached,,, of course with may not work with a large infestation

[RNall]

:angry

Well everyone, disregard.

I guess it was a good thread to discuss aiptasia removal though.

I was really looking forward to working on this and even had my 12 year old daughter ready to do 'scientific experiments' (she's homeschooled)

Much to my disbelief, someone named Jose (not you Seamonkey2) got it a few minutes before I showed up. Although I had spoken with the owner of everything last night and multiple times today, he let someone else have it for some reason. I would have got it last night if he had said he would give to someone else. He did tell me today that it was first come first serve tonight though. That was good to know. :angry

May have something to do with the BAL....

[beareef19]

Sorry to here that it was sold out from under you. Pickleing lime and water mixed into a thick paste, put it in the microwave oven for a few seconds until it starts to bubble, put it into a syringe and squirt into mouth of Aptaysia they retract and whala gone. It has been very succesful for me.

Barry