killing glass anemone (aiptasia)

[alienspacepirate]

I spent about an hour today eradicating aiptasia out of my 55gallon setup. I've had a few of these curious guys pop up over the last couple of years of keeping this tank and I never thought they were harmful. Recently after yet another tank move and rock re-arrangement I noticed that the stuff was everywhere.

After a check on the net and man... I didn't know this was harmful! oops.

I use no chemicals in my setup and typically I like to get another animal to feed on whatever is the problem, but this go around I would try something new. I took some of my own tank water and boiled in the microwave for three minutes. I'm a science teacher so I know salt will greatly increase the boiling point of water so I will get much more bang for each dose. (safety tip never boil RO/DI water because it will explode) I took this in a syringe and systematically boiled each aiptasia. The needle I used was very fine and I had real close control (some were right next to corals).

I hit approx 30 individual aiptasia's with this method. I'm sure I missed a couple and will keep looking again in a few days.


Just to keep the locals informed I've made the post so that I can update it once a week for the next month to see if my home-brew cure worked well or not.

[stoneroller]

Good luck! I have used a kalk paste with some success. May have to repeat.

[ErikH]

dont hit a zoa mat

[Salty]

This is a dependable old trick, not for the faint of heart though. Hopefully it knocks them out before a real infestation kicks off. Have peppermint shrimp?

[Big_Pun]

where can u get syringe's

[carlinsa]

aptasia x comes with the syringes.(i dont know if its spelled right) im only up cause i heard a car park out in front of my house

i dont know how well it works but its worth a try

[Gseclipse02]

where can u get syringe's

cvs/ walgreens say they didnt give them to you when you got your kids meds ....

[Pennies2Cents]

Peppermint Shrimp can also help you with those nasty aptaisa. :)

[alton]

I have had great success with my Copperband for control, plus I love my Copperband. But like the Peppermint Shrimp they have a tendency to mow them off, not pull them out by the roots. Berghia Nudibranches will crawl into the rock and eat it starting with the roots and they can go in places shrimp and fish can not. Acclimation is key for the nudies.

[OrionN]

.....I'm a science teacher so I know salt will greatly increase the boiling point of water so I will get much more bang for each dose. (safety tip never boil RO/DI water because it will explode) .......
?????
I would not want my kids to be your student.

[Big_Pun]

prob have to go the ap-x route or shrimp since its my fuge that has them.

[stoneroller]

I've heard Copperbands may make a meal out of your LPS... careful.

[ReefCube]

joes aptasia control for me

[alienspacepirate]

I killed about 10 more yesterday and I see maybe 3 now again today. These things are so invisible they are hard to see man! At least one of these didn't die from the treatment, however.

[mario]

i inject them with a shot of lemon juice this has worked for me. up to this day i have none. you can look this method on line. just go under how to kill aptasia anemne. good luck ,it realy works.

[rabadanmarco]

its all about the peppermint shrimp. it took 2 nights to obliterate a huge infestation of them. now the peppermints are huge...if you wanna go natural this is the way to go. sometimes you can get them for like $5 when they go on sale at lfs's

[alienspacepirate]

my treatments seemed to have worked so far. I don't see any regrowth so far of the ones I hit hard with the boiling water. I may have to move some rocks around to get to everything, however, which i'm sure will get my diatoms to go nuts again.