aiptasia help me please

[aquaph8]

anyone actually won the battle with these pests. Can i ever reclaim my tank or is it a hopeless struggle. peppermint shrimp either get eaten by my hawk fish or just disappear. Butterfly fish get beat up by my tang. Berghia is another option I am exploring. Joes juice etc... does'nt seem to be a permanent solution. Any help or stories would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SWSaltwater]

hawkfish for sure would tear him up, one reason I do not recommend them in reef tanks. Aptasia x, berghia, pep shrimps, all decent ways to rid them from tank. Best to not let them take off in the first place. When using Aptasia X only kill 5-10 per day, do not try a full on assualt.

 

[aquaph8]

thanks man. will I ever really get rid of all of them. love your store keep up the good work

 

[SWSaltwater]

They will always be present in a reef tank and is simply something to stay on top of, the rock in my show tank are popping up more probably since I forgot to move the pep shrimp over from the old tank. I ended up selling them. Once I put em back in you might see aptasia from time to time but they get em in a few days.

 

[lordraptor1]

i dont have a single aptaisa and never have, however i have seen a skunk cleaner shrimp make quick work of some aptaisia once before. best way i have found to get peppermints to go after them if they dont seem interested is not feed for a copuple of days, when the pepps get hungry enough the aptaisia will start to disappear

 

[Garage1217]

Suck up boiling ro water in a medium sized syringe and spray it on the offender, then as it shrivels down into the rock, spray it again into the crack of the rock. I chased mine down and have been totally free of them for 9 months. Took a lot of effort and patience, but you can nuke them all.

 

[phenom5]

I had aiptasia a while back, but I beat them.

Joe's Juice/ Aiptasia X/ Kalk paste work, but IMO you'll never rid your tank of them using one of these alone. No matter how many aiptasia I nuked with Joe's Juice, I would miss some, or be unable to reach some.

Combination of Joe's Juice & Peppermints finally rid my tank of the little bastards. That's your best bet IMO, but it depends on how attached you are to your hawkfish.

 

[aquaph8]

thanks for all the advice. Better than the draino suggestion I read in another thread. I don't care what draino is made out of, I wouldn't put it in my tank in a million years

 

[illsquaddotcom]

Replace your tang with a Copper-banded Butterfly, he should start eating them quickly. I replaced my sailfin with one and my tank is clear now, there are still quite a few in my refugium but I can live with that.... Good luck...

 

[AL915]

Kalk has worked for me.

 

[jjk_reef00]

Aiptasia-x worked for me. I had 5 or 6 on my favorite rock and I used it about a week ago and they have not shown up since. I really gave them a good dose of that stuff. Also make sure you turn off the pumps/ powerheads when you apply it.

 

[aquaph8]

aiptasia-x is draining my wallet. I have alot of those little @#$%ers. I didn't want to give up my tang, but I think its coming to that

 

[jjk_reef00]

Why would you have to give up your tang? Is it really draining your wallet that much?

Look for new live rock for sale. I think someone is selling some here on rc.

 

[aquaph8]

tang out and coral banded butterfly soon to come
flame hawk out and pep shrimps soon to come, as soon as I can find some
aiptasia X sucks
Lemon juice sucks
havent tried kalk, but there's just too many
same with boiling water
still trying to find some Berghia nudi though hopefully in tucson(I hate shipping)

 

[Sir Romey]

How is your aptasia problem? I'm currently battling one in my 24 Gallon. I'm thinking about putting a few peppermint's in because i'm getting sick of injecting them every week.

 

[aquaph8]

I will soon post pics and then hopefully follow up with some progress
stay tuned

 

[savageAJC]

those apt have overrun my 8gal nano, tho ive never put any fish or corals in it. Its just a breeding ground for those little shrimp creatures (i forget their name lol) but i do plan on soon trying to get rid of them, so ill be looking forward to hearing your success =)

 

[aquaph8]

I have recently added 8 peppermint shrimp. I was supposed to be 10, but they shorted me 2. So far they seem kind of shy, so I don't see them much. I have seen a few of them, so I know they are still alive. Its been 2 days so far and I haven't noticed any difference. I'm just trying to be patient and let them do their thing. Heres hoping for the best, I will keep you updated.

 

[aquaph8]

Its been about a month now and the 8 peps are doing an awesome job, my problem has been cut in half and all eight peps are still alive. Since the hawk fish has been gone my cleaner shrimp has also become a lot more social. hopefully I will be rid of this problem yet.

 

[sillygoose]

My peppermint shrimp have been wonderful! One note, they won't eat any aiptasia bigger than they are. Once I killed all the big ones, the shrimp took over.