Aiptasia issues...

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Engloid

New member
I've got about 4 aiptasia in a 29 gallon tank. One was easy to get rid of. I was just able to cut it from a rock and throw it away. The others are down in crevices and when I touch them, they retract into the hole where I can't get them.

I hate to go pay $20 for the chemicals that kill them, and don't know if this problem is big enough to warrant that. Is there a simple "home remedy" for killing this stuff?

Also, I think I got this stuff from a piece of live rock from a LFS...won't say which one, but they are not a reef club sponsor. Nonetheless, I think I need to look at how to prevent that in the future. Is there a proper way treat or handle live rock when you get it to keep unwanted parasites from the tank?

I have heard the term "cure" when speaking of live rock, but I'm not 100% sure exactly what that means, and being new to the hobby, I think I should find out. Does "curing" it kill everything on the rock? good and bad things? does it kill coraline algae? By my thinking, if you kill everything including the coraline algae, what's the use in buying live rock? Any info is appreciated.
 
For just a few aptasia you may get by squirting them with a syringe full of very strongly mixed kalkwasser or pickling lime mixed with water.
 
If you make the meeting I can give you some pickling lime if you remind me. It is just calcium hydroxide and is used as a calcium supplement by many. It will not harm your tank in small doses.

Engloid said:
Pickling lime? Kalkwasser? Never heard of them. Where can I get them? Will they hurt anything else?
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cee said:
If you make the meeting I can give you some pickling lime if you remind me. It is just calcium hydroxide and is used as a calcium supplement by many. It will not harm your tank in small doses.
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and you just get a small dropper and squirt a little at its mouth?

If I can't make the meeting or get impatient, is there a place to buy it locally, cheap? I want to keep away from buying a little bottle of stuff for $25 if I can, since I don't have but a few of these to kill.
 
It's a buck or two at Food City or Walmart but stock may be down a bit now because it isn't canning season. It's called Mrs. Wage's pickling lime. It needs to be dissolved in water to make a consistency a little thinner than Elmer's glue. Then just smother them with the power heads off and your problem should go away. I use a tritration "dropper" to put it in.
 
i think i might still have some joe's juice around i was using before i decided i'd never get the ones i couldn't see and bought a couple of peppermint shrimp to rid my tank of them. if i can find it you can have it.
 
mrswages_2070_11742662.jpg


Mrs. Wages pickling lime. Cheap. Works great. I think less than $5 at Walmart. Mix to a paste consistancy with RO water and bury the pests with it. It almost acts as a live rock solvent where it hits, too... :)

If I was coming to the next meeting, I'd bring you a little baggie of it...
 
...just as I got back home from Walmart, i see this post about the pickling lime being avaliable there. :(

I do like the peppermint shrimp. Maybe I should consider getting one of them.
 
Peppermint shrimp work great or a syringe of ph plus. Aiptasia hitch on most live rock, everyone gets them eventually. Best thing is to take care of them when you see them and not blame the few LFS stores we have left trying to support our hobby.
 
Another option is lemon juice. Its not a bad idea to invest in one of the store bought products though. Aiptasia can become a REAL problem if they aren't dealt with right away. I was so overrun by them I had to buy a copperbanded butterfly to control them.
 
What if I bought a peppermint shrimp and he ate all the aiptasia...then what would I have to do to keep him fed? Will he graze on whatever he can find, or what?
 
I think they'll continue to graze on whatever else they find in addition to the foods you put in the tank. From my experience, they'll take down small aiptasia but leave the big ones alone. Just something to consider.
 
I had put 2 in my tank awhile back, devoured the Aptasia quickly then turned on a Torch coral and a Acan. I hate the little so in so's. I now subscribe to the GPhiAce school of hating all shrimp that isn't boiled or fried!
 
I have one that finished off all my aptasia pretty quickly. It hasn't bothered anything else in the tank but it's starting to creep me out. It's gotten fairly large and I guess is quite attractive as it's really red. However, it's looking more and more like a leggy spider! It scuttles around the tank and is freaking me out. I think I'm going to try to catch it and take it elsewhere.
 
Pepp. shrimp didn't do the trick for me. But then again at one point my tank was overrun by the pesky aiptasias.
 
planejane said:
I had put 2 in my tank awhile back, devoured the Aptasia quickly then turned on a Torch coral and a Acan. I hate the little so in so's. I now subscribe to the GPhiAce school of hating all shrimp that isn't boiled or fried!
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Just don't take after everything I do. :spin1:

The copperbands and peppermint shrimp are hit or miss from what I have read. The copperbands are also a little hard to keep. Shrimp just freak me out. The above mentioned remedies (kalk, pickling lime, lemon juice, vinegar, hot water) all work to kill individual and low numbers of aiptasia. I don't think that is your problem. If you have them, then you are not seeing them all, and by killing the ones you can see is just........ keeping you at ease. IMO. Try the shrimp if your tank allows. You can't do a copperband in a 29-- or at least, please don't try. I also have aiptasia and they are a pain. I only get a handle on them for a little while at a time. I suggest killing the ones you can find (look harder for them) and trying a biological control, ie peppermint shrimp. But keep in mind of what you put in your system and be sure to turn your powerhead off (and return if you can) while you are zapping your aiptasia. And keep them off for a while. I use a needle and syringe, but everyone does not have those lying around. You can also using a dosing syringe. Just get something that will deliver the agent where you want it.

And one of your original questions was about curing rock. To get rid of the aiptasia, you must kill your rock (dry it, boil it, cook it), scrub it, then cure it with good live rock. THis process will kill everything on the rock-- should kill EVERYTHING on the rock and seed it with good stuff from the LR that you are using to cure it. This process will also take a few months. This is a last ditch effort in my book.
 
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