ashish
New member
I have had problems with aiptasia for the past 4 years. The subject is too complex and many people are very quick to give bias advice. Some people will recommend one method or another but it really depends on how bad your tank outbreak is. Aiptasia issue is delicate because if you don't do it right you will probably make it worst. I spend the past 2 years away from my tank (in business) on work and left my tank in the hands of staff and family. They did a good job but no one was going to take care of my aiptasia problems. The pictures is the first time i saw the tank in 10 months. I can honestly believe that no body has had an outbreak like mine; my jaws hit the ground. I had them growing on my clam and corals, overflow, circulation, etc. No one has been away from there tank for 2 years like this and let there aiptasia run wild. I actually went by a lot of folks recommendation regarding aiptasia-X few years ago (Before leaving) when the problem was still managable (but not taken seriously). In the past I've added poor copperband, peppermint shrimp, and everything recommended (but did not work). Like a dummy I thought I could wack all of them in one or two tries with Aip-X. After using aiptasia-X incorrectly the tank became even more infested with aiptasia-X.
So I finally came back to my tank this January with the goal of taking control of my aiptasia problem and ugly tank syndrome. First, I decided to remove the LR that were completely covered (don't try to X the 100% covered LR not worth it). I purchased 8 peppermint shrimps knowing that I probably will be left with 1 or 2 with in month. While people say peppermint shrimp take care of aiptasia ("just drop a few in") is both true and false. Peppermint shrimp will HELP YOU take care of aiptasia but not with out multiple things that have to go smooth. If you have a tank that's heavily stocked with aiptasia or even one's you can see, the peppermint shrimp probably won't eat them. You see Youtube videos of 3 peppermint shrimp killing a aiptasia but that's probably because the shrimps had no food options and where desperate to eat.
So I wait patiently for 2 weeks to see if the peppermint shrimps eat any aiptasia but Nothing happened. So my job was to remove the aiptasia by any means neccessary. I sucking few out with my vaccum hose. scratched them of the clam with a razor blade. I tryed using my 3200gph blasting there faces away. When you have an outbreak like mine theres really no way around it. I bought aiptasia-X and made sure this time I only took care of 20-30 per treatment; ensuring that the entire oral disk was completely covered (this is key). Buy a refill for $34 from marine depot otherwise you will use it sparingly. Note: this entire process was done in over 2-3 months time.
Today, I have had 0 visible aiptasia in my display tank since february. I know there is at least 1 or 2 that I can probably find. I know now that the peppermint shrimp do eat aiptasias (babys only) before I can even see them. I know this for a fact because I cleaned aiptasia from my overflow 3 weeks ago and already seen few growing in there. I also cut down on the frozen foods and removed my sandbed (phosphate factory). I don't have any more algae problems. The same thing that fuels algae fuels aiptasia..
What I did:
1. Remove heavily covered LR pieces
2. Get a lot of peppermint shrimp (they will help take care of babies in step 3)
3. Remove visible aiptasia by any means neccessary (aiptasia-X is best used slowly)
4. Every few weeks take note of where you see aiptasia and use Aip-X to remove few more.
5. Over time you will begin to notice zero aiptasia because the peppermint shrimp will eat
baby aiptasia. These baby aiptasia are so tiny that you won't even know they exist.
6. I have yet to use my large Aiptasia X refill and got by with just a small 2oz bottle.
Good luck and I hope this Helps.
I was so embarrassed to share these pictures on RC but knew if I could take control I would be happy showing people that your aiptasia is cureable. While my tank looks neglected the parameters where always stable but the tank became a breeding ground for aiptasia as they where being fed small amounts of frozen food mixed with marine snow daily. It did not help that my skimmer was not serviced according to my calender.
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/Iphonepictures519_zps635e1dc2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/Iphonepictures519_zps635e1dc2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Iphonepictures519_zps635e1dc2.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/Iphonepictures518_zps6c8add07.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/Iphonepictures518_zps6c8add07.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Iphonepictures518_zps6c8add07.jpg"/></a>
killing stonies
Took the time to re-do my aquascape and even drilled some aiptasia :deadhorse1:
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/IMG_6021_zps5319f325.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/IMG_6021_zps5319f325.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_6021_zps5319f325.jpg"/></a>
This is my tank today..Still a work in progress but I think besides the 20k bulb mistake it looks better
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/IMG_7512_zps5b696285.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/IMG_7512_zps5b696285.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_7512_zps5b696285.jpg"/></a>
So I finally came back to my tank this January with the goal of taking control of my aiptasia problem and ugly tank syndrome. First, I decided to remove the LR that were completely covered (don't try to X the 100% covered LR not worth it). I purchased 8 peppermint shrimps knowing that I probably will be left with 1 or 2 with in month. While people say peppermint shrimp take care of aiptasia ("just drop a few in") is both true and false. Peppermint shrimp will HELP YOU take care of aiptasia but not with out multiple things that have to go smooth. If you have a tank that's heavily stocked with aiptasia or even one's you can see, the peppermint shrimp probably won't eat them. You see Youtube videos of 3 peppermint shrimp killing a aiptasia but that's probably because the shrimps had no food options and where desperate to eat.
So I wait patiently for 2 weeks to see if the peppermint shrimps eat any aiptasia but Nothing happened. So my job was to remove the aiptasia by any means neccessary. I sucking few out with my vaccum hose. scratched them of the clam with a razor blade. I tryed using my 3200gph blasting there faces away. When you have an outbreak like mine theres really no way around it. I bought aiptasia-X and made sure this time I only took care of 20-30 per treatment; ensuring that the entire oral disk was completely covered (this is key). Buy a refill for $34 from marine depot otherwise you will use it sparingly. Note: this entire process was done in over 2-3 months time.
Today, I have had 0 visible aiptasia in my display tank since february. I know there is at least 1 or 2 that I can probably find. I know now that the peppermint shrimp do eat aiptasias (babys only) before I can even see them. I know this for a fact because I cleaned aiptasia from my overflow 3 weeks ago and already seen few growing in there. I also cut down on the frozen foods and removed my sandbed (phosphate factory). I don't have any more algae problems. The same thing that fuels algae fuels aiptasia..
What I did:
1. Remove heavily covered LR pieces
2. Get a lot of peppermint shrimp (they will help take care of babies in step 3)
3. Remove visible aiptasia by any means neccessary (aiptasia-X is best used slowly)
4. Every few weeks take note of where you see aiptasia and use Aip-X to remove few more.
5. Over time you will begin to notice zero aiptasia because the peppermint shrimp will eat
baby aiptasia. These baby aiptasia are so tiny that you won't even know they exist.
6. I have yet to use my large Aiptasia X refill and got by with just a small 2oz bottle.
Good luck and I hope this Helps.
I was so embarrassed to share these pictures on RC but knew if I could take control I would be happy showing people that your aiptasia is cureable. While my tank looks neglected the parameters where always stable but the tank became a breeding ground for aiptasia as they where being fed small amounts of frozen food mixed with marine snow daily. It did not help that my skimmer was not serviced according to my calender.
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/Iphonepictures519_zps635e1dc2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/Iphonepictures519_zps635e1dc2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Iphonepictures519_zps635e1dc2.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/Iphonepictures518_zps6c8add07.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/Iphonepictures518_zps6c8add07.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Iphonepictures518_zps6c8add07.jpg"/></a>
killing stonies
Took the time to re-do my aquascape and even drilled some aiptasia :deadhorse1:
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/IMG_6021_zps5319f325.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/IMG_6021_zps5319f325.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_6021_zps5319f325.jpg"/></a>
This is my tank today..Still a work in progress but I think besides the 20k bulb mistake it looks better
<a href="http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/ashish0584/media/IMG_7512_zps5b696285.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1324.photobucket.com/albums/u613/ashish0584/IMG_7512_zps5b696285.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_7512_zps5b696285.jpg"/></a>
