Amazing aiptasia

[cabin]

For months I've been battling a few aiptasia anemones in a single piece of live rock. When I decided to get seahorses, I pulled the rock out and put it in my quarantine tank and began to seriously try to kill the things off. I have plugged the holes they emerged from with putty--they simply came out different holes. I have dropped hydrochloric acid down the holes they came out of. That slowed them down for a day or two, but eventually they emerged. Before I went on vacation, I gave up and pulled the rock out entirely and set it on the deck outside in the sun. I hated to kill the other things on it, but the rock couldn't go in the main tank with aiptasia on it. It sat outside for 2 weeks in weather from 35-80 degrees, sun and rain. When I came back, the rock was white and I scrubbed off the dead stuff and put it back in the quarantine tank. Today, three weeks since I did that, I can see two aiptasia so far. Hardy stuff, darn it all! Anyone have a miracle cure?

 

[Hedonist]

I have used a paste made from kalk and the juice from thawed mysids... I mix it fairly thick but thin enough to go into a syringe or small pipette.. that has worked for me in the past...

Good luck and enjoy hte seahorses!
Denise

 

[Ewan]

Joe's juice is supposed to slow down the aiptasias and majanos. If I'm not mistaken, it's the stuff that Denise mentions, only in a bottle.

I've gone lax on a small patch of aiptasias in my tank. They are monsters though. After 12 years of reefkeeping, I've still yet to see a peppermint shrimp eat one! I'm not saying that they won't eat them, but I seem to make them uncomfortable, I guess.

-R.

 

[JackRent]

My copper band butterfly has completely wiped out any size of Aiptasia in my reef. I had a significant problem o the verge of plaqgue proportions and he has mowed them all down. Joe's Jucie slowed them down for me but I was never able to completely erradicate them.

 

[dad300]

boiling lemon juice works.. so does boiling kalk water.

 

[jacksonsmom25]

I here Jackrent, will rent you his copperband, kind of pricy thou!!



Kidding!

 

[Driftwood]

I had a couple aiptasia that came on frag rocks when I first started. I bought a peppermint shrinp and a banded shrimp and they dissapeared. I have read that the peppermints eat aiptasia.

 

[natybug]

I get them in the mantis tank where there's nothing to eat them, but in the main tank (that's tied to it) there are peppermints and I've never seen aptasia in that tank. I also rotate rocks into a third tank that has peppermints and all the aptasia disappear within a week.
I think Rob just met lazy shrimp!

 

[JackRent]

Pricey ! $25.00 / hour for Aiptasia erradication is reasonable !!! LOL

 

[cabin]

I've been trying the peppermint shrimp theory--not on that rock I removed, but on the tank I took it out of, because of course they managed to create offspring before I took the main source rock out. The offspring in question is attached to the side of my clam. I'm not about to drop hydrochloric acid on my clam, so a gentler approach was in order. It's been about four weeks since I put three peppermints in a 25 gallon tank, and so far, the aiptasia is still on the clam shell. Stay tuned.

 

[Driftwood]

Are you sure you got Peppermints? Sometimes other shrimp are sold as peppermints. Yeah, maybe they are just lazy... lol.

 

[spotfin]

THere are 2 types of shrimp sold as peppermint. Both come from Florida. The true peppermint isn't seen as often as the other type. The true ones have fewer red lines on them. Perhaps the two shrimp have different tastes.
True peppermint = Lysmata wurdemanni
fake one = Lysmata rathbunae

 

[Shroom King]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7431096#post7431096 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dad300
boiling lemon juice works.. so does boiling kalk water.

So, do you boil this inside the tank or outside and just poor it in slowwwwly ??? Or, are the eminating vapors from the stove enough to eradicate the pesky buggers???