Extreme Aiptasia Removal idea

[autojunkie88]

I had been away from my tank for about a year. Leaving the majority of care to my parents. Fortunately my clown fish are still kicking but there is chemistry awry and an extreme amount of aiptasia. While i have begun the process of balancing out the chemistry I am overwhelmed with aiptasia. I had even purchased one of the aiptsia zappers but there are to many small ones that cant be reached.

my idea...

actually removing several pieces of the LR that has extreme aiptasia coverage and letting it sit in the air to dry out the aiptasia. I am aware this will also kill off the good bacteria that breaks down amonia etc, so i would only do two pieces at a time.

Can anyone give me feedback to this idea? I really want to get the tank back on track and need some help with the aiptasia. Thanks for any info

 

[Bnortz]

Get some peppermint shrimp. depending on the size of the tank, get 2-5

 

[moondoggy4]

Welcome to Reef Central autojunkie88

 

[ccolt1]

I heard good things about these Berghia Nudibranchs... I was thinking of trying to get some.

 

[SushiGirl]

Your plan would work. Whether the peppermints will take care of it or not is hit or miss whether they'll eat them and will also depend on the size of the aiptasia.

I would make sure to leave it out in the sun for a week or two, scrub it very well, then rinse it very well with RO or salt water. Don't want to leave any little bits of aiptasia on it.

 

[autojunkie88]

I was planning on getting peppermint shrimp, but there are soo many aiptasia. To the point where I can begin counting them. Its a 90 gal tank, so maybe 5? Is there a way to goad them into eating the aiptasia?

 

[SushiGirl]

How big are the aiptasia? They won't touch the larger ones.
You could not feed the peps, hoping they'd eat them, but they would likely eat other corals too.

 

[autojunkie88]

The larger aiptasia are not a problem, I just zapp them with the zapper. But rather the infinite number of small ones (maybe about the diameter of a dime to a penny) that are the problem ones. And since I am rebuilding the tank almost completely (I want to re aquascape as well) there currently are no corrals, just a bunch of mushrooms that have made it. Down the road I might remove the pep shrimp and add diff corals, but not for a while.

 

[CustomNanoz]

Dont kill the rock do a very low salinity soak with an air stone! It will forsure work you can do a couple at a time or all. Keep the salinity at 1.000 or lower and will have great results! the aiptasia will start dieing off, no heater cold low salinity water. It will work i promise....

 

[Peale]

Do you have a lot of LPS? If you don't, get a matted filefish. Mine ate all my aptasia in about a month. he picks at my LPS, though. He's wicked cute to watch, too!

 

[autojunkie88]

Dont kill the rock do a very low salinity soak with an air stone! It will forsure work you can do a couple at a time or all. Keep the salinity at 1.000 or lower and will have great results! the aiptasia will start dieing off, no heater cold low salinity water. It will work i promise....

This sounds like the answer I was looking for... How long should I leave the rock in there for? Overnight?

 

[BrianOKC]

This sounds like the answer I was looking for... How long should I leave the rock in there for? Overnight?

It will likely take longer than that. I'd guess more like a week or longer to get them to melt away completely. You have to remember some of the reef is exposed to air and other things during different tides and these animals live right through that so 1 night probably won't fix your problem.

 

[autojunkie88]

Ok well I greatly appreciate the information and everyone who chimed in to help solve my problem.

 

[bobbychullo]

try peppermint shrimp or berghia nudis.

it sounds like a perfect situation for either.

if you have that much aiptasia and not many natural predators, the berghia will hopefully reproduce.

 

[muttley000]

In my experience your rock will be dead before you get the low salinity to work, those things are about as easy to kill as the terminator! I think you were on track zapping the big ones and 5 peppermints (make sure you get true peppermints)

 

[chrismck97]

get a powerful green laser and shoot it at the spots for a minute each

 

[FF Rainwater]

i got aiptasia x from the lfs and it works in a matter or seconds...

 

[albano]

+1 for Caribbean Pep. shrimp, and tassled file fish...both work well. I also purchased a zapper, but found it basically useless!
As for your idea of removing rocks...if you do, I have found that a quick 'flick' with a new firm toothbrush, will remove any aptasia that are on the rocks (not in crevices)


.

 

[Reef_Master]

Berghia. I will mail you a starter colony for a piece of live rock full of aptasia.

 

[autojunkie88]

Berghia. I will mail you a starter colony for a piece of live rock full of aptasia.

View attachment 151388

that would be great. How long does the starter colony take to mature? Bc i know you cant mix the nudis with the pep shrimp, and at this point am considering the pep shrimp and zap/aip-x ing them.