How long before Aiptasia gets eaten?

[ScienceRulez]

So I have a huge Aiptasia issue, it's literally carpeting the live rock in the display tank. last week I purchased a file fish, and 14 peppermint shrimp. After a week it looks like they are making progress but it's hard to tell, there is just so much Aiptasia. How long before they get the issue under control? This is a 560 gallon tank that's approximately 5 foot deep, 8 feet long, and 4 feet 6 inches wide.

 

[FF337]

Take a picture of a heavily infested area then recheck it in a couple days. I used 50 peppermint shrimp in my 180 and I probably had 1000 or so. They were gone in 2-3 weeks.

 

[MondoBongo]

Take a picture of a heavily infested area then recheck it in a couple days. I used 50 peppermint shrimp in my 180 and I probably had 1000 or so. They were gone in 2-3 weeks.

this is always a good strategy.

i do the same thing with coral growth. i stare every day thinking to myself "these things aren't growing worth a damn"

then i look at pictures from a month or two or three ago and i am shocked at how much progress there has been.

it's hard to fully appreciate the incremental growth (or in this case destruction) of something you look at every single day.

 

[mcgyvr]

Lets see
assuming thats a left handed file fish and the peps are of a medium build with no pregnant females then you're looking at..

560/14 = 40 + 14 = 54 *4.6 = 248.4/8 = 31.05/5 = 6.21 weeks :artist:

 

[hotelbravo]

Had over 100 aptasia back in my 90 and added 3 very peppermints it took them about 2 weeks to get all of them.

 

[ScienceRulez]

So it's going to take a bit longer. I can handle that as long as there is progress being made. I took a picture today and will see what change there is in a week.

 

[mcgyvr]

In general with Reefing.. Nothing good happens quickly..

 

[tc2007]

So I have a huge Aiptasia issue, it's literally carpeting the live rock in the display tank. last week I purchased a file fish, and 14 peppermint shrimp. After a week it looks like they are making progress but it's hard to tell, there is just so much Aiptasia. How long before they get the issue under control? This is a 560 gallon tank that's approximately 5 foot deep, 8 feet long, and 4 feet 6 inches wide.

Did u try injecting lemon juice on the bigger ones?

 

[ScienceRulez]

Did u try injecting lemon juice on the bigger ones?

Not in the display tank, none of them are that large. Until the chocolate chip sea stars decided that hermit crabs tasted good and ate all but two of them. The hermits were keeping them pretty small. Though in the refugium there are some very large ones. One of which has a stem 3 inches long. I was thinking about getting some Aiptasia X, for them. If lemon juice works so much the better. Does it need to be freshly squeezed or will the bottled stuff work? Also where do I inject it? Into the stem? How much is needed?

 

[johnike]

A Raccoon Butterfly will get all of them, guaranteed.

 

[ScienceRulez]

A Raccoon Butterfly will get all of them, guaranteed.

I already have a file fish and 12 peppermint shrimp. I think that's enough live critters to eat aiptasia.

 

[ScienceRulez]

So I have a huge Aiptasia issue, it's literally carpeting the live rock in the display tank. last week I purchased a file fish, and 14 peppermint shrimp. After a week it looks like they are making progress but it's hard to tell, there is just so much Aiptasia. How long before they get the issue under control? This is a 560 gallon tank that's approximately 5 foot deep, 8 feet long, and 4 feet 6 inches wide.

Update:

Yes, they are making a difference, there are definately fewer Aiptasias in the main display tank.

In the refugium, one of the largest Aiptasias this morning is headless, only the stem is there, so the 2 shrimps are doing their thing in there as well, just a lot slower. I just need to be patient I guess.

 

[amperidot]

I find that lemon juice only seems to work for the smaller aiptasia...it can also mess with your ph a bit if you use this method frequently.
what works well for me is getting a big syringe, like the kind you find in a pet store that they sell for feeding dogs liquid medicines and stuff. I fill that will boiling RO water and then blast the aptasia right in the mouth, emptying the whole syringe onto on. Sometimes this takes two tries, but so far seems to be fail-proof, even on larger
specimens. SO maybe try that on some of the bigger ones on your fuge.

 

[TinaMcCord]

We had about 20 of them in the DT that my 2 pygmy file fish didn't touch, once the Aiptasia eating file fish came out of QT (oddly enough he didn't touch the one aiptasia in QT) we noticed them gone within a few weeks, even the pygmy file fish got in on it. Love those funny fish!