Looking for a proven aiptasia killer

dzovi

dzovi

New member
I recently purchased live rock and have found about 10 aiptasia on the misc. rock pieces. I'm looking to buy a proven aiptasia killer to put in my 55g tank. I want it to be a proven killer because I don't want to go for the hit and miss situation with buying a peppermint shrimp or any other livestock. I would like to buy a natural predator for the tank but I want it to a proven killer. If anyone has an idea please helped me out and point me in the right direction of where I could buy something. Thanks for your time.
 
There is not such a thing as a proven killer. Peppermints are finky and can be attacked by fish, Copperband is too delicate and may bother some corals and Berghia Nudi which is the closes to sure killer may not survive either.
The most efective= Kalk shringe IMO
 
peppermint shrimp would be your best bet for a natural predator for your size tank... i added two to my 50qt and within a week or two all gone!
 
take the rock out ( if there is nothing attached to it) and let it sit outside in the sun for a week or two, then scrub it.
 
Joes juice has NEVER failed me.
I have killed 30 or so with it, none have come back.

You have to sneak up on them and squirt it in them, then when they retract, cover their spot with it.

Proven for me..
~Steve~
 
Get some RO/DI water and heat it, add table salt to saturation let it cool and settle, decant the water into a plastic container, add Kalk to it and you got your very own Aiptasia killing juice.
 
Ive personally tried everything mentioned except Joes juice and berghia. Peppermints terrorized many of my soft coral/lps and killed a florida anenome I had and almost killed my RBTA from nightly stressfull feedings by cleaning the polyps gullets out. The kalk method can be messy and finesse is needed to do the job cleanly as not to burn any nearby corals. And is only as efficient as the spear chucker. Can be quite trying to pierce them when there small and in deep porous rocks.Good luck getting a needle too, you get looked at like a potential junky when you ask around for one (ya buddy, sure. Fish tank, right. :/), then finally, by the time your lucky enough to come across one you feel like an excited junky when you get your hands on it:lol2: Like Ive told others a few months ago my copperband cleared my aiptasia farm(50-60+ lil bastards) in 3 days. But as far as safety durring the day he's a model citizen. Im just wondering if he's a good faker because Ive noticed over this past month 1 polyp per week cleanly picked from my purple tip frogspawn,but my green tip is fine(of course :rolleyes: ). But makes me wonder if he has a call of the wild at night when no ones lookin?But as far as aiptasia its all about where and how many can I have?;) We talked about this also on James's berghia thread Matt Wandell suggested a hardier butterfly fish , for also whiping aiptasia out.
I really subscribe to first statement on this thread, nothing is a sure thing. If it was, I wouldnt have heard from a handfull of other people each one of these suggestions fail/not work with that particular individual. I think there are just good methods, and it takes some trying to find the one that is lucky enough to work for you/me.

-Justin
 
That concoction is to be used to pour unto the aiptasia, it is not a water supplement. Add enough Kalk to the saturated salt solution as much as you can a little at a time and stirring to the point of thinckening it but without turning it into a paste so it can still flow trough a syringe. you want to be able to apply it with a syringe but with no needle.
Take it into the syringe, turn off pumps and powerheads, approach the Aiptasia's mouth an inject a little bit on its mouth trying not to touch it, it will take it as food and try to shrink, once shrunk apply some of the stuff on top of it trying to cover it's tentacles too. If it retracts into a little crevice just apply some on the hole and you are done, she will be gone.
If you use too much of it at once, like when killing 20 Aiptasias, watch out your PH, because the Kalk it might increase it a little bit.
Once you are done, wait 10 minutes and turn your pumps back on.
Next day take a turkey baster and blow off any white residue left on the rock.
 
I always just disolve enough Kalk mix into a small amount of DI water to make a thick slurry. Inject it with a hypodermic needle, right into the mouth. Use the surgical kind of steel needle, not the little WD-40 straw that comes with the Chem-Marin Stop Aptasia. This also works great on Mojanos and pesky mushrooms that get too close to your SPS.

Vets and animal feed stores have the "real" hypos. Just don't go in looking like a junkie, and they'll sell them to you. I've also ordered them from PBS Animal health when I ordered my Lavamisol HCl.
http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/
 
perpermint shrimp did worked for me too. However, I still have one aptasia that is on the very top of my rock -- my perpermint missed this one.
 
Fo the ones deep in the tank or in difficult areas I attach a 1/8" rigid plastic tubing to the sringe. You can bend the tubing as needed using some heat.
 
Anyone have an extra proven peppermint shrimp (soldier) that I could buy or a good place to buy an inexpensive peppermint shrimp.
 
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