Aiptasia Help

[mmw64]

I have a large rock completely covered with aiptasia, except for a medium mushroom coral. If it wasn't for the coral I would take rock out of tank an treat with peroxide. Anyone have any ideas how to treat the rock and save the coral?

 

[mtraylor]

inject with vinegar. Kalk paste are the two things that come to mind.

 

[GSPClown94]

Peppermint shrimp are great at getting rid of aiptasia.

 

[Salty Carlo]

I have been treating an algae outbreak in my tank using 35% food grade peroxide with mushroom corals in the tank and have had zero issues. The peroxide will not effect the mushroom coral other corals might close up for a day or two but will be fine.

 

[mmw64]

I have been treating an algae outbreak in my tank using 35% food grade peroxide with mushroom corals in the tank and have had zero issues. The peroxide will not effect the mushroom coral other corals might close up for a day or two but will be fine.

Where does one find "food grade peroxide"?

 

[jd371]

Where does one find "food grade peroxide"?

Amazon is where I bought mine.
https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Oxygen-Hydrogen-Peroxide-Grade/dp/B01ATPBAWM/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1525182159&sr=8-4&keywords=food+grade+peroxide&dpID=41aSo%2B3gG%2BL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1

 

[mmw64]

Amazon is where I bought mine.
https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Oxygen-Hydrogen-Peroxide-Grade/dp/B01ATPBAWM/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1525182159&sr=8-4&keywords=food+grade+peroxide&dpID=41aSo%2B3gG%2BL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1

Thank you, just ordered. Should I treat in tank or take rock out quickly?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Boiling water in a 10ml dosing syringe works wonders. Microwave a few cups of RO water and fill 2-3ml in the dosing syringe. Shut your pumps off and place the tip as close to the base of the aptasia as you can and slowly blast it with the hot water. Wait about 15-20 seconds and draw water back into the syringe. 9-10 times the little bugger will release and get sucked up. Then you can dispose of it in a second container.

Other methods include peppermint shrimp, super glue, and/or reef safe epoxy to entomb the pests.

 

[jd371]

I haven't heard of peroxide being used for aptasia. If you want to give it a shot I would remove the rock if you can and place it in a container with tank water and some peroxide and let it sit for a few minutes, that's what I've done before with some frags that had algae on them.
For killing aptasia I've heard of injecting them with boiling water, lemon juice or vinegar or one of the store bought ones like Aptasia-X. The problem with those is they can make it worse like in my case. I used Aptasia-X and although it worked for some ( big ones out in the open ), the ones in the holes and crevices it just made them retract and come back in numbers. When I first started noticing Aptasia in my tank I tried Peppermint but they didn't last long with my Wrasse. I bought a Copper Band Butterfly last year and it looked like he was eating them for a while but stopped. Throughout all this I was using Aptasia-X and that has caused the infestation I have now. My last resort is Berghia Nudibranch and put some in my tank 2 weeks ago. They are expensive and I was worried about my Wrasse making an expensive snack out of them, but the Wrasse is buried in the sand before the lights go out and the Berghia do their thing at night so the chances of them running into each other is very slim. It will take a couple of months to see if they worked.

 

[revhtree]

I was starting to get overrun in my frag tank and so I added some berghia nudibranchs in there a few weeks ago. It took a while for them to start making work of the aiptasia but today they are almost down to zero! I'll start looking for them and catching them now to trade off or lend out to other locals so they don't die.

 

[Salty Carlo]

Thank you, just ordered. Should I treat in tank or take rock out quickly?

I have treated in tank. 1ml for every 10 gal

 

[mmw64]

I haven't heard of peroxide being used for aptasia. If you want to give it a shot I would remove the rock if you can and place it in a container with tank water and some peroxide and let it sit for a few minutes, that's what I've done before with some frags that had algae on them.
For killing aptasia I've heard of injecting them with boiling water, lemon juice or vinegar or one of the store bought ones like Aptasia-X. The problem with those is they can make it worse like in my case. I used Aptasia-X and although it worked for some ( big ones out in the open ), the ones in the holes and crevices it just made them retract and come back in numbers. When I first started noticing Aptasia in my tank I tried Peppermint but they didn't last long with my Wrasse. I bought a Copper Band Butterfly last year and it looked like he was eating them for a while but stopped. Throughout all this I was using Aptasia-X and that has caused the infestation I have now. My last resort is Berghia Nudibranch and put some in my tank 2 weeks ago. They are expensive and I was worried about my Wrasse making an expensive snack out of them, but the Wrasse is buried in the sand before the lights go out and the Berghia do their thing at night so the chances of them running into each other is very slim. It will take a couple of months to see if they worked.

I may have to resort to that. My tank is infested and like you Aiptasia X only seems to make them spread. I have an aiptasia eating file fish but he is small and I haven't noticed him eating them. No chance a peppermint shrimp won't be dinner for one of my wrasses. I'm getting desperate.

 

[Razz]

I had good luck with both Aptasia X and peppermint shrimp...

 

[VtecGuy88]

I saw Inappropriate Reefer on youtube blast an Aptasia with a lazer last week. It was Awesome and looked like alot of fun. It killed a small Aptasia fairly quickly (just a few seconds) Sadly it didn't work as well on the bigger Aptasia next to it, but he still had fun. Good luck. If I come across anything useful I'll be sure to shoot it your way.

 

[csb123]

I had the same problem, except all of my rock was covered by those demons. My tank is big, 350 gallons.
What I did was make a slurry of kalk (about a quarter cup each time.) The slurry needs to thick, like latex wall paint. I would remove the rocks, coral and all, paint the rock everywhere except what I didn’t want to live, and put it back in the tank.

The pH would jump up to 8.5 for a few hours and dHK would bump by 0.4. The kalk paste would form a bit of a crust which would disintegrate in a couple of days. All treated rock was aiptasia free. The fish, SPS, LPS, and all inverts, were not affected in any way. Over a few weeks, I treated each rock (all quite large) and now aiptasia free! Now I have a Copperband butterfly to prevent any outbreaks or introductions.

I did have a bump in nitrates for which I treated with Carbon dosing for a few weeks.

 

[csb123]

I have a laser as well, but while it was fun to fry a few, many aiptasia are in the nooks and crannies that don’t have line-of-sight.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I just got rid of a few with the aiptasia x. t

 

[Aqua 59]

I have a large rock completely covered with aiptasia, except for a medium mushroom coral. If it wasn't for the coral I would take rock out of tank an treat with peroxide. Anyone have any ideas how to treat the rock and save the coral?

A good way to get rid of aiptasia naturally without harming other inhabitants (corals,fish,inverts, etc.) is to add a few peppermint shrimp or berghia sea slugs to your tank. Both are reef-safe and fairly straightforward to care for. Berghia sea slugs are quite small, and can crawl into tiny crevices to eat aiptasias.

Good luck!