Aiptasia Journey

qstorm · Aug 20, 2019

Trying to eradicate Aiptasia is no fun. My tank is completely infested beyond words.
Just giving updates, discoveries, success and failure during this battle.

Failures-
peppermint shrimp ( there are to small they get murdered)
filefish (only ate one, and only cause it floated in its path)
Copper band -no bueno, but I will give you the update on my discovery
Berghia Nudi (bought 23 for my 220, never seen one, they were so tiny I don't think they survive my other fish)

Success
Franks Tank Aiptasia killer - 100% success...a bit pricey for my situation but works well. (4) 2 oz & (1) 1oz botte, I am only 3/4 ways there.
Yellowhead and Kleins Butterly are savages but only goes after the smaller ones.

Discovery/Experimentation.
I tried lemon juice again but this time I mixed it with white vinegar, injected them suckers and they melted. You could see them puke. my Aiptasia are so huge, you can see the fluid in their stomach.
Here is my discovery - after injecting them , here comes my wrasse, crosshatch, tangs and butterfly devouring them. I don't know what scent they are giving off, but everyone is picking at them.
Will tackle the other half of the tank this Sunday with more lemon and vinegar mix. I will post after pics later

Bryson.bobby · Aug 20, 2019

Wow! That’s a lot of aiptasia

Hope your experiment works

qstorm · Aug 20, 2019

Bryson.bobby said:
Wow! That’s a lot of aiptasia Hope your experiment works

Thanks
I only had two and didn't know what it was...then started making my own fish food and coral food and they started multiplying like crazy. Within 2 wks my tank was covered.

SeahorseKeeper · Aug 20, 2019

Thanks for sharing the journey. I find it interesting what worked and what did not work for you. Please keep us posted of the progress.

robocop1906 · Aug 21, 2019

I've heard of some mixing a paste out of Kalkwasser

JamesZ · Aug 21, 2019

I also had countless aipatatias in my 80g tank. Almost everywhere. I bought 3 peppermint shrimp. They almost don’t touch aiptatias during the first month or so. But later they started eating it day and night. Now there is only few aiptatias left. So, you need take time and need patience.

qstorm · Aug 21, 2019

Since Sunday until today, experiment seems to be working. My wife called today and said how the tank is looking much better, I see you got rid of most of them. Feeling excited to kill the rest this Sunday and start stocking corals again.

Fudsey · Aug 21, 2019

Curious to your mix, how much of each and any side effects?

qstorm · Aug 21, 2019

Fudsey said:
Curious to your mix, how much of each and any side effects?

I really didn't measure, but in the first batch I had more lemon juice than vinegar and the second batch a little more vinegar than lemon juice. After I was done I did a 20% WC. No side effects so far

jd371 · Aug 22, 2019

Were you injecting them with a hypodermic needle or just smothering them with the bigger type of needle like found with Frank's or Aptasia-X ?
The problem I run into is that some of the Aptasia I try to get to are on the side or underneath the rock and when I use Frank's most of it just falls to the sand. If I could inject them with a Hypodermic needle would be a lot easier but the Franks and Aptasia-X solution are too thick for that, the lemon/vinegar solution would work much better.

Fudsey · Aug 22, 2019

qstorm said:
I really didn't measure, but in the first batch I had more lemon juice than vinegar and the second batch a little more vinegar than lemon juice. After I was done I did a 20% WC. No side effects so far

Wait.... that's lime juice???

qstorm · Aug 23, 2019

jd371 said:
Were you injecting them with a hypodermic needle or just smothering them with the bigger type of needle like found with Frank's or Aptasia-X ?
The problem I run into is that some of the Aptasia I try to get to are on the side or underneath the rock and when I use Frank's most of it just falls to the sand. If I could inject them with a Hypodermic needle would be a lot easier but the Franks and Aptasia-X solution are too thick for that, the lemon/vinegar solution would work much better.

Yes I use a 18g hypodermic needle. I think the frank killer should be able to pass through a 16g

qstorm · Aug 23, 2019

Fudsey said:
Wait.... that's lime juice???

sorry, yes lime juice...lemon didn't work the first time

qstorm · Aug 27, 2019

I am happy to report 98.0% success and counting with my experimentation of eradicating these bloody things.

Sunday -So by fluke I was attempting to inject some Aiptasia in hard to reach location and they closed up. Long story short, came back 3hrs later and they were gone. Decided to squirt some juice over some baby ones and left them, came back they were gone...hmmm. I figured they went into hiding.

Yesterday -I noticed all those never came back. Noticed one on the back is gone. The ones that I couldn't get, nor did I squirt is gone.

The only thing I can think of is the ones I squirted, the butterfly fish ate them all. I see them constantly picking at the rocks... The ones that I didn't touch I am wondering if the peppermint or the Berghia are eating them.

I am a handful left and I am leaving them to see if they get eaten. The ones in the over flow I can't reach (don't know what to do with those).

Happy to say my tank is getting better and thank you all for the support and advice. Hope my experiment can help others. LIME JUICE + Vinegar mix
HERE'S MY TANK.

qstorm · Aug 27, 2019

qstorm said:
I am happy to report 98.0% success and counting with my experimentation of eradicating these bloody things.

Sunday -So by fluke I was attempting to inject some Aiptasia in hard to reach location and they closed up. Long story short, came back 3hrs later and they were gone. Decided to squirt some juice over some baby ones and left them, came back they were gone...hmmm. I figured they went into hiding.

Yesterday -I noticed all those never came back. Noticed one on the back is gone. The ones that I couldn't get, nor did I squirt is gone.

The only thing I can think of is the ones I squirted, the butterfly fish ate them all. I see them constantly picking at the rocks... The ones that I didn't touch I am wondering if the peppermint or the Berghia are eating them.

I am a handful left and I am leaving them to see if they get eaten. The ones in the over flow I can't reach (don't know what to do with those).

Happy to say my tank is getting better and thank you all for the support and advice. Hope my experiment can help others. LIME JUICE + Vinegar mix
HERE'S MY TANK.