HYPERSALINITY and BLEACH TREATMENT TO ERADICATE Aiptasia - Reef Tank Reset

[Alchemy]

How Long did you wait after to
Decide if they were completely eliminated?

ive seen them Come Back up to 2 weeks after bleach

Well I didn't want to hear that --- I bleached the rock for 3 days and did a tap water rinse but the rock has been out of the tank since then ... now I'm wondering ... It was a very heavy dose of bleach maybe a 1/4 gal to 4 gal of water ...

 

[Mellotang]

Berghia work very efficiently if there are no predators

its cool seeing them do their job, they also
Reproduce like crazy

they will eliminate your problem
I’ve seen Bergia get into Filters too when they exhaust all food in display tank

I would think 30 Bergia could clean up 100# of rock with no predators in tank in about 4-6 months

peppermint shrimp eat Berghia
Long nose hawks will eat Berghia
Wrasse love eating Berghia

not sure about cleaner shrimp or coral banded but I’d imagine they will also eat them

 

[Mellotang]

I did not Let rock Sit in bleach for multiple days

i just bleached it in straight bleach, scraped off and dug out as many aiptasia as I could, dechloronated it and replaced

rock was bone white but in a week or 2 I saw aiptasia come back

 

[Alchemy]

For sure I can appreciate that, just worried that you might be opening yourself up to huge issues with what’s going to leach out of the rock when you add it again, unless you plan on doing a muriatic acid bath on it too I wouldn’t recommend it..I’d get new rock and throw that rock outside and leave it for a year or 2 and do a bleach cure on it if you want to use it again in the future

Well I hadn't considered the muriatic acid bath but I guess I could... I figured the heavy bleach solution would be fine with several rinses should do the trick .... I could buy new rock but would still need to do a cycle ... I was hoping my marine pure block would help move the cycle along. I guess it is 50/50 old rock vs new rock. But I still need to clean the tank/sump/pipes and that is where I hope the High Salinity does the trick ... bleach in the house will not work due to health issues.

 

[Alchemy]

Berghia work very efficiently if there are no predators

its cool seeing them do their job, they also
Reproduce like crazy

they will eliminate your problem
I’ve seen Bergia get into Filters too when they exhaust all food in display tank

I would think 30 Bergia could clean up 100# of rock with no predators in tank in about 4-6 months

peppermint shrimp eat Berghia
Long nose hawks will eat Berghia
Wrasse love eating Berghia

not sure about cleaner shrimp or coral banded but I’d imagine they will also eat them

Agree that moving the wrasse to QT then a good number of berghia would work but I would expect that the aip's will return. I did try a round of berghia but they never got established -- meet my wrasse

 

[Alchemy]

I did not Let rock Sit in bleach for multiple days

i just bleached it in straight bleach, scraped off and dug out as many aiptasia as I could, dechloronated it and replaced

rock was bone white but in a week or 2 I saw aiptasia come back

Well I don't know if a quick soak will or will not do but did you put the rock back in display where other aip's were ... could it have been re-infested ... I don't know

 

[Hot2na]

what about hypo or freshwater bath for a few days?

 

[Mellotang]

No these were tiny little bleached tentacles that came creeping out from deep in the rock

a multi day bleach might be different

good luck

but I’d try to remove wrasse and get Berghia

they are the only thing I’ve seen remove all aiptasia

 

[Alchemy]

what about hypo or freshwater bath for a few days?

I tried a freshwater bath on a blasto merlette frag for about an hour but no luck they came back . the frag survived (wow) ... I then tried h2o2 that killed the frag

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes that was a consideration .. cool fish but all I've read say when the fish is gone the aip's return .... they may return after the re-set and then and then .. well and then

My big tank had many. It ate them and remains in tnk. Ive never seen another one in well over a year.

 

[Alchemy]

My big tank had many. It ate them and remains in tnk. Ive never seen another one in well over a year.

My tank has hundreds of aip's .. I'm starting to worry about my fish being stung ... and would like a fast resolution .... with my luck I would get the right fish ... My frags and rock have aip's atthe base and I am constantly zapping with f-aiptasia or aiptasia-x ... I am not opposed to the Klein but I've read when the fish is gone the aip's return in force. I'm not in a big rush to implement the reset and I my see if I can get a quarantined one from Marine Collectors... I could remove the wrasse and add berghia but that solution will take months.

 

[Screwgunner]

My 125 was covered in them got 3 file fish first 3 days nothing 4th day I could not find one of thoughs buggers anywhere. They like to sleep at the top of the water by the overflows about a week went buy and they got in my overflows and eat all aptasia in the overflows . They ended up in my sump .never seen a aptasia again.

 

[Screwgunner]

My 125 was covered in them got 3 file fish first 3 days nothing 4th day I could not find one of thoughs buggers anywhere. They like to sleep at the top of the water by the overflows about a week went buy and they got in my overflows and eat all aptasia in the overflows . They ended up in my sump .never seen a aptasia again.

Please don't bleach your rock . But it will kill everything . It just takes so long to get it all out.

 

[Alchemy]

Please don't bleach your rock . But it will kill everything . It just takes so long to get it all out.

Thanks for input ... before I go the nuke option I will try Copper Band and File Fish ... have them on order -- I will give that a chance first.

 

[Screwgunner]

Didn't have any luck with cooper but they are a nice fish.