Killing aiptasia

[Mark Bradley]

3 days ago I noticed a very small aiptasia - my first in 18 months which disappoints me. I went to my local fish shop to buy something to kill it and they advised me against buying chemicals (the guy said that whilst dying the aiptasia would spirt out whatever and spread). They advised me to buy some peppermint shrimp - which I did - but over the last three days they have bearly been seen and shown more interest in one of my rock anemones. I have ordered some ‘Joes Juice’ which will arrive within 48 hours. I thought I might apply it in a basic of salt water so that if it did ‘spirt’ it would be in a confirmed space - does that seem sensible? Alternatively, for the greater good I could just ditch the rock which, as you can see, is a zoa island - this would be a disaster but I don’t want aiptasia going made in my tank. Any thoughts?

 

[fachatga]

Glue him into his hole

 

[rezaktp]

True Peppermint Shrimp or Matted Filefish. most likely there are small aptasia in your tank, these will take car of those. Joes juice, lemon juice, crazy glue etc on the big ones.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Everyone has their own success methods to rid of them. For me its, kalkwasser powder mixed with tank water and lemon juice into a paste and injected into their center core.
There is glue
nudibranch
laser
zapping
and more

 

[ZoWhat]

Of course the LFS wants you to buy peppermint shrimp.... it costs them like $2 a shrimp wholesale.

Just pull the LR and squirt the Joe Juice on it and let it sit like that for 10mins OUT IF THE WATER.

Follow up with an old used toothbrush to scrub the hole. Any brown junk wipe off with sheets and sheets of paper towels.

Even if the LR is buried, do it and re-aquascape.

 

[Mark Bradley]

Decided I couldn’t wait for Joes Juice to arrive in case it spread so Bought some Aiptasia X, took the zoa island out the tank and into a see through container (with tank water in it). Zapped it with the liquid - left it standing for a couple of hours in the water (with a heater) - and it seems to have shrivelled up to nothing. I’ll watch with interest to see if it returns.
Interestingly I went to another LFS which told me they, too, use peppermint shrimp but empty the tank of fish and don’t put any food in so that the shrimp quickly makes a beeline for the aiptasia - otherwise they prefer to scavenge the fish food. Perhaps that’s why, on forums, the shrimp is a very ‘hit or miss’ option?
Not intending to buy any more corals anytime soon so hopefully it’s the end of the aiptasia problem!

 

[Uncle99]

Good call.
Well done.
Your right.

 

[rockdiver]

Well I just did lemon juice on 1 rock and vinegar on another rock.
So far it's been almost 24 hours and neither are back.... yet.
I used Aiptasia X also and seems to work but figured I would try lemon juice and vinegar to see since it's only a dollar

 

[beyondtheblue]

I used AiptasiaX on the one I saw and thought it was done. NO way...I ended up with more and more. I tried it again on those and it grew worse once again. I bought some Berghias last week and already 90% of visible ones are nowhere to be seen. I am convinced on using nudibranchs. good luck

 

[Mark Bradley]

Berghias, I assume, would be eaten by my hermits or boxing shrimps so not an option unless I’m wrong? I’ve had a good look and can only see one aiptasia - presumably from two frags I bought online a week ago bearing in mind I haven’t bought any corals for several months - so hopefully I’ve addressed the issue before it gathers momentum (fingers crossed)

 

[beyondtheblue]

Hermits are not supposed to mess with them. I assume mine didn't bother them at all. Some aiptasia eating fish or peppermint shrimp may eat them though.

 

[Mark Bradley]

Haven’t seen my peppermints since I put them in. My Fire Shrimp and Boxers have been out - fear the Peppermints have been used as a snack.
A question that has been troubling me - it seems aiptasia spawn when stressed. There’s lots of articles suggesting Aiptasia X and the like can cause more problems than they solve - however, surely if a filefish or a Peppermint slowly devour an aiptasia that’s going to cause it to spawn?
One week down from using the aiptasia x and no other aiptasias have shown up - fingers crossed it remains that way!

 

[Mark Bradley]

Found a new very small aiptasia on the same Zoa Island. If I can keep finding any which are small I hope the problem won’t grow - I will try Joe’s Juice on this one and see how it goes.
I know BRS say not to buy from places that have Aiptasia but both my LFS have had them periodically - I would have thought it’s almost impossible, based on the numbers they buy in, to avoid the problem altogether?

 

[Mark Bradley]

Any thoughts on why ‘having them eaten’ doesn’t pose as much of a threat, to spawning, as killing them with Joe’s Juice or Aiptasia X?

 

[rockdiver]

I think and idk but with putting the stuff on them they implode and with something eating them they don't. But that's just a guess.
I did buy a file fish and it eats the small one but also it's picking on my snails and I think my rbt since it looks afu now.
So idk what to do now

 

[Mark Bradley]

The problem with my zoa island is its on a rock with loads of holes and possible ‘tunnels’ running through it. I’m not sure what type of rock it is as it came with a Xenia on it some time ago (suspect it’s some sort of ‘live rock’). My main tank set up is Ecoreef sustainable rock. Reason for mentioning this is another aiptasia has shown up today on the zoa island - I wonder whether when they implode they spawn through ‘tunnels’ in the rock? To date the aiptasia is only showing up on this island - whilst it is covered in Zoas I’m sorely tempted, for the greater good, to take some frags and ditch it - any thoughts?

 

[homer1475]

@Franks tanks(no idea why that tag doesn't work properly?) "F" aiptasia is the only product I've ever used that actually destroys them. I have only ever had a couple, so a "product" over a natural predator was the way to go for me. A natural predator would have just eventually starved to death.

F-Aiptasia Killer ( Patented Formula )

PLEASE STIR THIS PRODUCT WITH THE STIRRING STICK THAT IS INLUDED AND THEN SHAKE THIS VIGOROUSLY UPON RECEIVING IT AND BEFORE USE. IT DOES HAVE A TENDENCY TO SEPARATE. WE ARE WORKING ON THAT! DO NOT HESITATE TO USE A SMALL AMOUNT OF RODI WATER IN THE EVENT THAT YOUR PRODUCT HARDENS. I GUARANTEE...

saltwateraquariumstore.franks-tanks.com

 

[Mark Bradley]

Decided to frag some of the Zoas and discard the rock

 

[HB AL]

Where there's one you can see there's most likely more you can't, atleast they don't spell disaster for your tank.

 

[Finn1018]

I actually had a field day yesterday injecting the boogers with lemon juice. They’re super slick and fast to retract when they’re small. The ones I did get were insta sucked and thrown. It was super satisfying to say the least!
If that was me with the disposed LR, I’d practice on that rock in a different container. Got to get that sharp shooter aiptasia status haha.