i have aipstasia

[gothicrose5]

i have aipstasia im about ready to just junk the tank and start over from sand to rocks and water....i have rocks in another tank that i didnt use in the main tank and they seem fine....i have damsels and a filefish and some nazereth snails and hermit crabs in my tank now the filefish is a 3 day old addition pepperminst shrimp comming in a few days and im thinking about getting them sea slugs as well if i can find them...if is just start over what do i do with the rocks from the current tank to get rid of the stuff or is this rock garbage or can i boil it and then use it in freshwater..... i have done aipstasia x as well and i have tiny ones on my glass and intake pipe.........all fish i have now will be able to be housed in my 29 gallon tank long enough for me to get water and new sand while i bleach the heck out of the current 55 gallon tank....my question is what do i do i didnt pay for the rocks so im not out anything there just the water and sand id be out of pocket with.....should i start over i have 40 pounds of sand that arrived he other day this was to go with my 55 gallon tanks sand but with aipstasia i dont plan on mixing the 2 ....i deiscovered this while in process of switching tanks but left the 55 alone once i saw it so i have a 75 gallon tank waiting for saltwater and nothing to put in it cause of this aipstasia mess.......please help and sorry if i rambled

 

[lmforbis]

You certainly can re use the rocks. I wouldn't boil them. You can bleach them or use muriatic acid. You will need to soak them for a while after chemically cleaning them to get all the chemicals out.
With bleach I'd let them sit outside for a few days. Bleach will evaporate pretty fast then soak for a few days changing the water every day (just normal water is fine)
Muriatic acid i'd soak longer and dry it after the soak. The acid will dissolve the rock so not a super long soak and begin rinsing right away. In both cases do it out side. The tank will need to be cycled again but you can start the process with one of the rocks from your other tank and maybe a couple new dry rocks. Add the cleaned rocks after a couple weeks.

 

[gothicrose5]

Can I save the sand by running that through bleach water then vinegar then regular water and then add that sand to new 40 pounds of sand....I can't save the water correct which is fine I just need 8 more boxes to add to my 6 I got comming

 

[gothicrose5]

If I can get peppermint shrimp do I still do my weekly water changes

 

[silverado61]

Can I save the sand by running that through bleach water then vinegar then regular water and then add that sand to new 40 pounds of sand....I can't save the water correct which is fine I just need 8 more boxes to add to my 6 I got comming

First a question: Do Aiptasia use algae to produce food?
If so, what I would try is get all your critters out of the tank and into QT. So there's just rock and sand. Nothing else. Then turn off all lights and filtration except for a simple HOB filter. Cover the tank so that there's zero light. I mean ZERO for at least 6wks. Killing off the zooenthale in the Aiptasia (sorry. Bad spelling) and starving those little basterds to death.
Just a thought.

 

[gothicrose5]

I was just about to move my fish from that tank and it them into a 29 gallon that I just started with new sand and my good live rock....the water is boxed and ready made...the sand is live and instant cycling....it's a 3 month tank there is no algea in there and I plan on tossing the media through a vinegar bath and reuse that media in the 29 gallon tank I actually have a filter already cleaned that way and maybe toss the other media out...so I think that's what I'll do move them to the 29 gallon setup and then put the hob on there and cover

First a question: Do Aiptasia use algae to produce food?
If so, what I would try is get all your critters out of the tank and into QT. So there's just rock and sand. Nothing else. Then turn off all lights and filtration except for a simple HOB filter. Cover the tank so that there's zero light. I mean ZERO for at least 6wks. Killing off the zooenthale in the Aiptasia (sorry. Bad spelling) and starving those little basterds to death.
Just a thought.

 

[gothicrose5]

Heaters yes or no

First a question: Do Aiptasia use algae to produce food?
If so, what I would try is get all your critters out of the tank and into QT. So there's just rock and sand. Nothing else. Then turn off all lights and filtration except for a simple HOB filter. Cover the tank so that there's zero light. I mean ZERO for at least 6wks. Killing off the zooenthale in the Aiptasia (sorry. Bad spelling) and starving those little basterds to death.
Just a thought.

 

[silverado61]

I did a little research and, yes, Aiptasia do contain Dinoflagellates and use it to produce sugar for food. So, yes, I would cover the tank. That would deprive the dinoflagellate of light which would kill it and deprive the Aitasia of food and thus, starve and kill the Aiptasia. Do NOT put the media through a vinegar bath. That would only create more work and would be pointless.

So, remove all your critters and cover the tank for zero light with a simple HOB filter for at least six weeks and kill those little bastards. Your tank will got through a spike from the dying Aiptasia so when you reach zero ammonia you should be good to go.

No heaters would be needed in this case.

If anybody disagrees, please, speak up.

Again, just a thought.

 

[silverado61]

Why do you use boxed water when you could just make your own saltwater for a lot less money and always have it on hand for water changes.

 

[gothicrose5]

We use boxed water for the convenience and I have some coupons for it which I'm almost out of.when I am out I will get the premixed saltwater from the store that's 99 cents a gallon versus 9 bucks a box .....I also don't have the room for a mixing station and my basement is creepy......but thank you very much for all your help and time...I will post of photo after I get them switched off the new tank and old one.....

 

[gothicrose5]

Well I figured out my aipstasia come out at night or when the light is off will the completely covered tank for 6 weeks with a hob work

 

[gothicrose5]

Last question I swear can I remove just the rock put them in a barrel with my sump and cover for 6weeks with some of the tank water or do I add fresh saltwater to the barrel and let it go....and finally what about the sand in the tank toss or rinse to get rid of leftover aipstasia....just want all my questions answered before I drop this tank and start the new one

 

[silverado61]

Leave the rock and the sand in the tank. Cover it completely with just an HOB. No light, no heat for six weeks.
No lights=no Dinoflagellates=no Aiptasia.

Again, anybody disagree please speak up. Imforbis? Geridoc? 2Quills?

 

[lagatbezan]

Like Imforbis mentioned you can use bleach or muriatic acid but make sure if you use bleach to make sure the rocks are fully dry before you use muriatic acid or vice versa. *****Mixing the two will cause a hazardous and dangerous fumes which could be deadly******
Once bleach is fully dried it's harmless and you can safely use the rocks in your tank again. Just rinse them with ro water fist.
If you gonna go the muriatic route (lots of videos on it on line) just remember to always add acid to the water and not water to acid. The acid can be safely neutralized by baking soda. You need to wear heavy duty gloves and eye protection.
I personally prefer to use just the muriatic acid myself because it will totally dissolve all the organic matter in and on the rock.
Any questions just ask

 

[2quills]

Leave the rock and the sand in the tank. Cover it completely with just an HOB. No light, no heat for six weeks.
No lights=no Dinoflagellates=no Aiptasia.

Again, anybody disagree please speak up. Imforbis? Geridoc? 2Quils?

Hard to say if that's long enough to work. Those suckers can be pretty resilient. Im sure youd bleach the color out of them but I don't know if it would kill them completely.

Personally, I'd give the peppermint shrimp a chance. They might surprise ya.

 

[lagatbezan]

I have heard that even if you take away light, they can just feed off the water column and survive. I would also go the peppermint shrimp route first before tearing down the whole tank. get a couple of them just in case one is on on a no aipstasia diet.

 

[geridoc]

You don't have to sanitize the tank and rockwork to eliminate/control aptasia. True peppermint shrimp will eat the small polyps, but not the larger ones. There are fish that will eat the larger polyps, but it may be easier to inject them with Joe'sJouce or kalkwasser using a small syringe (Joe's Juice comes with one, I think). You may never completely get rid of them, but you can control them once you eliminate the large polyps and let the shrimp keep the number of small ones down. Eventually the aptasia do disappear, so don't lose hope.

 

[2quills]

In my old tank I had purchased 1 peppermint shrimp and within 6-8 weeks it eradicated all traces of aiptasia. There were easily 30-40 of them all over the rocks. Then I relocated and the shrimp died, the aiptasia came back in full force. At that point we were purchasing a new home so I decided to acid bath the rocks and start clean.

Scarlet hermit crabs believe it or not took care of a smaller outbreak I had about a year ago.

The size of the shrimp, scarlet hermit etc., will determine how large of a aiptasia they will eat.

 

[gothicrose5]

im glad i did the bleach method soak and then the acid approach my store never called to tell me they peppermint shrimp were in if you are not to advances with your rocks and get these critters i do suggest doing this here is the method i used http://nicsreef.com/cleaning-live-rock-cooking-v-bleaching-v-acid-baths/ I do thank everyone for all the help you gave me when i asked........