Aipstasia DEATH!

[breineach1]

So we have 2 aipstasia in the tank, they've been there for about 5 months. They were never a problem & were pretty cool looking, but we decided that if they ever began to multiply- lights out aipstasia! Yesterday, one of them decided to move. Unfortunately for it, the moving stopped ON TOP of my GSP!

Uh unh, says I... I tried making the GSP mat uncomfortable for the aipstasia by turning a powerhead full force on it, but this evening it was still there. Sorry, guy, but if you're not going to move (and I'm not going to move you & risk all kinds of offspring springing up), you've gotta go. So, I've just squirted it with boiling water & it's all closed up w/just a little mucous coming out of it's poor little puckered-up mouth.

So my question is - now what?!? Will it just come loose from the mat, will I be able to tell when it's truly dead? Is my tank at risk with it dying in there?

 

[zanoshanox]

How big is the tank? One aptasia will hardly effect water chemistry. Make up some kalwasser, mix it up real quick and spray some in the mouth of the anemone. it'll be gone in the morning.

 

[breineach1]

Originally Posted by zanoshanox
How big is the tank? One aptasia will hardly effect water chemistry. Make up some kalwasser, mix it up real quick and spray some in the mouth of the anemone. it'll be gone in the morning.
It's a 15gal, so I don't have much room for error. If the Dude's still alive in the morning I'll do the kalkwasser bet, but right now it's mouth is all crunkled up. It does NOT look happy! BTW, do you know what it looks like dead? Will I wake up in the morning to find it floating- or will it turn into a zombie, crawl out of the tank, and devour the cat?

 

[reefkprz]

if its dead it'll dissolve.

 

[breineach1]

Sooo, now it looks just miserable, maybe dying maybe not... we'll see tomorrow!

 

[new2salt1]

I had one aipstasia last week. Now I have like 6!!!!!!!!!! Joe's Juice works huh? Well, I guess it COULD work if the little anenomes didn't have moves like Barry Sanders!! Every time they see my hand enter the tank they are outty!!!!
What do I do to get these guys?

 

[wfd1008]

Originally Posted by New2Salt1
I had one aipstasia last week. Now I have like 6!!!!!!!!!! Joe's Juice works huh? Well, I guess it COULD work if the little anenomes didn't have moves like Barry Sanders!! Every time they see my hand enter the tank they are outty!!!!
What do I do to get these guys?
buy a peppermint shrimp. but watch out, it could back-fire. i don't have a problem with mine, but some have.

 

[emm0909]

Many mistake camel back shrimp for pepermint shrinp. Don't make that mistake.
By looking at your picture I'd say that aptasia will be standing tall tomorrow.

 

[chaoscat]

Aiptasia just plain suck! No doubt about it. The only ways I have tried/heard about how to address them are:
1. Hand Kill. (kalkwasser, Joes juice, boiling water)
This is always stopgap, as Aiptasia will almost certainly
pop up again elsewhere
2. Peppermint shrimp, specifically Lysmata wurdemanni. It's very hard to tell this species from other species of P. shrimp that DONT eat aiptasia. At one of the very best reef stores in NJ, I asked the store help if the shrimp they were selling was Wurdemanni. The answer I got was, "We think so, but can't really tell." P. Shrimp can be a 2 edged sword, as they may start eating things you don't want to be et'
3. Berghia verrucicornis. This is a little nudibranch that eat's nothing but aiptasia. Once all that's gone, it starves to death. I paid $30 for one of these once. It disappeared into the rocks of my 40 gallon reef tank never to be seen again. (but the aiptasia, that came in for free, fluorished on.)
4. Copper banded butterfly fish. Supposedly these will eat aiptasia and not hurt anything else in your tank. I haven't tried one, I'm still back to handkill since the friggin Berghia disappered. This wouldn't work for you anyway, as your tank is too small.
I have since read that the best way to get rid of Aip. is to set up a small quarantine tank with Berghia in it. Put the infested rock into the tank and let them eat it clean. This way the Berghia is safe from predators that might eat it. Supposedly they will breed and you could then sell the little buggers to other poor infested souls.(the Berghia, not the aiptasia) This doesn't seem very practical to me, as I don't want to rip apart my darn tank rock by rock.
To make a long story short, there ain't no magic bullet for Aiptasia, much as we might all wish there was.

 

[new2salt1]

Yo Chaos -
I only have about 6-7 aips in my tank, but I only noticed 1 of them 3 days ago, so I think they like my water conditions!
As far as the Berghia goes, I just read about them for like 2 hours, and this is what I've com up with:
1. They are nocturnal eaters. So if you have aips, you should not be seeing the Bergs unless you shine a flashlight at night. Therefore, seeing the Bergs "disappear" may be a good thing. It means they are doing their job.
2. On the other hand, if you STILL have aips and you ARE seeing the Berg, that means he is unable - for whatever reason - to find food. His color will turn off-white if he hasn't eaten in 48 hours, so if you are seeing him, he may be about to die.
The articles I read say you have to acclimate them slowly (drip for 2 hours), and drop them near the aips but not ON the aips. The aips could eat them!!
Anyway, I am going to probably pull the one piece of rock out of my tank and get a new, cured piece of LR to replace it. That way, the Aips will (hopefully) be stopped from spreading (they are only on one rock).
I figured I would boil the LR, kill off everything in it, and make it a household decoration!!!