Aiptasia and Vinegar

[flameangel]

Has anyone here injected aiptasia <img src="graemlins//yell.gif" border="0" alt="[yell]" /> with vinegar? If so, how did it turn out?

 

[bammbamm74]

can't you just pull the suckers off of the rock? I know they make a Aiptasia stop chemical for about $12 that comes with a needle.

 

[dragonuwrasse]

It is very difficult to pull them off the rock, you have to be careful not to tear them or they will regenerate. Most of the time when you go to try to get them they suck back into a whole very quickly. The aptasia away doesn't work very well IMO. I used it on some live rock from Belize, i did three treatments and they are still there. It looks like they melt but five or so days later they are back! Inject with Kalk or use a marine safe epoxy and trap them in their hole.

 

[flameangel]

okay.....now the search is on to find a syringe. No way am I pulling those suckers off. They'll get lethal injection and they'll like it! <img src="graemlins//dead.gif" border="0" alt="[dead]" /> <img src="graemlins//angel.gif" border="0" alt="[angel]" />

 

[bammbamm74]

You can get syringes at feed stores/pet shops that carry over the counter, DIY booster shots for animals. I'll try injecting them with some marine safe silicone!!!

 

[fishman1]

You can not use metal needle. They feel it and withdraw you need a plastick needle. Or you can buy a copper banded butterfly . Used one my self took care of the problem and no he did not eat any of my corals.And no more aiptasia and their are shrimp that will help too.

 

[flameangel]

Will peppermint shrimp do the trick? Will they go after even the really big aiptasia? The biggest one I have right now is about 1 1/2 inches tall.

 

[wamp]

I added 15 peppermint shrimp and now all my apstasia are gone except for one really big one.. My tank is a 180 so I guess you would get the approite amount for your tank. I would not try the injecting stuff.. Usually it make them spread more.

 

[wamp]

PS.. the peppermint shrimp were bought from this site and I was very pleased.. I could not afford the shrimp or from the LFS or even the ones in greensboro.

 

[crazyelvis]

I posted last week regarding this... Don't rip it off of the rock you will end up with hundreds of them... Pep. shrimp will eat small ones , mine never touched the large ones...
With advice from the board here, I shot my large one with 3cc of Turbo Calcium (kent)... I used a regular metal needle, mixed up the cal. with tank water ... He went into his LR hole right away, and hasn't been seen since... I think this method is the only way to go !

 

[ryano]

I have been working on this aptasia problem for a while now. Pepermint shrimp has not touched any of the ones big enough to see. Maybe they are working on babies that I can't see. I can't tell. My Copperband Butterfly is picking the rock but has yet, (3 weeks), to effect the ones I can see. All of the inject methods for me have failed. I can't seem to get the stuff poked into them. They shrink away. I've been trying one of those plastic ones that comes with the "Stop Aptasia".

 

[flameangel]

I think I may try the peppermint shrimp first. I wish I had a copperband butterfly! A friend has one and it eats the aiptasia up like you've never seen! I was over one night, and he put a piece of small live rock from another tank into his main tank to show us how it did. He went straight for them and had a great meal! You could hear them "popping" of the rock when he snuck up on them and got them in his mouth! Oh well, I'm dealing with the tail end of an ich outbreak, so I'm not adding any fish for a while. I'll try the shrimp for sure. I may try injection to see how it works. Thanks everyone for all your help!