Aiptasia Anemones - "Its Dead Jim"

[mjmpinsky]

I thought I knew better than the "experts", but I didn't.
I got a "neat" anemone as a hitchhiker on a piece coral I purchased. It had nice tan and brown arms with white bands and speckles. It was constantly waving in the current. Very Attactive.
It grew fast and grabbed at every bit of food it could get its tenticles on. I checked its pictures against, the net and discovered what I had. (and all the nasty things people had to say about them). The articles are CORRECT>>>>>before I knew it (after having it in the tank for only 1 1/2 weeks) I found four tiny babies on the rock it was attached to.
My pepermint shrimp has reduce the babies now to just two.
It is INDEED a weed anemone. If unchecked it probably would have"infected" the entire tank.
I am now guilty of anemone-ocide (invertabrate-ocide??)
The use of a single injection to the base of the stalk, using an insulin syringe filled (0.5cc) with lemon juice concentrate quickly destroyed the animal. It shrunk to a glob of black tenticles in less than 1 minute and by the next day was virtually gone (Somebody probably made a meal of him). If the last two anemone babies survive to adulthood, they will suffer the same fate.
If you want to rid yourself of these "pests", the lemon juice injection technique appear to be quick and effective.

 

[sergeant]

Mj, thanks for the tip.
I have a couple of those hitchhikers on my tank.
When you say lemon juice. Did you just squeeze a lemon or this is a product sold in the market called that way?

 

[mjmpinsky]

1. Use standard, off the shelf, concentrated lemon juice extract. This is easily found in any grocery store.
I took the rock out of the tank to inject the critter, but the original article stated that this was not necessary. Since only a 0.5cc of fluid is needed, even if you missed your target, the buffering action of the tank would easily offset the tiny acid influx.
2. I'm assuming that the pepermint shrimp was active last night as the last two babies were not to be found at this am's feeding. HOPEFULLY, I am now aiptasia free. Time will tell.

 

[kistheeze]

I'm just curious how many people actually got the "It's Dead Jim" reference.
Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor not an anemone killer....

 

[mjmpinsky]

OOPPSSS,
I guess we are showing our age.
To the younger crowd..... we are talking original Star Trek here.
(Dr. Leonard McCoy to Capt James T. Kirk -- Here's to the original and still the best !!!{Not the guy now designated to selling margarine and hotel space})
While the show is long since dead, if you want your Aiptasais dead, use this injection technique!

 

[reefer44]

any side effects.....i would probaly use kalk paste instead of lemon juice....'cause of the acidity of lemon juice concentrate
Brad

 

[mjmpinsky]

This is a quote from the article by Debbie and Stan Hauter:
"·The small amount of lemon juice being used shouldn't affect the pH of your tank water, and if you have a fair amount of current in your tank the localized increased pH(actually should have said -"decreased" as acids have a lower pH)should disperse rapidly and have no affect on surrounding reef life. Ironically, when the lemon juice is injected into the anemone tube, the critter will close up and shrink, temporarily sealing the juice inside the tube. "
If you are worried, you could always do what I did, and simply take out the rock with the anemones on it and inject them in a bowl filled with tankwater, dump the water, and replace the rock.
Anyway, it worked for me and I wanted to let you all know. HTH TNX.