Aiptasia Overload!

[jawfish101]

My 72 gallon bow is being taken over by Aiptasia! When I first started my tank, a bunch came in on my rock, and while I got some, I missed others. Well, my tank is 8months old and they have been multiplying since the begining. There is only a 1 in 8 chance that you kill them with Joes Juice, and if you don't get them they go asexual and multiply faster. I tried anyway, and needless to say it didn't work. I put 10 Berghia nudis in the tank about 2 weeks ago, but they aren't fixing the problem as of yet. Do I just need to be more patient. I've got aptasia stinging and killing my coral. I've had to move several things so they don't die, and it's absolutely ALL over the place. I've seen fleeting glimpses of the Berghia, so I know they're alive, but i've not seen the "100% fix" that's suppossed to come with them.
What to do? :help:
Thanks

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by Jawfish101
My 72 gallon bow is being taken over by Aiptasia! When I first started my tank, a bunch came in on my rock, and while I got some, I missed others. Well, my tank is 8months old and they have been multiplying since the begining. There is only a 1 in 8 chance that you kill them with Joes Juice, and if you don't get them they go asexual and multiply faster. I tried anyway, and needless to say it didn't work. I put 10 Berghia nudis in the tank about 2 weeks ago, but they aren't fixing the problem as of yet. Do I just need to be more patient. I've got aptasia stinging and killing my coral. I've had to move several things so they don't die, and it's absolutely ALL over the place. I've seen fleeting glimpses of the Berghia, so I know they're alive, but i've not seen the "100% fix" that's suppossed to come with them.
What to do? :help:
Thanks
buy ten peppermint shrimp if they will be safe in your tank

 

[murph145]

im havin an issue with aptasias too i tried peppermints but my lion ate them and i tried bergiahs but either the aptasias are grwoin too fast or my yellow coris wrasse has picked them off....
im deciding if i should get all new LR i have about 225lbs currently that has tons of living stuff in it and all over it so it would be such a waste to get rid of such prime rock... but these aptasias are a pain in the butt
if u figure out some fool proof way let me know i even got a copperbanded butterfly but my pink tail trigger has been pickin on him and bitin at him so i dont think he will last long either....
good luck!

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by murph145
im havin an issue with aptasias too i tried peppermints but my lion ate them and i tried bergiahs but either the aptasias are grwoin too fast or my yellow coris wrasse has picked them off....
im deciding if i should get all new LR i have about 225lbs currently that has tons of living stuff in it and all over it so it would be such a waste to get rid of such prime rock... but these aptasias are a pain in the butt
if u figure out some fool proof way let me know i even got a copperbanded butterfly but my pink tail trigger has been pickin on him and bitin at him so i dont think he will last long either....
good luck!
hey murph coperband do an awsom job ,if u know someone that could take the pinktail for a while i would go that ruote

 

[murph145]

yeah i might have to do that i threw the PTT in the sump for a few days but hes already beat the copperband up pretty good im hopin he recovers and starts to feed

 

[aztec reef]

pasty kalkwasser injection has always worked for me, and they never comeback.....

 

[murph145]

ive tried that and they come back usually more the next round.... and its often hard to get hidden aptasias in the rocks

 

[oak]

If someone had Aiptasia and got a Copper Banded Butterfly fish they only had good results but I have never had one.

 

[aztec reef]

it helps if you inject them in the middle of disk .(each individual) it might be hard to do this with smaller ones, for those i suggest a crew of peppermints.(for aipsia smaller than a 1/4").
as for the bigger one's, kalk injection has never failed, it works instantly...

 

[weatherman]

Great idea ... this injecting method. TOO bad some of us have a 'tall' tank, around 34" in which WE CAN NOT GET TO THE STUFF! I'm at a loss....
1. Beautiful corals MAY disappear if I get a Copperband Butterfly....
2. Aiptasia is TOO TALL for Peppermint Shrimp to 'eat up'....some are at 1" or taller. (Will Peppermint Shrimp eat these 'larger' Aiptasias?)
3. Tank is too tall for me to inject and see what the heck I'm doing....not unless I put my face a foot in the water....in that case, the fish I have would die of shock...

Kind of at a loss on my end UNLESS I start taking rock out of the tank....and would sure hate to do that.....

 

[aztec reef]

Great idea ... this injecting method. TOO bad some of us have a 'tall' tank, around 34" in which WE CAN NOT GET TO THE STUFF! I'm at a loss....
there's also long syringes or turky baster...

 

[weatherman]

Where can you get one of these 'long' syringes? PLUS, a baster does NOT have a needle to 'inject' these guys.....at lease mine doesn't... Needle on this syringe is going to have to be a whopper OR some kind of device to use at the end 'of a long rod' perhaps....

 

[aztec reef]

do you own a lagoon.?.

 

[aztec reef]

you don't use the needle, you use the syringe..

 

[weatherman]

Funny you should say that. I ACTUALLY do own a small lagoon outside of town..

From other threads I have read, you are suppose to INJECT these things WITH A NEEDLE...making sure that you don't 'poke' through them. According to you, all you have to do is find a device and squirt it at them....
Confused on which way is correct now.....

 

[salt_water]

Well, I used to think that a little shrimp couldn't eat a 1'' aptasia. Just get a really large pepermint shrimp. They approach the aptasia and snip at it causing it to shrink in size considerably,releasing all their water from their bodies, as anemone's will do when pestered. Once they are much smaller they will tear into these suckers with pleasure. I think you should try a large peppermint shrimp. Don't throw more then a few in, IMO 10 would be overkill.

 

[oak]

I just found a sea slug thats only eats Aiptasia it it is called the Berghia Nudibranch. You may have to ask your LFS to special order it for you.

 

[saltn00b]

well i dont have an aiptasia 'problem', i have one. and it lives under and in between two fat heads of green trumpet coral on the coral's skeleton. this is why i have not tried to inject with boiling water on this little bastid, for fear of killing the adjacent trumpets. its tentacles just barely breach the corals and get light. i have thought about going after it with a tweezer, as it is only one and has not been spreading, but again i dont want to damage or move the trumpet.

anyway, by the middle of the week i will have a peppermint shrimp in the tank, and a copperband butterfly in my QT. i got them because i like the animals, but hopefully the fix this little problem too.

 

[jawfish101]

I have three peppermint shrimps, no improvment. I could try to get more, but if they're not going to fix the problem I would rather not.
As for injecting...what about the ones you can NOT get to? The giant ones, or little ones, that are helping them spread so efficiently? I've had the same problems with kalk that murph had.
I've had 10 Berghia Nudis in the tank for about two weeks, no seen improvement as of yet (or course, I have enough that they could be eating the ones in the back and me not noticing)
Thanks

 

[superh]

I went the Copperband Butterfly route and he ate all of my aiptasia in about 2 days. He's in there with a dwarf lion and dwarf flame angel and doing fine. I was going to return him after getting rid of the aiptasia but now I'm starting to like him. Very pretty fish and active too.