Aiptasia Question

fangelillo01

fangelillo01

Member
Everyonce in awhile i dillute kalkawasser mix with warm saltwater and gradually pour it into the tank for a topoff. I've noticed lately that the aiptasia i have aquired from my liverock purchases have gotten really big. So today i made my mix and poured it in and not all of the mix dilluted, well those damn things were grabbing ahold of whatever chunks they could and i watched them digest some of them. Now i have seen that the products out there to kill them are of a calcium nature. Is it a good guess that some of them might die or do i hafta break down and get the stuff and needle them to death. I hate them they actually gimme the creeps. Can they sting corals?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
you might get lucky if they ingest enough they might kill themselves. The paste I make is made of pickling lime which is basically the same thing as kalkwasser. Its very effective if you administer it in paste form (mixed with water)over the face of the beast, leave it sit for 45 mins and then suck out the lime paste and the aiptasia with a turkey baster. This will kill and remove even the biggest baddest aiptasia.
 
fangelillo01

fangelillo01

Member
they make me wanna pull them out with tweezers but i know thats bad. I really wanna get a peppermint shrimp and watch that badboy eat them up!!
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
By the time you get the tweezers there, they are gone
. Peppermint shrimp might eat some, but doubt it.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Seriously a lot of times when you get close to them they will retract. I've had decent success with using a syringe and injecting around their mouth area, but even then they can sense you coming at times.....
 
fangelillo01

fangelillo01

Member
Man your makin me nervous about screwing with them haha. But seriously i'm gonna go mission impossible on these things and take them out!!!!
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
It can be done just they don't react like a splinter or hangnail your trying to get....they have a "survival mode" as well. Jstdv8 gave another good possibility to tackle it.
 
fangelillo01

fangelillo01

Member
I know its deff a good idea i was just exploring new avenues. I'm coming from freshwater cichlids and oscars which i still have so i'm getting used to some crazy things a far as the whole salwater thing goes.
 
blenny

blenny

Member
Yes you can get rid of them. you just need to be agressive at it. I had a bunch in my 40 gal about a year ago and now there all gone. I used aiptasia x. And it worked for me very well They were bad and big. heres an old picture of them nasty things

now all gone. good luck and dont give up.
 
handbanana

handbanana

Member
I used pickling lime for the most part. It works well if done correctly. JSTDV8 knows whats up with the method.
I had a big ol bugger that came back. I got 5 peppermints from this site and actullay watched them eat it. I think they do it at night. mine did. It must havs sensed them cuz it went in a hole and 2 went after it. They pulled stringy stuff from the hole and would back off and eat it while another would go and get a piece. It was disgusting. The thing about peppermints is I think they work best in a team and with smaller aips. 1 in 4 peppermints eats aip and not if the tank is fed frequently.
Also when aip is startled or stressed it will expell spores or something to make it spread. I think tweezers in the tank would be ok if used in conjunction with a siphon near the offender. But if torn and any piece remains it will grow back.
That was my .02 hope it helps :)
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
one of the LFS's here has a tank full of peppermints and he tells people to bring in thier LR with aiptasia on it to feed his shrimp LOL. Its crazy watching them go after them.
There are a few shrimp that look like peps that arent the same though so you have to be carefull. If you go the way of the shrimp its best to keep them in the tank (as opposed to borrowing them from a freind for aip killing) since the spores will likley be released and future erradication will be kept up by the remaining shrimp
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
They release (so i've heard, don't have confirmation) anytime they get messed with and they feel thier life may be threatened. its thier way of ensuring that thier species survives (I'm thinking it's going to last through the apocolypse)
No the peps would not probably eat the spores, but they will take care of the problem when the aiptasia sprouts a new peice somehwere else. the pep will liklley eat it long before you even know its there.
that is as long as the shrimp doesnt decide he likes something you feed him much better than those silly anemones
 
handbanana

handbanana

Member
I found 5 1/4 inch in my barren empty(except crushed coral ) nano. they were tiny and have literally doubled in size in less than 2 days. I have no Idea where they came from, the tank was empty except for crushed coral and coral skeletons and water when I bought it. Left it like that and turned the lights on and they just appeared, like they were hideing in the substrait. I watch them wiggle around and they seem to be able to move. Should I dripp some of my peppermints in their and see if they eat them? IYO?
 
fangelillo01

fangelillo01

Member
Man the more i read everyones posts the more i hate these monsters. I;m gonna hafta do some special forces commando on these ugly things!!!
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
i agree with the aiptasia X. on everything but the price. you could make up 500 aiptasia X tubes with one canister of Mr's wages pickling lime from wal-mart for 4 bucks and aiptasia X is about 20 for a little tube.
Probably the best thing going as far as it not allowing spread and actually killing the beast. I still reccomend sucking out the leftovers.
Yes, there is no downside to the peppermints, only that they may or may not eat it. and you can't control future spread. If you're gonna use peppermints I believe it best to leave them in the tank permanently. The real downside is that msot of the time you never see them. They hide until its dark and come out after ligths out.
 
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