Does aiptasia move

[teatime]

I think I have a aiptasia. I recently moved my galaxia up higher in my tank to get more light. I put it next to what I thought was a freebie coral. After 4 days the aiptasia moved about 2 inches over. Last night it moved another inch. I also noticed a baby one starting to grow right by the old location. Doing a search I am sure it is an aiptasia. I have a cleaner shrimp but he has never shown any intrest in it. I guess I must start that Kalk thing to get rid of them. I was just suprised that this thing keeps moving (at night) away from the galaxia. BTW I did a ten percent water change today and set my thermostat up to 82 degrees hoping to save my baby pulsing xinea.

 

[bdhough]

Yes it does move. I think it detaches and drifts. Its a form of anemone i think. I heard that once. And im sure you know it stings and will spread. Kill it now

 

[saltyrich]

They definately move.

 

[snakes'n'fish]

aiptasia , i call them the dandylion of saltwater I had them for a while they are a pain to get rid of. I found that peppermint shrimp seem to help get rid if them with out using chems. But it takes the shrimp a while to get them all. If you want a little more info about them check here :
http://www.aquarium.net/faqs/aiptasia.shtml
It gives a little info on them .

 

[jagermeister]

Aiptasia definitely move. They're a type of anemone. I had a huge one in my tank, tentacles all flowing freely everywhere in the current. Then I added 3 peppermint shrimp. The next morning the aiptasia was pretty shriveled. It moved all over my tank, I suspect to try to get away from the shrimp. But those little shrimps did their job and eventually killed the aiptasia

 

[megadon]

You could boil up some distilled water and take a syringe and blast it with the water, worked for me. Along with my peppermint shrimp I have them under control, a few pop up here and ther but never get big, I guess the shrimp take care of them.

 

[leboeuf]

check out the article that snakes n fish linked you too. it has all the answers and multiple solutions !

 

[teatime]

If it moves so freely can I just yank it out with my hands? With rubber gloves on or something? I did look at a lot of articles and theards. I wonder having a small (20 gal.) tank if my cleaner shrimp would tolerate a pepermint shrimp? And how do you make sure it is not a camel back shrimp which I read were bad? Thanks

 

[chinnyr]

I only have two that popped up on a piece of rock I bought.I have tried to just pull them off,but they close up pretty quick.Been unsuccesful with that method.I have also heard that they will asexually reproduce if you snap off a large enough piece and it floats freely in the tank.When I first set up my tank I had dozens of little ones and two peppermint shrimp ate them all overnight.

 

[jonthefb]

aiptasia anemones reproduce by many means, but the easiest for them is pedal laceration. this means that as they move from rock to rock, they leave tiny bits of their foot around, each of which grows into a new anemone. under the right conditions, they can reproduce very rapidly and can take over a tank. i would definately reccommend soem form of control right now.
I personally think that using peppermint shrimp is probably the best way to do it. i have a 20 gallon tank with 4 pep shrimp in it and hanvet seen any aiptasia in about 9 months (knock on wood) i would introduce a number of them, as thye should get along fine with your cleaner right now. IME the shrimp only target the small anemones, but i have heard stories of them attackign larger ones, as stated above.
another method that i have used and that works is the kalk solution one. with this you mix kalk with water until it becomes pasty, then place the paste into a needle and shoot the little buggers. i have used hypodermic needles for direct injections, as well as pipettes and just spot blasted them, and both methods work very well.
i have not tried the boiled water one yet, but if need be, ive got some experimenting to do!
good luck
jon

 

[celticsun]

Hey all,
If you ever thought of adding a couple of fish to the tank...these 2 love those anemomies, 1 is a yellow tang the other is a racoon butterfly...both will munch on the anenomies even the ones you dont see yet! This way you get rid of them in a natural way.
Talk to ya later,
celticsun

 

[teatime]

Alas I only have a 20 gal. I will have to wait for my oldest child to move out so then I can have a spare room to put a BIG tank in. A tang sure wouldn't be happy in a 20 gal. hex.

 

[xrayman]

I bought a bristle tail file fish,because my lfs store told me about them 2 months ago.My aptasia is basically gone.Thank goodness because i was getting ready to have major problems.It is doing great in reef system does not bother other fish.

 

[teatime]

Well I just got back from the LFS. They didn't have any needles so he talked me into getting two tiny peppermint shrimps. I hope they do the trick.