Eradicating Killer Aiptasia

[mantisman51]

So I've been neglecting my 125g reef tank as I work on building my house, and as a result the aiptasia now outnumber the xenia, mushrooms and GSP. I had peppermint shrimp that kept it under control but they got ate and now the aiptasia is slowly killing everything in it's path. Here's my plan, feel free to advise any better solution-bear in mind I stopped counting the aiptasia at about 250 and hadn't counted half of them.
1) Move the 6" yellow tang, 10" blue hippo, 4" bluefin pygmy, the 6" wrasse and the 2 4" dominoe damsels to the 55 gallon dogface puffer/snowflake eel tank.
2) Cut the 40-50 blue spotted and neon green mushrooms, 20-30 stalks of the blue xenia(there are still hundreds) and remove the 3 rocks (about 12"x10") that the GSP is welded to and put them in my 29g mini-reef tank that has 3 peppermints and no peppermint eaters in it.
3) Drain the 125g tank down to the live sand and leave it with just enough water to keep the sand covered for a week or two to let the aiptasia die.
4) Refill the tank and after letting it recycle, put all the peppermint shrimp in it for a month or two.
5) Put all the fish and coral back in.
I honestly can't think of any other solution as the aiptasia control the tank. If I am missing something, please let me know.

 

[jstdv8]

How to kill aiptasia with pickling lime or kalkwasser mix
1.) Mix 1 tablespoon and 1/2 teaspoon of Mrs. wages pickling lime with 1 1/2 Teaspoons of water to make a nice paste. The paste should not be running, but it also must be thin enough to get injected through the syringe.
2.) Turn off power heads
3.) Apply a layer of the paste to the oral disc of the aiptasia. Sometimes you can get them to think its food by teasing their tentacles a little and then injecting the paste onto the oral disc. If they suck back into their hole right away just cover the hole with the paste.
4.) wait 45 minutes to an hour
5.) suck out the paste and the aiptasia with a turkey baster and dispose of them.
If you don't get them out with the baster repeat the steps above until you do. Out of the hundreds I killed only 2 little ones needed to be pasted twice.
I bought 100 lbs. worth of live rock from a fellow reefer who was tearing down her tank. The rock was covered with aiptasia (estimating over 300). Some of the rocks also had some corals on them (mushrooms, green star polyps and Kenya trees)
I put the rock on a 55 gallon tank that I used as a holding area while I treated the rock before putting it into my display tank.
I mixed up a small batch of the lime paste and started injecting the aiptasia with the method used above.
I recommend doing only a few at a time as the paste can cause a PH spike in your tank if you do too much. Keep in mind Pickling lime and kalkwasser are similar products that are used for correcting alkalinity and calcium problems and can be used safely if in small doses.
Be sure to cover the whole face of the aiptasia with the paste to ensure that it cannot release its seed into the tank and make more aiptasia later. You also must get it out of the hole as even a small piece of aiptasia can grow into a whole one over time. Do it right the first time.
Other methods that work include Peppermint shrimp, Copper banded butterfly, joe's juice, aiptasia-x, vinegar, boiling water or just leaving the rock out in the open air for a couple of days(killing everything on it.)
Peppermint shrimp work well as long as they don't have a different food source they like better. It is also very important to get the correct shrimp as there is an imposter shrimp that doesn't feed on aiptasia that looks very similar. When you are buying the shrimp ask for L. wurdemanni. Do Not accept the shrimp if it is a L. californica.
Peppermints will also not attack a large aiptasia so these will have to be removed in another way. There is also no guarantee that the aiptasia will not release its seed into the water which they tend to do when in danger. This will cause more to pop up later.
The Copper banded butterfly's require an established tank to safely house one (preferably 6 months or longer). Some for whatever reason don't prefer aiptasia though (the upside here is that these ones are reef safe)
If you choose this method you risk the fish devouring other corals in your tank that you wanted to keep once it has eaten the aiptasia. And again, there is no guarantee that they won't release their seed into the water when attacked.
Aiptasia X is similar to the paste that I described above and it comes in a nifty little syringe with a straight and an angled head for getting at aiptasia in hard to reach places.
The downside here is the cost. At 20 dollars a tube it gets pretty costly, especially if you have a lot of aiptasia to treat. A jar of Mrs. Wages pickling lime costs about $4 at Wal-mart and you will have a lifetime supply.
Boiling water, vinegar and Joe's juice all have been known to work but as with most methods are very hit and miss. While one person says they had great success the next may say it didn't work at all.
Best of luck to you and good hunting!

 

[mantisman51]

That would be better than drying out all the live rock. My 125 has been up and running successfully for about 4 1/2 years. I have had great luck with peppermints but the wrasse eats them now as soon as they are in the tank. Copperbands have a reputation of being finicky. I've heard alot of folks say they've gone through 4 or 5 of them before they got one that survived. I think your idea of removing the coral and killing them without draining the tank has merit. But they are everywhere and I know I can't get to the one's that are between and under the rock, thus my idea of draining the tank.

 

[flower]

I also vote for getting a bunch of peppermint shrimp. It would be easier to catch the wrasse than try and move everything else.

 

[mantisman51]

I just ordered 10 more peppermints tonight, so Flower, I am thinking that is the way I'll go, along with the pickling lime. I've never tried to have peppermints eat 3-4" aiptasia before though. Do you know if they can handle the large aiptasia.

 

[geoj]

I know where you can get some Berghia Nudibranches. I don't now how well they work but I would give it a try.

 

[jstdv8]

nudis would be the way to go for the ones you can't reach with the lime.
of all the ones I treated I didn't find a single one I couldnt get to though.

 

[jstdv8]

Originally Posted by mantisman51
http:///forum/post/3296128
I just ordered 10 more peppermints tonight, so Flower, I am thinking that is the way I'll go, along with the pickling lime. I've never tried to have peppermints eat 3-4" aiptasia before though. Do you know if they can handle the large aiptasia.
no the peps won't touch the bigger ones unless they are injured.
I've seen a pic of an aiptasia that ate a peppermint lol

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3296138
no the peps won't touch the bigger ones unless they are injured.
I've seen a pic of an aiptasia that ate a peppermint lol

No, the really big ones kill with the Joes juice or your pickle stuff...Also remember the shrimp have food, the aiptasia... so don't feed them anything else. LOL..I have never heard of aiptasia that was 3 or 4 inches big.

 

[mantisman51]

I just measured the one by the heater and it is a tick over 4.25" long and almost 4" wide.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by mantisman51
http:///forum/post/3296237
I just measured the one by the heater and it is a tick over 4.25" long and almost 4" wide.

LOL...That one is big enough to be a pet

Do you actually have living coral in there with it? Oh, and do you have pictures?