Help! Attack of the Aiptasia

peter78

Member
I need some help to control my Aiptasia. I have heard that they are nearly impossible to irraticate but is there some thing out there that would slow them down? I have a reef tank 29gal with soft coral and a BTA. I know copper butterfly will eat them, but will eat coral as well. The only thing that sounds do able is a peppermint shrimp. I have two skunk cleaner shrimp already. My break out isnt bad, but it is starting to worry me because it isnt getting better. I have tried to just cover them up with epoxy but I get more later. Please help!
 

fishieness

Active Member
get a large seringe (sp?) and fill it with a number of things... any of these will work, boiling water, lemon juice, or there is a product that i believe is reef safe, but you might want to check it out... its called jack's juice, or joes juice.... i htink its one of those, and the other one is a bait spray for bass fishing...lol....Inject any of those things at the center of the stalkie thingie... thatll kill them and the pepermint shrimp will eat anything else.
a copperband will get too big for your tank anyways. so thats not a good idea.
 

peter78

Member
So Fishieness, take care of the bigger Aiptasia with Joes juice and use the peppermint shrimp to clean up for future problems?
 

fishieness

Active Member
the pepermint shrimp will help with future problems. But also for the current one. Use both methods, the serynge and the pepermints. They will asl oeat the remainder of the aptasia after it dies, so its not jsut sitting in your tank. They will aslo prevent stray tenticles floating around and stinging things after the stalk dies by just eating it until is craps up your water.
 

saltydog

Member
I swear by Copper Bands. I have a 75 gal reef recently converted to SPS. Still have a couple lps and my original Devils Hand. My copper band keeps the tank clear of aptasia, doesn't bother corals. You can't keep feather dusters, he will nip those. He is my favorite fish.
Outside of aptasia and cops he loves Mysis.
-Salty
 

pyro

Active Member
I still have 2 mystery aptasia in my tank. They haven't divided at all yet - I've been keeping an eye on them like a hawk.
I tried a peppermint - my coral banded shrimp caught it and ate it I'm assuming as I haven't seen it in a couple months.
It's sortof hard to get a syringe out here. Any ideas on where I can legally get one? My mom might look suspicious leaving work with a bunch of syringes under her arms.
Let us know what you do and how it works - Thanks!
 

fishieness

Active Member
it doesnt have to be one you got off the street complete with AIDs and all. You can get some probalby at your grocery store. They sell large ones to inject beef and other meats with marinades or lemon juice. Give there a try.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
For joe's juice or lemon juice or the kalk mix, you can just go to any

[hr]
and ask for a syringe... not the one with the needle on it, this one is just a dosage counter, mostly for little ones... I don't know if it's the same syringe for boiling water, never used that trick...
 

spanky

Member
They sell syringes like that commercially packaged as "feeders" at our lfs. You can also buy them on line, or at any medical/dental supply store.
 

bigb

Member
go with the shrimp they will eventually eat it. The more you attempt to manually kill them the more you increase the chances of them spreading.
 

nemo lover

Member
just a quick question-
I just got one as a hitchicker. I was wondering after you inject them. Do you pull them off the rock?
Anyone have good experience with the boiling water? I am afraid to use kalk in my tank its so small only a 2.5
 

reefdyver

New Member
I just received a bottle of Joe's Juice last week, and rid my tank of a large aiptasia, and several smaller ones. The liquid is white, you just hold it over their mouth, let the liquid come out slowly until the mouth is throughly covered. The aiptasia begins to melt immediately. I didn't have to vacuum up any remains. My tank is perfectly fine after using Joe's Juice. I would highly recommend it. :)
 
Top