What are these? They're taking over! Aiptasia!

wen tom

wen tom

Member
Thanks, try the X. Ordered it last night, Did wonder about the boiling water though. Also wondered about just letting it become fish tank, but those suckers are ugly. Another reason to KNOW some things yourself BEFORE you start. I'd have known 8 mo's ago, (2 weeks after set up!) thanks for all your encouraging words. Peppermint shrimp, got 25 and my dwarf lion is fat and happy! Maybe I can find some bigger ones (the ones that came were pretty small) if I ever get out of PoDunk! MUCH appreciation.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
25 shrimp may be overkill. Once the aiptasia gets big like that they won't touch them. One thing I hadn't tried were the Berghia nudibranches. It's possible that if you kill enough of the large ones then you can keep the smaller ones that pop up in check with the pep shrimp and or berghia nudibranches.
Unfortunately I never found the silver bullet and 100% eradication is highly unlikely. Let us know how it goes for ya.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/396393/what-are-these-theyre-taking-over/20#post_3532136
25 shrimp may be overkill. Once the aiptasia gets big like that they won't touch them. One thing I hadn't tried were the Berghia nudibranches. It's possible that if you kill enough of the large ones then you can keep the smaller ones that pop up in check with the pep shrimp and or berghia nudibranches.
Unfortunately I never found the silver bullet and 100% eradication is highly unlikely. Let us know how it goes for ya.


LOL...She is feeding her lionfish some very expensive food...I would quarantine or get rid of the lionfish ...
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
AIPTASIA LAZER!

Check it out on youtube. Eradication? Absolutely. A few hours shooting aiptasias with lazers and BAM, a glass anemone free tank. :S
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/396393/what-are-these-theyre-taking-over/20#post_3532142
AIPTASIA LAZER!

Check it out on youtube. Eradication? Absolutely. A few hours shooting aiptasias with lazers and BAM, a glass anemone free tank. :S


Wow...a lazer pointer, just a plain ol lazer pointer????

Says the green lazer pointer works best and is the strongest, since it isn't a "fish" item, I thought it would be safe to post the link...http://dx.com/p/5mw-532nm-green-laser-pointer-pen-with-dx-logo-2-aaa-44128
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
The green pointer usually puts out more miliamps than a regular lazer pointer. Gotta know what you buying first.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I don't think the regular lazers like what you'd find at a pet store are the same thing. And the ones that are being used are borderline illegal to have, you have to be extremely carefull with them and should have special eye protection.
But they don't really solve the issue of removing the aiptasia spores from the tank which is how they spread.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/396393/what-are-these-theyre-taking-over/20#post_3532149
The green pointer usually puts out more miliamps than a regular lazer pointer. Gotta know what you buying first.


Not the kind you play with the cat or dog from the pet store...Reef Central made it sound like regular 1X or 2X green presentation pointers. I'm no expert on pointers...so google it, and tell us what we need to get.
 
wen tom

wen tom

Member
Thank you all so much. It's heartbreaking but knowing you guys are out there trying to brainstorm for me is, well. . .hopeful. Get rid of Mufasa Flower? He's my buddy! That'd be like getting rid of your dog! LOL!!! K guys, ordered aipatasia X and some berghia being bred by my supplier. Real funny Snakeblitz, actually, kinda sounds like something I might do, It'd be a funny Utube!
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I think I see where some confusion comes into play. I remember reading about the laser idea a while back in reefkeeping mag. but I believe they were using something a little more powerful like the type of lazer that a dentist would use. Then it seems that some folks started trying the weaker 1 w and 2 watt presentation style pointers (green spectrum of light is more powerful than red). But from what I'm hearing though is that the lesser powerful ones still bring some of the same concerns that I ran into with the zapper (electrocution). They don't cook the tissue all the way and what you end up with is a left over pile of tissue that just ends up spreading more spores around.

It might be interesting to try if I run into the issue again though.. Perhaps using the lazer vs dosing something into the water column to kill the large ones. Then use the shrimp or nudi banches to maintain the tank.

Again though, I think I would exercise caution by remembering that when stuff dies in the tank, it most likely will pollute the water column to a degree. In an bad case like this I might consider quarantining anything worth keeping alive and then go to town on the aiptasia.
 
wen tom

wen tom

Member
No place to quarantine to, excellent idea though, but plan is to treat 1/4 of tank, next day- water change. Going to try to do whole tank in about 1 1/2 week. The larger ones, as you say, then shrimp or nudi's to maintain. Again, thank you.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by wen tom http:///t/396393/what-are-these-theyre-taking-over/20#post_3532163
Thank you all so much. It's heartbreaking but knowing you guys are out there trying to brainstorm for me is, well. . .hopeful. Get rid of Mufasa Flower? He's my buddy! That'd be like getting rid of your dog! LOL!!! K guys, ordered aipatasia X and some berghia being bred by my supplier. Real funny Snakeblitz, actually, kinda sounds like something I might do, It'd be a funny Utube!


Mufasa, that's a cute name, and a really cool fish...I said to use a quarantine first, and offered the get rid of him altogether as a second idea....I totally understand why you wouldn't. The reason I said what I did is that keeping a lionfish creates a problem for keeping a CUC, the urchins are the choice for algae eaters for such tanks, but an urchin won't eat aptasia, and peppermint shrimp are not cheap. I was thinking along the line of putting the lion in a different tank, so the peps had a chance to help eat the glass anemones (aptasia)
 
wen tom

wen tom

Member
Wish I had a tank for reasons such as these. Yep, he's my dude! I'm picking little tiny ones out of the sand. But getting my sand with them. If I leave them overnight in fresh water will they die? (so I don't have to throw out all the sand) Maybe better yet, no water?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by wen tom http:///t/396393/what-are-these-theyre-taking-over/20#post_3532252
Wish I had a tank for reasons such as these. Yep, he's my dude! I'm picking little tiny ones out of the sand. But getting my sand with them. If I leave them overnight in fresh water will they die? (so I don't have to throw out all the sand) Maybe better yet, no water?


Here is the problem, any touching or disturbing the aptasia will cause it to release spores, and it spreads like wildfire. If you have physically picked them out of the sand....the real nightmare has begun.

When I had an infestation, I removed the offending décor or rock to clean up outside the tank, but you have a bigger issue... live rock and sand in your case. I rinsed in fresh water and then allowed everything to dry out in the air. Doing that that in your case, kills your live rock, destroying your natural filtration, which would imbalance the good bacteria and cause a tank crash...so it isn't a solution for you.

That's why I mentioned removing Mufasa for the duration, and try getting peppermint shrimp to eat them, and zap as many as you can with Joes Juice or aptasia X. I'm so sorry to hear of all this trouble you're having, I wish I could come up with a better method to help you. LOL...Snake's lazer pointer idea was sounding pretty dang good.
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
What corals and fish do you have in the DT other than the dwarf lionfish? What size is the tank and how much LR is in there?

If you decide to go the nudibranch route, it might be worth setting up a small 10 gallon nudibranch breeder tank since they are so pricey.
 
wen tom

wen tom

Member
Thanks, that would be best I'm sure. And who knows, it may come to that. My supplier is setting up breeding tank for nudibranches.
peppermint shrimp, giant Bali Xenia, clove polyp, starburst colony polyp, nepthia, taro tree coral.
blue tang. dwarf zebra lion. dotty back. 2 pecale clown. 5 gr. chromis. male antheias (thats looking for a home!) is whats in tank. 75 gal. 40gal refugium. Thanks for the concern and input.
 
wen tom

wen tom

Member
Do even the little tiny ones in the sand release spores? If so, think I'll quit picking em out! Thanks
 
wen tom

wen tom

Member
For those of you who wanted an update. Lemon concentrate injected into bodies of some. Seems to have worked on most.(only did about 1/3 tank) A couple are excreting the projectile slime with spores you do not want. Water change next day) About a week later TRIED to apply asiptasia X but if the critter is not facing upward, (to hold it) much of it runs off! What I received is thin. Yes, it seems the large ones are diminishing, but the battle I face? Only God knows.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by wen tom http:///t/396393/what-are-these-theyre-taking-over-aiptasia/20#post_3532574
For those of you who wanted an update. Lemon concentrate injected into bodies of some. Seems to have worked on most.(only did about 1/3 tank) A couple are excreting the projectile slime with spores you do not want. Water change next day) About a week later TRIED to apply asiptasia X but if the critter is not facing upward, (to hold it) much of it runs off! What I received is thin. Yes, it seems the large ones are diminishing, but the battle I face? Only God knows.

I wish I could be of more help...what a pain in the butt. Keep zapping those bad boys...lazers sure sounded promising.

I was thinking...and please anyone chime in if I'm wrong...but I was told years ago that UV lights kill the spores on hair algae and can help control it...MAYBE it could help control the spores of the aptasia??????? If memory serves, the UV light also killed the little good guys and outweighed the usefulness of the light on hair algae spores, but in your situation...destroying the spores of aptasia outweighs the usefulness of the little good guys. After you win the battle, you can always reseed the little good guy SW bugs.

At leas tit's something to look into
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top