What to do about aiptasia?

salt0727

salt0727

Member
Hello, I am just starting my tank and bought some live rock. It has one aiptasia that is rather large and I just noticed a few itty bitty ones. I bought some Joe's Juice but im wondering do you guys think I should take the rock out of the tank and treat it outside of my tank so that I can turn the rock all around and inspect it or just treat it inside the tank. I only have a few red leg crabs in my tank that came with the rock
 
T

thatg33kgirl

Guest
It is fine in the tank if you are very careful with the syringe--- you don't want to hit any corals or inverts
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
Anytime you can take the rock out easily to treat the aiptasia I say go for it. This becomes much more difficult when the rocks are covered in corals.
 
dutchswan

dutchswan

Member
Are there not natural predators for this sort of thing? My LFS recommended this approach. I have one that I thought I got rid of, but it is actually bigger now. He is bascially the only dweller of a cave on the first tier of my rock pile. easily accessed by natural predators, but not by me or a needle.
 
ladyreefseeker

ladyreefseeker

Administrator
Staff member
I am absolutely certain (by personal experience)that Peppermint Shrimp will rid ALL Aiptasia. Peppermint Shrimp are non-aggressive and beneficial to any type of reef unless you have shrimp eaters lol!
Copperband Butterflies eat Aiptasia also but they are sometimes naughty in a coral reef.
 
twood

twood

Member
I have also had success with Peppermint Shrimp getting rid of aiptasia. Unfortunately, one of my fish ate all my peppermints. I suspect my Orange Spotted Goby. He's the only one with a mouth big enough to eat them.
 
dutchswan

dutchswan

Member
I had [HAD] the same problem up until about 2 hours ago. I purchased a peppermint shrimp and my aiptasia is no more. I am actually kind of disappointed. The Aiptasia could clearly be seen in one of my caves. It took a while for my shrimp to figure out it was even there. When he figured it out, I missed the show
 
dutchswan

dutchswan

Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3287177
they work at night :)
Now I cannot even find him. My live rock mountain must have internal caves I cannot even see. I began looking at the caves from different angles, and it appears an animal can practically climb up the inside and exit the opposite side without barely being seen.
 
buddyro

buddyro

New Member
It seems I have an anemone that just keeps reproducing, maybe I feed it too much. I don't know, but it started with one and now I have hundreds.
I also have these macros. They don't produce quite as much, but I still have many. They seem to grow in clusters. They are small and round.(like bubbles) I have many green and a few red. They are quite beautiful.
Anyway, I decided to thin them out. I have searched to find ideas on pricing, but it seems that no one sells them. ( I can't imagine why)I guess that means they are kind of rare.
I do remember seeing an anemone in a fish store once. It was similar to these. I think they called them appy's or something like that.
Anyway, since I have so many, I thought I would do $5 per anemone or cluster of macros.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
ohh yeah, mine never comes out. I look in the tank with a red light alot and i see him every now and then that way. Never seen during the day though.
 
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