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Best way to eliminate aptasia?

melly mel

melly mel

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(Posted this on RC too)

Hey guys and gals, need some advice. Aptasia in my tank is getting waaaaay outta hand! Damn thing made it into my tank from a frag i didnt notice. started off as one and is now starting to take over my tank and stinging my corals! Whats the best way to get rid of these guys??

Ive tried a CBBF but that was a miss.....guy at the LFS showed me he was eating aptasia but he didnt even touch one in my tank!

My second try would be peppermint shrimps but would they deal with the larger ones?? Some of them has gotten quite large (bigger than a quarter).

I have kalk on hand to make paste but im not too familiar with that whole method. if your experienced with using kalk to eliminate aptasia please chime in and give me some pointers.

I have corals glued to smaller pcs of live rock that i can take out of the display but the rest are on my rock work that is pretty much stuck in place unless i tare down the whole tank (something i dont want to do at the moment).

I am planning on switching tanks in the near future but would like to deal with this issue now if i can.

Thanks for the help!
Rommel
 
i have used aiptasia x as well and it works really well on aiptasia and manjano. i bought it from lucky ocean in sf.

some caution: i would not use the applicator it came with. the syringe in my opinion is too wide at the mouth and the solution drips out when working in the tank. also try not to get any aiptasia x on your corals. i've accidentally killed a colony of very nice zoas (i blame it on the applicator).

you can borrow mine, but you would have to pick up and return to me in sf. i have a medical grade plastic syringe (that works much better) that you can borrow too.
 
I use Aiptasia X as well, the idea behind the tip on the syringe is to shove it down the mouth of the pest and fill it up, not just to squirt it on the animal, that doesn't do very much ;)
 
I used to use Joe's Juice, but quickly realized that it's really nothing more than kalk paste. I'd suggest just mixing up a bunch of kalk paste and using that. It works great, stick to the anemones and costs next to nothing.

Just mix kalk powder with RO water until you have a pasty consistency. Use an old syringe from a salifert test kit and you're done. If you have a cone shaped tip to put on that'd make it easier.
 
Now if i use aptaisia x or just mixed up kalk paste......can i do this in my main tank??

Glee thanks for the offer but i think i have a extra syringe from a salifert kit.

Jeremy, the aptaisia wont close up if i get too close to it?

Screebo, what size peppermints do you have? I've only seen tiny ones here in SJ. couple of my aptaisias can easlily devour what i see down here.

Jason, if i go with Kalk, do i insert the past in the mouth or all over?
 
Aiptasia X works great if you can get the syringe as close as possible and squirt right into the mouth/oral disk of the aiptasia.
 
Eight said:
I used to use Joe's Juice, but quickly realized that it's really nothing more than kalk paste. I'd suggest just mixing up a bunch of kalk paste and using that. It works great, stick to the anemones and costs next to nothing.

Just mix kalk powder with RO water until you have a pasty consistency. Use an old syringe from a salifert test kit and you're done. If you have a cone shaped tip to put on that'd make it easier.
Click to expand...

Sorry there is more to it then just kalk paste... which is why Cal Ag banned the sale of it in CA ;) If were just kalk there would be no issue :)
 
Sorry, that was an oversimplified comment on my part. (You are so very detail oriented Gresham... :)

Restated: Effectively, Joe's Juice has worked no better than kalk paste in my own personal experience. It has virtually the same consistency, is applied in the same way, kills just as well, etc.

The one caveat is that I suppose that there is a chance that using kalk paste has a small impact on your alk and PH. I am not sure if Joe's Juice has a similar impact. However, based on the small quantities that I use in a typical application, I have never seen any alk or PH impact from using kalk as a killing agent.
 
The most effective way to kalk the aiptasia is to remove the offending rock - place it in your fuge or other location that you can work on - then get the Kalk to a very thick consistency and "feed" it to the aips. You want to make sure that the Kalk gets into the body, so dont just put Kalk on them, if they are already retracted...they need to eat the stuff. Just do a few at a time - leave them to die for an hour or two, then rotate the rock as needed to get the rest on there....I then generally leave that rock in the sump and attack other offending rocks so that I can then put them all back into the display together.

I then let the berghia in my display take care of the few that are inevitably missed...either so small that I miss them, or hidden somehow. Regardless, this has worked for me.
 
:lol: Most of the time. (detail oriented)

IMO just Kalk is more effective the Joes Juice :) I've done pretty darn large areas, but I was monitoring my PH so it didn't go over. For smaller runs I would not worry at all about it. I like to apply it when it's super hot (I put just the water in the nuke and get it to the boiling point then mix the kalk in it).
 
I've used Joes Juice, which seems to work but after a couple months soimetimes the aptasia comes back in the same spot. I've also used Kalk but they come back with that. I'm now trying pepermints, got 3 and so far they haven't made a dent in a month. I'm sticking w/ the peppermint shrimp strategy because there are always aptasias you can't see that will multiply again when you're trying to kill them 1 by 1 with aptasia posion.
 
Kalk Mix with a syringe is the solution...

The issue is, if you can get your hands on a regular syringe with a long sharpe needle it would be best...

You cannot buy these since it's by prescription only... If you know a Dr. or have a friend who's diabetic it's easier to ask them for it.

The best way is to stab each aptacia with it and squirting kalk mix into it. Instant Death!
 
sfsuphysics said:
or go into any SF clinic and say you're a drug user and need some clean needles.
Click to expand...
:D lol!! I've never tried that approach. Mike do you have to wear old, dirty clothes and make your hair straggly, or can you just go in normal apparel?
 
I did the same thing when I was desperate years ago with a Copperband. My tank was overrun with aiptasia. In one week, they were all gone. Then he ate my zoos. Then he went back to the pet store.
 
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