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Aiptasia are getting to me argh!

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sfsuphysics

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Man, I saw a couple in my stony tank... and I used Aiptasia-X on them and they seem to go away ... for a while, but the fact some of them grew back in the same place I figured it didn't work completely. I also tried kalk paste too with similar results. Fine I said I'll kill them back when they get too large and call it weekly/bi-weekly/monthly maintenance. However looking at the tank recently I've seen them growing under rocks upside down, the unfortunate thing is I can't reach those... even if I was a contortionist. I tossed in half a dozen or so peppermint shrimp hoping at least one of them has a taste for them, when I used them on my "she won't let me get rid of that leather" tank they seemed to eradicate them as well, here's to hoping I get lucky twice.

*sigh* I really hate those buggers!
 
yeah that's my biggest concern, I tossed two in a 20g tank and the tore everything up, even after their deaths (mishap with the siphon hose :D) aiptasia still haven't come back. But tossed 3x as many in a 180g tank... they were huddled up initially, but haven't seen them since.
 
I put 2 peppermints in my 14g a while back and they did the job within a few days. Then they ate my first hammer and my first torch which is why I never tried those corals again until recently. The clownfish got back at them for me and managed a 2-day-2-part meal. They were quit happy. J)

Does anyone have any experience with peppermints eating BTA? I thought I killed all my aptasia in my 34g, but they came back and I'm considering peppermints, though I'm worried about them picking at or even killing my BTA. :~
 
I used to have a bunch of aptasias in my 225g and I've tried the kalk paste, but I couldn't get to all of them and they grow too fast. Then I added a Heniochus Butterfly not intending it for aptasias removal, but a week later the aptasias are almost all gone. :)
 
Took about a week and a half for the 5 peps to go through my 32g tank. They didn't touch that stuff for nearly a week and then almost overnight they disappeared. Peps hide a lot and I only see them when food hits the water. They're pretty well fed and have been model citizens.
 
I'm in the same boat, Kalk paste & Joes Juice have only 'worked' temporarily for me. I'm resigned to buying a bunch of peps an letting them loose, otherwise aptasia is a losing battle for me using any other method, including the boiling water blast.
 
Trust me one thing I even thought about is to remove the rock from the tank (major PITA) and literally dremel off all the rock that has aiptasia on them... however the downside to that is what about those I miss? Would have gone through all that work for what? And obviously I missed some because I'm seeing them in places that I only noticed at strange angles to the front of the tank and really only caught site of them with my peripheral vision (how bad is that my mind registers those shapes as something bad!!). Oh yeah then there's all that rock scaping that will not go back together the same way :D
 
Maybe is time to start a Berghia Nudi farm from BAR members, I cleaned the HOB skimmer today on the little tank and the back chamber is full of big healthy nudi-nutritious aiptasias.
 
Mike - one option, if you're willing to remove the rock, is to dip the rock in acid (vinegar or stronger) for a bit - it'll kill everything on the rock, and will be white when you put it back in the tank, but on the bright side, you'll also get rid of any bound phosphate on the rock!

-Kyle
 
I think my tank has entirely too much flow for any sort of nudibranch to be happy in.

Kyle: There would be a few areas where that would work, unfortunately not everywhere... plus that would be a helluva acid bath, my rock isn't small ! :D
 
I ended up doing the acid for my 180 gallon - too many aiptasia! And they were everywhere. I just took a 5 gallon bucket, mixed 1:5 vinegar to water and let soak overnight. rinsed in DI for a few days, then into the sump.

It worked, but it was a pain!
 
Mike
i have been using Filefish and 2N NaOH so far so good the filefish seem to be starting to eat a few the NaOH destroyed them my tank was over run with them last night i used 5ml to kill at least 50 or so i would say only about 15% survived they were the ones that were not hit square in the mouth
 
Jim, define problem. I soaked a few rocks before I set up my tank. I'm pretty sure they were just sterile rocks when I added them....no bacteria nor aiptasia alive. Used around a 1:5 or 1:6 ish solution. Have something good to neutralize it with afterwards.....uses a ton of baking soda otherwise.
 
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