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Nuked from orbit...

Vincerama2

Vincerama2

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So I had to follow my own advice and removed what seemed like 50lbs of rock from my tank after my kids pointed out some "Enemy Anemones". Yet, aiptasia. I put Aiptasia-X on some then thought ... who am I kidding?

So I tore out a lot of rock and had to even sacrafice a nice large rock with GSP on it. The kids were not happy.

All those rocks are sitting on the walkway in front of my house, waiting for the sun to kill them.... and I felt bad walking by the GSP rock, but I chipped off some pieces to re-start them before putting the rock out to die.

Many sponges, brittle-stars, worms and whatever will die because of aiptasia.

It they take hold again, I'll give up and put in a Klein Butteryfly, even though it may nip at other corals.

I KNOW there is still some in the tank...

V
 
I'm curious how you effort to remove them will progress since I'm battling a similar situation, which hopefully for now seems contained to my QT and not the main tank. After being burned by ich & flatworms a few times, I finally got paranoid and now I am QT-ing everything. A few months back I even QT-ed a ball of chaeto that I got from another BAR member.

A couple months back, a friend of a friend broke down one of his tanks and I ended up with a rock with grandis paly. I placed that in my QT, only to notice about a week later that there are a few aiptasia-s on the rock. Immediately I took the rock out, I cut out the corals, I placed just the corals in the tank on a new dry rock, and I threw away the infested rock. After 1 month, I placed the corals in the main tank with that former dry rock. Meanwhile, the QT sit empty for few days with just some rocks and a powerhead to keep the water circulating. Then, a week later, I got some other frags through a trade and I placed them in QT. After about 1 week, I noticed a small aiptasia on a rock in the QT. I took that rock out immediately. But a week later I noticed yet another one on another small rock, which I removed as well. I am pretty sure the new aiptasia is not from the recent frags, their plugs are super clean and there is no aiptasia on them - it must be from the grandis paly rock.

Now I'm waiting to see if I can spot more aiptasia in the QT and, knock-in-wood, if I will get aiptasia in the main tank because of the grandis paly transfer from QT.

Somewhere, long time ago, I read that aiptasia releases "pores" if taken out of the water. I wonder if that is why it keeps growing back in my QT.

Also, one of my friends had luck removing aiptasia from his main tank using pepermint shrimps. He said to buy a few, because a small number of shrimps won't touch aiptasia. So then out of 3-4, there is a good chance that 1-2 of them will eat it. I will do that if I would find more aiptasia in my QT or DT.
 
5 or 10 peps could've saved you all the troubles. There hasn't been one single tank that I fail on treating Aiptasia this way...no matter how big or small. Just a matter of adding enough of them.
 
robert4025 said:
5 or 10 peps could've saved you all the troubles. There hasn't been one single tank that I fail on treating Aiptasia this way...no matter how big or small. Just a matter of adding enough of them.
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I would take that challenge.
With some help from my hungry Hogfish and Tuskfish who would dine on the shrimp quite quickly.
;)

Agree though. For most tanks, try peppermint shrimp first.
 
Yeah, I added 10 to a tank... it may have worked initially, but eventually nope. Nuking from orbit is a good plan IMO. and yeah you lost some GSP... big deal, you can grow more :D
 
I wouldn't trust just sun and nonwater. I had a sump dry for weeks and when it saw water again a dried up majano was starting to rehydrate. Hard to believe but true. I would acid wash them.
 
Coral reefer said:
I wouldn't trust just sun and nonwater. I had a sump dry for weeks and when it saw water again a dried up majano was starting to rehydrate. Hard to believe but true. I would acid wash them.
Click to expand...

Sortof.
If you soak things like Majanos for a while, sure, they would absorb water, rehydrate, and look a lot like before.
But that is a long ways from being still alive and viable.

That is not to say they are not either. I do not know. I have tons of Majanos, maybe I should test it some time.
 
I've tried pepermints in the past. They start to work, then something eats them or they commit suicide.

The only thing that every worked (I've been in the hobby for close to 20 years now, and have had aiptasia pretty much from the first day to now, in various numbers) was a Klein Butterfly. However theymay nip at oher corals, and they will only eat the aiptasia when they are hungry. I like to keep[ my other fish fed so they don't get very hungry. I lost my lovely Klein when my stupid crappy DC ret
urn pump failed and asphixiated my tank. He was the only one that didn't survive.

But in my old 58G, the tank was overrun. I mean, it was like the plague and they were HUGE. I almost gave up, but instead I bought the Klein Butterfly and put him in there. He did nothing, then I went on vacation and used an autofeeder. When I came back fom vacation, I could not SEE a single aiptasia. I knew they were still in the crevices and such, but none could be seen .

I've spent several hundred on burghia nudibranchs. All they do is die.

V
 
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