Aiptasia Breakout

M

Mr. Fantastic

New Fish
#1
May 31, 2006
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#1
I have a 72g tank with 100lbs of LR. Just came back from vacation to discover a massive breakout of Aiptasia.

I've heard that Copperband Butterfly and Peppermint Shrimp are the best natural solutions. Tried Joe's Juice but there are way too many to eradicate 1 at a time.

Just bought a butterfly, wondering if anyone can recommend how many peppermint shrimp I should buy to take care of the problem? They are proving somewhat hard to find here so I may have to order.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
 

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

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#2
Jun 12, 2004
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i suggested joe's juice at a LFS...the tank was filled with aiptasia, you could only see that.. they used it and now..i can't see one.
It worked for me but i didn't have much.
I think this is the best solution..if you buy fishies or inverts to eat those they would not handle huge numbers
 

M

Mr. Fantastic

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#4
May 31, 2006
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#4
I honeslty can't imagine being able to kill them all off with just Joe's Juice. We're talking about easily hundreds. The stuff works short-term, but in a week or two they are back in even more force.
 

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

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#6
Jun 12, 2004
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yeah i noticed some comebacks..but shoot'em twice and they're gone...well in my tank.
The boiling water is a pain...you have to inject it inside the aiptasia, or in the hole where it retracts and pray. Same thing with the lemon juice. Joe's juice stick to the aiptasia and burn the little bastard even while it tries to hide.
Aiptasia reproduce too fast..if you wait 2 much, your hundreds will tranform into thousands.
 

Lorna

Lorna

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#8
Mar 3, 2005
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#8
I put 6 peppermint shrimp in my 75 and have yet to see another aiptasia. Then again you must ensure that you don't get camelback which are often sold as peppermint and are not the true ones that eat aiptasia. The butterfly should help but to buy a fish on the hopes that it does the job......and I hear that copperbands are hard to get eating ?????
 

W

wayne

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#12
Oct 22, 2002
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Whether or not a CBB is eating at the store has got zero to do with whether or not it will eat aiptaisia, rather it just means it might survive. Different geographical populations eat, or don't, aiptasia so it's a bit hit or miss. Generally the larger they are, and especially australian ones , are more likely to do the job. Personally I have used Kleins and raccoon angels, and these are more reliable, but more likely to eat softies too. Mine have been well behaved but .....
I have not used shrimp as Lysmata wurdemanii is not available to me at a price I like. Make sure you buy the rightthing. Be aware they are NOT 100% reefsafe either.
I have used Joes juice, which I like, and also very concentrated kalk. Both work. Using lemon juice or boiling water is supposedly possible, but sounds very tricky to me... 5 ml of boiling water will have cooled to 40C in a few tens of seconds in a tank so if you want to kill one, reload , kill, and so on, well it's your call. If you load up with 5 or 10 ml of super conc kalk you can kill a lot of aiptasia very quickly in one sweeep by injecting into the open mouths. If they aren't open drip some juice from frozen foods into the tank to make them think it's chowtime. Joes juice contains ingrediant x which encourages them to stay open and feed (Tabasco?) Be aware that you only kill what you see - these things reproduce by pedal laceration, they move very slowly, dropping little babies in their wake. When you kill mamma/pappa, typically they will be replaced by a nipper , which is why people think they reappear....
I have little experince with Berghia nudibranchs, which are obligate aiptasia eaters
 

dbacksrat

dbacksrat

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#13
Jun 3, 2003
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#13
I was just saying to make sure the CBB doesn't starve to death make sure it isn't eating. Whether or not it eats the aiptasia is a whole different ballgame.

One of the best ways to stop this problem before it starts is to quarantine any rock or coral that goes into a tank--this way it is isolated or minimized before it becomes problematic.
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#14
Mar 3, 2005
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#14
I have 5 of my original 6 peppermints in my tank, if they aren't reefsafe I don't know. I have never seen them do anything odd other than steal food out of the anemone's mouth. Little beggars. They are basically nocturnal and come out at night to feed. The problem with the nudibranch is what to do with it once the aiptasia is gone? It will either starve or if lucky you can pawn it off on the next person with a probelm. I can't see cultivating aiptasia to keep a nudi. I don't believe in buying a fish to deal with the problem unless you want the fish for other reasons.......:)
 

M

Mr. Fantastic

New Fish
#15
May 31, 2006
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#15
Update: My CBB is doing wonderfully. I have had no problem getting him to eat, he goes crazy for frozen Brine Shrimp. I am really happy with this beatiful fish, a nice addition to my community tank.

However, I have not seen him eat a single aptasia. :cool:

I also found 1 peppermint shrimp at a LFS, though after adding it I haven't seen it once, even at night (and I have moon lights in my tank). I trust he is still alive, but my wife is sure he was someone's dinner.

Anyhow, after reading all of your replies, I went and bought another small jar of Joe's juice and went to work. The first wave took me almost 2 hours and used all of my first jar. I then waited a couple days (and did a small water change) and went to work again. The second wave took almost 2 hours again and used half of my second jar. I did a third pass this morning which took about an hour and used up the last of the 2nd jar. And I believe I have killed off about 98% of the aptasia. There are still a few stubborn ones on the undersides of some rock that I have to make another pass at, but basically this seems to have worked. A lot of time and energy but my tank already looks a thousand times better.

I highly recommend Joe's Juice as a solution for Aptasia. I am still hoping to add a few more peppermints for regular maintenance if my LFS gets them in. Otherwise, maybe the CBB will develop an appetite for them.

It seems a few of my corals took a bit of a hit from the combination of aptasia (some were touching corals) and a whole lot of Joe's Juice, but I think they will all come back. And if not, I have a birthday coming up. *thumbsups

Thanks all!
 

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