Something is killing my coral. PLEASE HELP!

snaza · #1 09/28/2007, 06:14 PM

HI guys i've got these coral looking things popping up all over my tank. they seem to be stinging all my zoo and growing up between the polyps. the eventually take over the zoos and kill them. what are they and how can i get rid of them

thanks

Aaron

icy1155 · #2 09/28/2007, 06:21 PM

Its definatly a Hydroid... from the pictures it looks like an aptasia but im sure someone will chime in for a second opinion. My suggestion would be get a few peppermint shrimp or berghia nudibranch ... they will eat them off eventually but from the back of the second picture it looks like they will take a while to kill all of those.

JCTewks · #3 09/29/2007, 12:57 AM

Aptasia....get LOTS of peppermint shrimp...make sure they are "real" peppermint shrimp, not camelbacks.

madadi · #4 09/29/2007, 02:21 AM

thats the most aptasia i ever seen in one spot. how long did it take for all of does to grow? someone on ebay is selling berghia nudibranches.
i had one aptasia in my fishtank and i was freaking out. i used joes juice and it killed it right away, but for that many, using joes juice will just rase the pH too much and its not safe around zoa.
good luck

Mr James · #5 09/29/2007, 09:01 AM

Aiptasia for sure. I have always had good luck with a CBB (Copperband Butterfly) depending of course on the size of your tank. Never had luck with Pep Shrimp. Otherwise, you can nail them individually with a "kalk slurry". 1/2 cup DI water and 1 table spoon of kalk, use a syringe for application. The CBB's always did a better job for me.

BCreefmaker · #6 09/30/2007, 02:06 PM

out of the 5 real peps if had one eats aiptasia... they are kinda hit or miss unless they are super hungry.

Mr James · #7 09/30/2007, 02:35 PM

My aips (aiptasia) were bigger than the shrimp AND like BCreef said, you almost have to starve them to get em to dine on aips.

livingcorals · #8 10/02/2007, 02:32 PM

I'm told there is a dif between the West from the East (Fla) Peppermint shrimps. Make sure its from Fla.

Since there the one that was tested to eat aiptasia

I never had luck with, Copperband Butterfly. But told there good.

If anything inject what you can with Calc!
Or Joes Juice!

Best of luck!!

kiran523 · #9 10/10/2007, 09:50 AM

I agree with the Copperband Butterfly. I used Joes Juice (Kalk Paste) but the aiptasia came back. I had Peppermints and they did go at the Aiptasia but it was very slow. My guess is they were spending most of their time hiding from my fish and arrow crab. I got the Copperband and in under 1 day all the pests (~10) were gone. One thing I have heard is that quite a few of the CB's will not eat other foods and could starve. I just had my LFS squirt some brine shrimp into the tank he was in to make sure he ate them before I bought the fish. He was shy at first in my tank but now he joins my clownfish in eating from my hand LOL. Good Luck

snaza · #10 10/27/2007, 08:26 PM

got 8 peppermints now and they dont seem to be doing much. i actually cant find any of them but i guess they are hiding.

my question is, can i dip the rocks with aiptasia in something the kill it off. the rocks with aiptasia are live so dont really want to kill everything else off. any ideas?

airq33 · #11 10/27/2007, 09:01 PM

Blue Life Aiptasia Control worked well for me.

roblack · #12 10/28/2007, 08:57 PM

My tank was loaded with them, and a Copper BB fish tore em up in a day or 2. Never had any luck with Peppermints. Joes Juice works pretty good, but nothing like a CBB. Also, aiptaisa get more out of control when there is too much nutrient in your tank, so watch that you are not overfeeding.

cook · #13 12/12/2007, 01:40 PM

The peps feed mostly at night. Give them time. You can see a vid on youtube if you search.

BristlewormKing · #14 12/13/2007, 09:32 PM

Berghia nudibranches are the only thing that has ever worked for me.... using them right now on 200# of LR that I got three months ago and put into a cycling tank - only to discover after a few weeks that they were loaded with baby aiptasia. The nudibranches take a while to work on a heavy infestation (depending on how many you get), but they get into every nook and cranny!!

bobbet43 · #15 12/14/2007, 11:00 AM

1 solution i found that works is to take some pickling lime and ro, mix it to a thick paste. turn off all flow to the tank, cover each one with the paste and let it sit for about 1 hour. it will harden so they can't "blow" it off. down side is that you will have white spots for about a month that will start to turn blue, at least mine did. works good on majano too