Best way to remove aiptasia anemones

[mikemartinez]

What the best way to get rid of these anemones?

I have lots of them. I got it from some cured LR from another reefer...

[thisisme]

hot water and a needle works just inject the base, there is also a food you can try "Joe's juice" for aiptasia removal

[crumbletop]

Man, I hate those things. Peppermint shrimp can do a good job. I think a berghia nudibranch (sp?) gets them as well. Danieljames may have some of those.

[Esabasard]

I've never tried boiling water but Joe's juice works well. Peppermint shrimp will also eat them but only if they are small.

[Fanof49ASU]

I'd be careful with Joe's Juice.
I'm still blaming that stuff for a couple of my frags melting away. I realize the composition of the juice, can't spell it though : ), but I think in that purest form, it can harm corals. Just my experience.

[mikemartinez]

thanks for the fast replies guys...

I had heard of the peppermint shrimps but I think I read that they are not reef safe is this true?

Yeah they are still very small... I might try the hot water trick first and go from there...

[crumbletop]

IME, joes juice, hot water, kalk paste, etc all just spread the problem around. The one you get goes away, but 20 more return in other locations.

Peppermint shrimp are reef safe.

[SRT80]

peppermint shrimp worked for me in 2 tanks.

Steve

[mikemartinez]

shrimp it is then... would there be a problem with me currently having a cleaner shrimp in there?

[mamagoose45]

There should be no issues between the two types of shrimp... We have peppermints, a cleaner, and a fire shrimp all in a tank together and they don't bother each other at all.

[mikemartinez]

ok ..

Thanks for your help guys...

[SRT80]

just sayin if you don't already know, be sure to acclimate the shrimp at least 2 hours. I never done this in the past and my new shrimp never lasted for 3 days. I finally got some more and acclimated them for 2 hours (i didnt drip, just added a little water to their bag while they floated in the tank for a couple hours) Havent lost a pepp.

Steve

[mikemartinez]

^^Ok I'll do that.. Thanks for the heads up.

[rutledgek]

I would get two berghia if you have a big problem. They are a bit pricey but they reproduce prolificly

[kev-dog1]

Apologies for hi-jacking...I need to ask the same question, only for tulip anemones. I've tried Joe's juice, it shrinks them, but they just keep coming back.

I want to use this rock with a few corals attached in my new 12g, and had thought it was anemone free...now I'm seeing little ones on it. I don't want to put tulip anenomes in this new tank.

Can tulip anemones be eradicated? Any hope?

Sorry for the hijack.

[mamagoose45]

This doesn't really seem like the most "humane" way to do something, but nothing else really seems to do anything to tulip anemones...

I saw a guy do this at one point awhile ago - he took a regular straight pin (like the kind you use in sewing) and clamped it in a pair of hemostats. He used a lighter to get the pin screaming hot, and then stuck it right in the mouth of the anenome. Obviously you have to take the rock out of the tank which may be difficult depending... You may have to do it a time or two before it totally does the job, but the anenome shriveled up and fell off the rock within a few seconds.

[DMBillies]

I would verify this before you take my advice, but from what I have heard, tulip anemones don't have the regenerative capabilities that aiptasia have (meaning they won't grow back or propagate themselves from small pieces). With that in mind, you should be able to just scrap them off with a razor blade or something else that will let you physically destroy the anemone. I tried this on a couple in my QT tank and they never came back. That said, I don't know if it would be the best method if you have a ton of them (because of fouling the tank and the amount of slime they release when you do this). Again, I would definitely verify this if you are going to do it in tank. If they're QT'd (as it sounds like they are) maybe just give it a whirl.

[kev-dog1]

Hey Brian, thanks
I'll try that.

[Angela Short]

If your rock is easy to get out take a lighter and fry them one by one. I fried some hydroids like this in my nano once and let the area get real hot to be sure the deep ones were killed in the rock but I would think the anemone would die pretty fast.

[kev-dog1]

Mental picture: Angela as an evil scientist...bwa ha ha ha

That would work on this big rock I've got, just a couple on a open area. But some others have been coming up thru this nice polyp covered rock I've been saving. Like right in the middle of the patch. Bummer.

And I'm worried if I add that to this new nano, it'll only take one tulip anemone and then they'll be everywhere soon

[jfolley67]

Hi!! I just had several of the darn anemones popping up all over the place AFTER using joe's juice....so crumbletop is right!! I just put 4 new peppermint shrimps in and FINALLY I am starting to see them slowly going away. This has worked in the past for me as well. good luck!

[gottahaveaDori]

funny that different things seem to work for different folks! We have tried the hot water squirt with limited success--and they always came back. Our peppermint shrimp never eat them--not that we can tell! Joe's juice is the only thing that has worked for us. If it has done damage, it is not apparent. And we don't have to use it very often because we don't have very many popping up. We do have 2 very large ones on the back of one rock that are so inaccessible, we can't shoot them very well. Other than that, Joe's Juice has been the ticket for us. There is one other product we ordered that DOES NOT work--called "Stop Aipstaisa" from the Pet Solutions catalog.

[ReefingMadness]

I agree with Dori. Joe's Juice is the only thing that is working for me.

[RevHtree]

Been using Joes Juice for a month or so and they keep doubling when they come back!

[Scucci]

I'd say a 2 part system. With hot water they will kill the big ones, some people have had trouble with the big one melting and then having more small ones because of it. So I'd say hot water, and depending on tank size, maybe a couple of peppermint shrimp for the small ones.

When I first set my tank up and all my LR was good to go, I had a couple dozen of the small ones, I put in a peppermint shrimp and in one night they were all gone.

[Lint_Licker]

Just put superglue gel on them. Totally cover it with superglue.