aptaisa problem

[kpc01]

What are some of the ways you guys get rid of aptaisa/mojones(sp). I am out of joes juice and wanted to get after them tonight....I have pickling lime but don't think it will do much good...I think I've heard the doc saying something about boiling RO water even? Any advice?

[!wrass!]

Kalk past over the hole/crack worked for me. I would think hot water injected into the area would have to do something too.

[backprop]

Chad at Gateway sold me Aiptasia Control, which is probably chemically similar to kalk and some other remedies. From the opinions I've gathered and researched, it seems to be a good long-term solution, even compared with Joe's Juice which gets decent reviews itself.

I can say that the aiptasias pretty much eat it right up, it works in less than a minute, and it's pretty cool to watch. No adverse effects, and so far I haven't had any recurrence. It's been about two months.

[kpc01]

thanks for the tips. I was just trying to find something to take care of it tonight(household stuff) Is Kalk paste something I would have to get from the fish store? The only thing I have available now is pickling lime and hot water...I might give the hot RO water a try...

[thatguy]

Just mix kalk and RO water into something similar to heavy cream. Then point it at the mouth of the aiptasia and fill it up. If it retreats before you get it in the mouth just cover the area it hides in. I treated my fish-only tank 2 days ago and none of them survived.

Be sure clean off any that lands on your corals.

[kpc01]

thanks, thats what I'm going to try to do tomorrow. Only bad thing is theres a few behind the rock where I can't get to them. I've got to find a long term fix but this will work until then. thanks again

[superfirefly]

Isn't Pickling Lime the same as Kalk? I use MRs. Wages Pickling Lime to make my Kalk.

[DrBDC]

Joes juice is just kalk w/some salt added. I have the patent link if you don't believe me.

Just mix to desired consistency. I use a large opening syringe such as in some test kits. Then mix it so thick you can't hardly draw it into the syringe. Then slowly (very slowly) feed each aip a tiny pellet. They love to eat it and die.

If you mess up and scare it into it's hole, then cover the hole up. Turn off all flow first btw. If you end up covering it up and you did it right, you will have a white lump on the rock for about a month. That means it was thick enough.

[chadfarmer]

kentrob used a blow torch

[ReeferRon]

I have had good luck with peppermint shrimp for aptasia control. It does not touch Majano annemones however.

[saltyunderground]

Thought I'd share the following. It was written for another use, but thought is might help here.

The following summary of aiptasia control options are based upon 5 years of conversations with hundreds of people and our own experiences. It’s no secret that there are not many hard and fast rules in this hobby. The following is a general review of these options. Each hobbyist experiences may vary. Use this information as you consider what method is best for your aiptasia problem.

Berghia Nudibranchs
Strengths: Berghia eat only aiptasia anemones, nothing else. They can crawl all over your tank to eat the aiptasia you see and the ones you do not see. If acclimated and added to a well maintained tank, they are hardy invertebrates. They may reproduce to help speed up aiptasia eradication.
Weaknesses: It may take time for the berghia to solve heavy aiptasia infestations especially if you do not get the correct number of berghia for your situation. If the berghia are not at least ½”, they should be maintained in a small tank or a container of at least 1 gallon of water until they grow larger before they are placed in a display tank.
Predators: Peppermint shrimp, nocturnal scavenging fish including coris wrasses that hunt at night; to a lesser extent, underfed large brittle or serpent stars, emerald crabs and coral banded shrimp.

Peppermint Shrimp
Strengths: When they work, they work fairly well. They typically eat aiptasia fairly quickly.
Weaknesses: Some stores do not know what type of peppermint shrimp they are selling. So the shrimp you get may or may not be the kind that will eat aiptasia. Peppermints would rather eat fish food. They can be destructive to corals, desirable anemones and clams. Smaller peppermints may not acclimate well. Some will eat only small aiptasia (disk smaller than a nickel).
Predators: Fish which eat ornamental invertebrates such as hawkfish, various dottybacks, various wrasses, some puffers, some triggers, eels, ect.

Copperbanded Butterflyfish
Strengths: When they eat aiptasia, they are usually fairly quick about it.
Weaknesses: Difficult fish to acclimate to a home tank. It may take several fish to find one that will live. When they live, they are hit or miss on eating aiptasia. Some are easily bullied by other fish and it can be difficult to get them to eat foods added to the tank. Some may nip at corals and clams. Not an appropriate fish for tanks under 50 gallons.

Racoon Butterflyfish
Strengths: The most dependable aiptasia eater of the butterflyfishes. About 95% of them will eat both aiptasia and majanos anemones. They usually clean a tank out of aiptasia quickly.
Weaknesses: They will likely eat many types of soft and LPS corals, clams and desirable anemones. Not an appropriate fish for tanks under 50 gallons.

Injected Chemicals and Potions
(includes Kalkwasser preparations such as homemade mixes and store bought preparations; lemon juice; boiling water, ect.)
Strengths: Inexpensive and fairly easy.
Weaknesses: Risky since this technique might make the aiptasia problem worse by spreading small pieces of the dying aiptasia around the tank. Those pieces grow into a lot of small aiptasia. May cause injury if you accidentally apply to corals. Can only apply them to the aiptasia you can reach. Can alter tank pH when used in large doses.

Manual Pulling and Scraping
Strengths: Free and fairly easy.
Weaknesses: This is a waste of time. Pulling and scraping may make the aiptasia problem much worse by spreading small pieces of the aiptasia around the tank. Those pieces grow into a lot of small aiptasia. It may be hard to get at all of the aiptasia using this method.

Soaking Rock in Fresh Water
Strengths: Free
Weakness: Don’t bother. It will kill all life on the rock except the aiptasia. Aiptasia can live through fresh water soaking.

A couple of other notes…

If you try kalk paste or other injection methods, there is a risk that it will make many small aiptasia out of the one that you killed. We talk to people almost every day who report the aiptasia spreading after using these chemical methods. If you try them, your best bet is to turn off all powerheads and siphon off the dying aiptasia after you apply the chemical.

To help slow the spread of aiptasia, cut back on how often and how much you are feeding your tank. One of the reasons aiptasia thrive is that we feed them while feeding our fish. Assuming you have no anthias or other fish which need to eat everyday, cut back your feeding to a few times a week. Many fish do not need to eat everyday. Feed in small doses, and let the fish eat all food before adding more to avoid uneaten food from feeding aiptasia.

[dela]

I had an aptasia problem for a long time.. Seems like once per month, I was mixing up a batch of kalk paste and feeding it to the aptasias. What a pain. This worked, but I never got all of them and they always came back.

When I went to set up the new larger tank, I knew it would be impossible for me to reach down and take care of of any aptasias. So, during the time I was setting everything up, I bought two tubs and put all my rock in one tub and put all the corals in a small tank. I would then grab a piece of rock, inspect it, kill any aptasia, and move it into the other tub. I moved all the rock back and forth about three times. In addition, I got a few nudis from saltiunderground. I think the combination of me killing off the adults and the nudis eating the smaller aips did the trick, as I've only had to kill one aptasia in the last year, and that was only after tearing down the tank and inspecting each rock!

[aquaman2]

I been doing the kalk paste, and not even thinking about it spreading aptiasia pieces that grow into more aptasias. But I have had more and more pop up, so that sounds like it might be my problem.