Aptasia Experiments

[wds21921]

Same as my kalk application, you don't actually pierce the mouth or the body you simply get close and fill the mouth up with kalk. How is the selcon going to have any effect when they have a mouthful of kalk? Not questioning you, only the reason for the ingredients.

[fishmon]

When you cover the mouth, your doing just that, covering it. The anemone can expell water out its mouth, blowing the kalk away. The selcon is supposed to get the anemone to ingest the kalk instead. Just heresay, I don't know this for fact.

[fishmon]

Actually I was wrong, this is the link for whats actually in Joe's Juice.....http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...95#post6898995

[rcmike]

Hmm, maybe it is because they use salt water instead of fresh water mixed with the calcium hydroxide. I have had much better results with Joe's juice than kalk for some reason.

[wds21921]

Thanks for the follow-up fishmon. The inclusion of Selcon (as an appetite stimulator) would be almost negligible with that much kalk included.
The salt mixed in and then boiled together does make more sense. Much clearer now, thank you.

[Ciarán]

I noticed about 5-6 tiny aiptasia popping up on one of my rocks. I have had those rocks for 8 months or so without any aiptasia problems and suddenly i noticed them. The way i dealt with it was: I got a dremel and a chisel and took out a whole chunk about an inch below where the anemones resided. Then dumped the infested rock and put the cleansed rock back. Its under intense observation. Prevention is better than cure.

[alizarin]

Here's my experience with Molly Miner blennies and pepermint shrimp:

There are lots of blennies in Tampa Bay that look exactly like the photo that carp1959 posted as Molly Miner Blennies (http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/9983/picture3gd.jpg). I caught two of these juveniles (1 inch and another a half inch) and put them in a minibow 2.5 with a half dozen small aiptasia and they've yet to touch them after a week despite being hungry. They ate my nasarius snails right off though.

I had 2 aiptasia that I added to my tank a year ago before I realized they were bad and the pepermint shrimp I bought took them out in a day. When I got this outbreak from a new piece of live rock that same pepermint would never touch them. Seems like even the pepermints that do eat aiptasia don't keep up the habbit.

[Ciarán]

I have 2 small aiptasia at present that i got from new LR i bought on Saturday. Im currently trying an ultra concentrated Ca(Cl)2 (Calcium Chloride) addition to see if it does anything similar to Kalk, though i sincerely doubt it. They dont like it though, they run away and contract into their cowardly holes. Persistence may prevail I hope!

[Ciarán]

Update: The Calcium chloride wiped out a small aiptasia! Very good news IMO, the calcium input is safer than kalk with no pH spike or alkalinity worries. 1cm^3 was all that was needed via a hypodermic syringe. Excess calcium is then immediately 1000% bio-available without skewing the alkalinity balance.

[Pico Keeper]

I didn't read the whole thread.

But I would split the rock into sections. Throw the first section into the tank your going to treat. Feed all the aiptasia's so they are big and fat, and start injecting them with kalk. Granted this will mess up your water quality and calcium and ph will be all over, but that it why you dont do this in your actual display tank. Kill as many as you can with kalk, and then send them to another tank full of peppermints and bergs. Let them take care of all that's left over. When that's done, move the rock into the display.

start over. also keep peppermints in the display to eat the little ones that will almost certainly be left behind. Be sparing with the kalk, as if you inject too much and it drips out, it will kill all coralline it touches.

[saltyunderground]

Pico, if you are suggesting peppermint shrimp and Berghia, the shrimp will eat the Berghia if they find them. Not a good combination.

[BJCooper]

I also have had aptasia problems....forgot about peppermints....dang. My best solution was a Orange Butterfly (Kleins). Little bugger wipes them right out. Problem is though, that while he will leave most of the corals alone....an open brain is just plain labelled "lunch". Ugh.

[Pico Keeper]

I had bergias and a couple peppermints to clean up about 40 lbs of live rock. The didn't bother each other.. But maybe cus the peppermints where little?? I used begia verricicornis i think. I think the bergias where breeding alot in the rock cooker.

I had the tank curing rock, and i kalked all the big aiptasia I could find after feeding them, then waited for my water levels to get back to normal and I added the shrimps and nudibranches.