Charlie97L July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 i have some live rock in a holding tank that's pretty overrun with aiptasia, that i took from my dad's tank experiment when he broke it down, it had just gotten away from him. i think there's just too many to inject, but i'd like to get rid of the aiptasia before adding this to my new tank. the water quality was great, he just let the aips get out of control. what would you recommend? total dry out? putting it in a closed container with no light? something else? any advice would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Junkie July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 what if you just keep it in the holding tank and thow in a bunch of peppermint shrimp and let them go to town on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 what if you just keep it in the holding tank and thow in a bunch of peppermint shrimp and let them go to town on it. I would still suggest Joe's Juice. It may take a few days to get most of them, but having the ability to turn the rock around and over - you should be able to zap them clean in short order. Any other method I can think of would make the live rock less 'live'. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnguyen4007 July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 Isn't it a miss or hit thing with peppermint shrimp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 Don't put them in the dark, yea but at a few bucks a piece wouldn't it be cool to throw 5 or so peppermints in the tank and some have to eat it. It would fun to watch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 If you want to be sure they are all gone dry the rock out. If the rocks are going into an established tank it wont matter that there is no life on the rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme_tooth_decay July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 (edited) Peppermint shrimp won't work, especially with larger aiptasia. You should be able to get it under control wit Joe's Juice, I offed at least a hundred once in half an hour. Do it once today, once in a week, once in 2 weeks, and you should be done. Then throw in a couple peppermints to keep the tiny ones under control. tim Edited July 27, 2007 by extreme_tooth_decay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnguyen4007 July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 what is joe's juice? i heard that a lot but don't know what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 if you dry it out you will probably have any coraline on it turn white Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie97L July 27, 2007 Author Share July 27, 2007 thanks for the tips guyes. haha, some are just huge man. peps will only go for the smaller ones. i'm talking, like raquet ball size, at least, fully inflated. i'll joe juice them i guess. do you have to inject them in the body? or just on them. i've never been to clear on that. you'd need a medical needle to inject them actually into the flesh of the animal themselves, wouldn't you? thanks! charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trble81 July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 I believe you just use the Joe's Juice applicator syringe to put the stuff on their mouths. They eat it and the rest is history. People also say you can use a mixture of Kalk and boiling water. That you need to inject directly into them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phisigs79 July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 i say nuke them with kalk and vinegar paste. take rock out of water and put it on them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 July 27, 2007 Share July 27, 2007 http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=15781 I wrote some information on the various methods for eradicating them in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl July 29, 2007 Share July 29, 2007 (edited) Painful lesson I learned on my tank. I've had my tank for 9 years...and have never had aiptasia... About 6 months ago I purchased some zoos from a member getting out of the hobby. The zoos were very healthy...I didn't notice any aiptasia...so I plopped the zoos in my tank that same day. The zoos grew very well, but after a week or so I noticed one small aiptasia. I bought Joe's juice the following weekend - which by that time I had 4 of them growing. Joe's juice seemed to melt them away...I was happy. The following weekend...I found 5-6 more aiptasia around my 70 gallon tank...I juiced them again. After 2 bottles of Joe's juice, and a few weekends of juicing the aiptasia...I gave up...and now my tank is a 70 gallon aiptasia tank...with some zoo's and assorted fish. I'm so frustrated, I'm about to take all my zoos, mushrooms, anenomes and corals out (approx 20), put them in a 29 gallon tank with as little rock as possible...and joe's juice the aiptasia for 60 days until I know they are gone. I don't know what to do with the 70 pounds of live rock in my tank (well I think there's live rock under the aiptasia somewhere)...but am very seriously thinking about taking it all out, and letting it dry out/fry in the sun in my driveway for a week. The lesson I have learned - don't put anything in your tank that has the possiblity of screwing it up. I've put so many hours into keeping the tank healthy and looking good...it only took one small frag from an unknown tank to mess it up. -Carl Edited July 29, 2007 by Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 July 29, 2007 Share July 29, 2007 Hey Carl, try the three pronged approach. Get yourself a copperband butterfly that is eating and some peppermint shrimp and let them go to town. Inject the largest ones and you'll be close to eradicating them. I am happily approaching no aiptasia in the school rock where there's the copperband and peppermints with me injecting the largest ones. I'm about to buy another copperband, actually, to stick into the sump area where there are other aiptasia floating around. Worst case scenario, buy yourself some berghia nudibranchs and when the populations is thinned out of aiptasia and approaching almost none left, toss the copperband in there and some peppermint shrimp. They will eat the berghias (I think) but if the berghias have done their job, then they'll die off anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl July 29, 2007 Share July 29, 2007 Thanks Dave - I may give that a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman July 29, 2007 Share July 29, 2007 I think aiptasia is a way of life for reefers. Eventually you're going to get some. I just zap them about once a week, and the infestation seems to stay in check. Each week I find about 4-5 of them between the 24, 58, and FRAG tanks. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 July 29, 2007 Share July 29, 2007 Bob, better get them under control, you may never be able to reach them in your new tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinsparent August 1, 2007 Share August 1, 2007 I had a tank get really hot on vacation (the person watching the tank didn't know a whole lot). All that survived was a yellow tang and an urchin. On the plus side ALL the aiptasia were gone. It has been a year and they have not come back. I don't know what this does to the bacteria in the live rock - but it seems less harsh than drying it in the sun. Put a heater in a small tank with the rock and raise it a degree or two a day until you see that all the aiptasia are gone. Then leave it there for another day or two to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rascal August 1, 2007 Share August 1, 2007 i have some live rock in a holding tank that's pretty overrun with aiptasia, that i took from my dad's tank experiment when he broke it down, it had just gotten away from him. What a great business opportunity! 1) Feed the aiptasia and allow them to grow and multiply. 2) Order 3 berghia nudibranches from here: http://www.berghia.net/ 3) Allow the berghia to grow and multiply (which they apparently do quite readily given enough of a food source, which you have) 4) Post here offering berghia for sale to us, the aiptasia afflicted reefers of WAMAS, at greatly reduced prices (with a special discount for yours truly, as a perk for hatching this brilliant scheme). 5) Quickly recoup your initial investment and then some, financing all kinds of reefing goodies with your little berghia factory. Everybody wins. I've actually considering suggesting this idea to Superpets, since they seem so adept at growing aiptasia in their tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman August 1, 2007 Share August 1, 2007 Bob, better get them under control, you may never be able to reach them in your new tank! I have scuba gear! Just remind me to wear the buoyancy compensator when I'm hunting the Aiptasia of the Deep. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valab August 1, 2007 Share August 1, 2007 I remember when this guy first started selling on RC: http://www.saltyunderground.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezza August 1, 2007 Share August 1, 2007 pepper mint shrimp works great for me..after two days in the tank,, they clean those suckers out real quick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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