Questions

[davelin315]

I am picking up some live rock tomorrow that is heavily infested with Aiptasia. I will have the opportunity to treat it before I put it into my system at school, which is empty of corals, fish, and inverts, and was going to inject kalk into them with a turkey injector I have from my deep fryer kit. However, I was wondering if anyone had any other good ideas for "curing" the ills of this rock. Perhaps dipping it into a vinegar and water solution would kill them off? Or maybe dipping it very quickly into boiling hot water? Perhaps a freshwater dip?

 

Any and all suggestions are welcome. I obviously don't want to kill the other critters in the rock, but also don't want to get mixed up with all the aiptasia either.

[Jon Lazar]

Peppermint shrimp will quickly put those aiptasias away.

 

Jon

 

I am picking up some live rock tomorrow that is heavily infested with Aiptasia.  I will have the opportunity to treat it before I put it into my system at school, which is empty of corals, fish, and inverts, and was going to inject kalk into them with a turkey injector I have from my deep fryer kit.  However, I was wondering if anyone had any other good ideas for "curing" the ills of this rock.  Perhaps dipping it into a vinegar and water solution would kill them off?  Or maybe dipping it very quickly into boiling hot water?  Perhaps a freshwater dip?

 

Any and all suggestions are welcome.  I obviously don't want to kill the other critters in the rock, but also don't want to get mixed up with all the aiptasia either.

37654[/snapback]

[xeon]

Yes the Peppermints might be a good idea. I had a few aiptasia in my in-wall tank. Due to its design, it isn't always easy to do things without a "spotter". So... I got a peppermint and it took care of the few that I had in there. If there are some monster sized Aiptasia, the Pep. shrimp won't do much with them. I have had good luck injecting them via a hypodermic needle with lemon, lime and a Kalk solution. (acid, acid and base) Some people swear by Joe's Juice, which I've never used.

 

I would be hesitant to do anything that might also kill the bacteria on the rock. Aiptasia IME is pretty tough stuff. The boiling water would probably do the trick, but you probably would have massive die off and loss of beneficial bacteria. On the other hand, that might not be a bad thing... starting with some "base rock" since this is kind of a science lesson in action.

 

IMO, you have to keep Peppermints in the system as I believe they propogate them somewhat. I say that because I haven't seen an Aiptasia in my inwall tank for about 1 1/2 years. When I started my daughters tank, I aquacultured some base rock in the tank. I noticed a week or so ago that there are two Aiptasia in her tank. The source has to my in-wall tank since the rock before hand was bone dry and lifeless.

[steveoutlaw]

I just got some Joe's Juice and it works wonders. My main goal was to get rid of the biggies and to get some peppermint shrimp to handle the little guys and the ones I can't see.

 

I don't think you should dip the rock in boiling water. I believe that if you have a lot of die-off on the rock it will send the tank into a cycle which you probably don't want (who does?).

 

I'd go with the Joe's Juice and peppermint shrimp. The kids will probably enjoy the peppermints.....they are pretty cool to watch.

 

Steve

[Grav]

The turkey baster and kalk probably will not work. you need to really inject it, and that needle is going to be too big.

 

I've recently used Joe's for the first time and found it both easy and effective, no need to inject, they actually "eat" the stuff.

[davelin315]

The system they are coming out of actually has at least two peppermint shrimp in there and they haven't done anything to the aiptasia population. In fact, the aiptasia have been able to grow and thrive to the point where some of them are almost 2-3" across at the head. I figured that I'd give it a try today, but I don't have any Joe's Juice and will be picking up the rock today. If I can't get rid of them via the kalk paste, I'll give Joe's Juice a try.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[steveoutlaw]

Regarding the peppermint shrimp; I've read that there are actually 2 types of peppermints......one that eats aptaisia and one that doesn't. The ones that do eat it don't go for the big ones.

 

Regarding the kalk injections; I tried the syringe method with kalk and found that they withdraw when you get close to them so it can be hard to spear them with the syringe. The Joe's Juice comes with an applicator syringe that allows you to put it right into the mouth of the son of a guns. It's amazing, they just sit there and eat it up.........NO MORE APTAISIA.

[fishface]

I'd be interested to know if you could try cooking the rock. I've read about it on Reefcentral. Since it doesn't involve cooking, I guess that they needed to come up with a cool trendy name.

 

It applies (so far) to killing algea by putting the LR in a bucket or tub with a power head and heater at normal temp in the dark to kill it off. I recall that you do water changes, which makes sense. Prior to using this method the only way people would kill algea was to dry out the LR, killing everything.

Did you know that there may be burrowing clams INSIDE the LR? I saw some at the fall fragfest or I would not have believed it.

 

Anyway, I image the tipping point here is whether the Aptasia can survive in the dark merely by absorbing neutrients from the water, which they probably due to some extent. Would you consider putting aside a few pieces in bucket as a test?

Thanks,

 

FF

[davelin315]

Actually, I can attest to the fact that they can survive in the dark. I had aiptasia in my sump on LR rubble before. It was absolutely transparent but it was still alive and kicking, catching pods as they swam by. It actually is kind of cool to be able to get a clear picture of a pod inside the aiptasia. When they're healthier, it's a bit more cloudy a picture, but when they're clear, it's much easier to see. These aiptasia were in the sump for well over a year until I tore down the system. They're probably still alive with the guy I gave the sump to three years later!

 

That said, I could do an experiment with the kids and see what exactly will survive. I could sacrifice some zoos, shrooms, etc, and see what exactly survives on pieces of rubble with no light. I know that I've unearthed zoos in the past that have been buried by shifting sand beds that are crystal clear except for the discs, and they been able to recover even after months of bleaching. I'll let you know if I can get the experiment going.

[Guest RastaMan]

Try Joe's Juice. It's easy and you don't have to inject the Apitasia. Just put it on it and they will eat it.

 

Aiptasia definitely don't need light.

 

Peppermint shrimp come from either the Atlantic or the Pacific. You want the Atlantic variety.

 

Rick

[davelin315]

Can anyone recommend where to get some Joe's Juice cheap (or have any they can donate?). I removed the larger ones today and some of the smaller ones using the turkey injector (you were right, I had problems injecting the kalk). Amazingly enough, when you jam a needle into them and start to suck up their insides with a syringe, about 70% of the time, they release their grip on the rock! I was able to either get most or all of the large ones to release their grip or was able to suck them up in their entirety through the needle for injecting a turkey with juices and spices. It was kind of wierd to see an aiptasia there one second and then popping out on the inside of the syringe after a little bit of suction... I know I missed a ton of them, but I'll try and get them later.

[flowerseller]

When I had a few, I used microwave HOT water mixed with kalk and injected them.

I aimed for the mouth and stuck it in and shot them a face full as they contracted.

I was pretty generous with the kalk and the heat.

[Guest RastaMan]

Dave,

 

You can get Joe's Juice shipped free from www.joesjuice.com

 

It's like $5.00 for a bottle with free shipping for first time orders.

 

Rick

[ReeferMan]

i use vinegar and it works every time.

[Jon Lazar]

Two other methods I've used to kill aiptasia:

 

- Remove the rock and grind it up with a screwdriver. I ground away a fair bit of LR to make sure there wasn't any left. You have to be able to remove the rock to do this though.

 

- When they live in a hole that's hard to get into, I've smooshed a piece of underwater expoxy into the hole. Sorta like mounting a frag, only there's no frag, just a trapped aiptasia. I figure that probably kills it, but who cares becasue it's not coming out.

 

I second what others have said about peppermint shrimp ignoring large aiptasia...those ones are up to you to destroy.

 

Good luck,

Jon

[davelin315]

Well, I went in today to make sure the tank was doing OK and was amazed at how many additional aiptasia came out of the live rock since Friday when I saw it in Sounder's tank. It was like a forest in there! Caribbean Jake came by to take a look at the systems and I think he understands that I am not doing justice to the infestation when I say that there are a ton!

 

There are large and small ones, and the peps don't seem to touch them, so they must be from the wrong ocean. Also, the kalk didn't work, so I was about to get some Joe's Juice, but then decided that I'd rather go the natural way and look into getting some berghia nudibranchs. I'm going to put up a new post on this to see if anyone wants to join in with me. I found a place that sells them in lots of 3 for $40 and then adds another $20 or so for shipping. I figure if a few people want to get them, we can start passing them back and forth as aiptasia populations are eradicated, or, I could even try to breed them in my tank. Here's a link that's got some information on them and how they work (long process, and they are breeding when you get them). I know that they'll all die out after the aiptasia are gone, but if I have more than a few, then perhaps it would help to move them from tank to tank...

 

Texas Berghia Nudibranchs

[flowerseller]

Dave,

Not sure you'll get to the point of loaning out the bergia before they dissapear.

Depending on how much rock you need, you could probably buy enough new rock for that $60.00 and dry the current out and add it back later. I know yours is a lesson thing and this is just an economical thought.

BTW: Do you use lots of high quality protein skimming and C/PO4 remover?

[davelin315]

Actually, I don't use a skimmer at all because it's too noisy for the classroom and I don't use phosphate removers, although I will be running carbon on and off. I was reading up on aiptasia and we keep good water quality during the year, so I'm hopeful that we can get their numbers down and then keep them down.

 

By the way, when they are in the dark, I found out that that is when they begin to shoot off tiny buds. The way people who culture berghia nudibranchs feed them is by rotating live rock into the dark so that the aiptasia reproduce more quickly!