Neat new way of killing Aiptasia

[Anonymous]

...With a pair of scissors! Just slowly & carefully get the blades aroud it (don't touch it - it will quickly retreat), then snip!

I just did that to a small one in my tank... Afterwards I noticed he was on a small piece of rubble rock, which I simply removed after the snipping, so I don't know if the scissors would have been a permanent solution, though...

Be sure to rinse off the scissors afterward - the saltwater will make it quickly rust.

[ August 04, 2001: Message edited by: Cheese Sandwich ]

 

[Lunchbucket]

i think they will grow back...the pesky bastards

later
Lunchbucket

 

[leclaire]

They'll definitely grow back. Tried that a long time ago. Give it a few weeks.
LL

 

[DaktariEd]

Sorry, but they definitely will grow back...any remnant has the capability of regeneration.

Ed

 

[Anonymous]

These things are evil & must be destroyed...

Thanks for setting me straight folks!

 

[arnjer]

I had one about 6 months ago and it was on a small piece of rock that I could move and I took it and jammed it down into the sand bed to starve it of light and when I looked 2 weeks later it was gone. Now I see another one but it's on the very bottom of my rockwork so that method is not available but I was thinking about putting a cup of sand over it and waiting a couple of weeks then take the turkey baster and blow the sand away. I will keep you posted. I also tried this with hair algae. I just moved two 55 gal into my new 90 gal and when I put in the rock that was almost covered with algae I turned it upside down so the light wouldn't get to the algae and it's almost gone.

Jerry

[ August 04, 2001: Message edited by: arnjer ]

 

[Toadally1]

Just use an underwater torch to burn them while diving in the tank. Works well!

 

[davelin315]

I use a toothbrush and basically obliterate them. It's been more or less effective as the remnants are so far damaged that they don't reproduce, but it does leave little pieces of rotting aiptasia in my tank floating around.....

 

[ging]

I was reading some articles that said that if you do those types of things that they will actually multiply from the little pieces that are left and you will have more than what you started with. Is this true ??

ging

 

[Bubafat]

Yes, they will regenerate. In essesence any piece of the aptasia can generate a new pesky anemone. Very bad. There are 3 main things that you can do to them to kill them. These are ranked from most effective to least.

1. Kalkwasser paste squirted into their mouth. Downfall? MAY raise pH in small tanks, not if you just put like a pea sized squrit in their mouth.

2. Using the 2 part puddy underwater epoxy to cover it completely. Ugly imho and sometimes they can "crawl thru the rock to the other side if its porus enough.

3. BOILING water squirted in their mouth. Somewhat effective, but not nearly effective as Kalk paste

There may be more ways, I'm open ears, but I KNOW that scraping them off, scrubbing them off, DOES NOT WORK in the long run.

Buba

 

[ging]

I found a piece on the rock that has my xenia on it, and got 2 peppermint shrimp to munch on it. The piece that I found is gone, but I see another inching closer to the xenia. This may be a dumb question.. but do they move around on the rock or is this a different piece of aptasia ??

ging

 

[davelin315]

Like any anemone, they can move around. When I have obliterated mine in the past, I haven't had any recurrences. I'm going to do it again as a piece of blastomussa I rescued from a really crappy pet store came with a few on it when I bought it, but I didn't want to mess with them at the time as most of the individual polyps had retracted all the way back into the skeleton, and I could just see tiny bits of flesh, so when I wanted to get rid of the aiptasia, I couldn't tell what was what, so I left them. I'll try the kalk paste thing, but will that affect the blastomussa as well?

 

[ging]

Well, both pieces are gone this morning, and I saw my peppermint shrimp crawling to it last night when I turned the lights off

So my vote would be for peppermint shrimp to get rid of aptasia

ging

 

[reefer madness1]

I took my turkey baster,stuck it next to them,waited for them to pop up,and sucked the bastards away. Its worked twice so far and I havent seen any for about six weeks.

 

[ReefHawk]

I've used the methods Bubafat described, all work to some effect. Pepermint shrimp has been my best solution but sometimes they dont get em if something chases it off from the area, I've had that happen.

One other method I heard of but havent tried is using B-Ionic. Take part one and squirt it on the anemone, be sure to add the second part.

Worth a try if you use B-Ionic anyway. I think maybe any additive we normally use might be tried on the aiptasia, like Lugols Solution iodine maybe. The super concentrated effect may kill it.

HTH

ReefHawk

 

[Mouse]

Jack up the little bastards with a beefy injection of Kalkwasser.

INFILTRATOR TERMINATED............

 

[Anonymous]

I've used a shot of hot vinegar, but as with the Kalk you have to watch pH. I space the "treatments" by a couple of days.

This works well with valonia too.

-Greg

 

[John 3:16]

i did what buba fat did with the syringe and kalk wasser and it worked good.

 

[Dargason]

I just purchased a new tank on ebay and the sale included 200 lbs of live rock. I can't set up the tank yet (the carpet is going to be replaced) so I have the sand and rock set up in tubs temporarily with some powerheads.

I noticed this morning that the rocks have lots of aptasia on them... Are there any more effective methods I can use since I don't have to worry too much about other livestock? I can easily take the rocks out of the water and treat them individually if I need to. Ideas?

 

[Anonymous]

I found a little one on a frag that I got--I took it out of the water, he shriveled up, then I carefully sealed him in with a drop of crazyglue. Haven't seen him in the 3 weeks since.

Ty