Aiptasia

[jemichaeliv]

I purchased some peppermint shrimps about 2-3 weeks ago and I have not seen any difference in my aiptasia. I put 8 in my 110. I have pulled alot and siphoned but its not something I enjoy and they tend to come back.

My LFS has a gorgeous Copperband Butterfly and I have read some messages about them eating even the large aiptasia.

What are your thoughts on this? He will be going into a 110 with a yellow tang. Will he nip at anything or will I have a problem with my yellow tang? If so I will place the yellow tang in another tank until I get my aiptasia working and then I will put him back (give him a timeout)

Any links or ideas or suggestions expecially from people who have used this method and fought aiptasia and won with the copperband butterfly or any other method. I know the peppermint shrimp are supposed to work but its been 3 weeks.

John

 

[aquaguy]

I've tried Berghia long time ago and it worked for me, I got them in Berghia Breeders. They feed on aiptasia only, please give them to somebody else when they finish their "job" otherwise they will starve.

 

[Gatortailale1]

I put a peppermint in my overflow when I had problem there and it cleaned up the problem. Is anything picking on the shrimps? What kind of corals do you have in the tank? Butterly will chow down on various things unless you match up its diet with safe coral in your tank. I have seen LFS take a syringe (sp?)and squirt kalkwash. on them to kill apth.

 

[GMH320]

Take a piece of speaker wire and bare the insulation about 1/4" off one end. Attached the wire to a wooden dowel or net handle and then jam it into the aiptasia. Touch the other end of the wire across the terminals of a 9 volt battery for a few seconds.. worked every time for me. The current is very localized just between the two wires, so it doesn't harm anything else in the tank

 

[HARRISON]

Electricity....water....other fish....Not sure I would do this. No offense but I know that elecrical current is not good for fish, not sure about corals. I would inject them with Kalk. Thats what I gather is the best method. Hope this helps.

Harrison

 

[Goldmoon]

I would suggest maybe keep a BIG eye on the tang or remove it like you said you would and put him in later.. here is a link where I am asking questions about tang and copperband butterfly since my tang almost killed my butterfly.

http://www.aqualink-too.com/ubb/board/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=11&t=005075

You might want to read more about butterflies.. here is a link to Ron Shimek's
http://www.reefcentral.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15996&highlight=butterfly

[ September 20, 2001: Message edited by: Goldmoon ]

 

[John 3:16]

i would inject with kalk
my 2 cents

 

[aquaguy]

Electricity?..... Salt water is a very good electricity conductor, I think other fish can survive that shock, but they will feel it...it's just my point of view.

 

[polyp]

Greg,
Sounds interesting. Aside from the fact that we're only talking 9 volts and a few miliamps, I would tend to think that as the current will seek the shortest path possible (from one electrode, through the aiptasia and then to the other electrode...localized, as you said) your technique sounds safe enough if one is careful. While fish in salt water are probably loads more sensitive than my tongue is to a 9V battery, I would still believe that the current is quite localized (i.e. my feet don't tingle when I lick a battery). Are you certain it's the current which is directly contributing to the death of the aptaisia, or is it the copper(?) speaker wire, or the combination of both? What I mean is, the current could fry the aiptasia's neurons, or the current could be pulling some copper from the wire into solution inside the aptaisia... which leads to other questions...???

 

[MedicineMan1]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by polyp:
<STRONG>While fish in salt water are probably loads more sensitive than my tongue is to a 9V battery, I would still believe that the current is quite localized (i.e. my feet don't tingle when I lick a battery</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Polyp-Do you lick 9V batteries often?

On a more serious note, the rest of your post seems sensible to me. I believe I'll try this method as my peppermint shrimp ate my Berghia but not aiptasia! The kalk injection is too laborious and difficult to get to all the spots without dripping the paste onto a coral for the number of aiptasia I have. I'll report back when I'm finished!

 

[polyp]

MedicineMan,

I'll confess to licking batteries. ...sometimes it's just a lot easier to lick a battery to verify if it's tapped than to reach for the Volt meter.

I think I'm going to investigate this zapping technique a bit more... sounds interesting. I've got a several Anemonia majano that I directly injected with Kalkwasser paste and every one of them survived.

I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[env788]

I think this should work nicely. Time to give it a shot.

 

[botp2k1]

The peppermint shrimps should work but it is not fool proof. Some do, some don't, also you have to be sure you have the peppermint shrimp and not the camel shrimp. How you feed your tank also plays a role in it. If the shrimps have a constant diet of good and readily available food why pick at the aiptasias, right? If the aiptasia does not increase or spread, give it more time. The shrimps may be doing their "job". You will still have to kill the large ones yourself. Shrimps usually will just manage the smaller ones.

I am fighting aiptasia myself, two peppies are in the tank, so far it does not look the aiptasias are increasing. I do not have fishes so the tank is not fed on a daily schedule.

Do not pull or break apart the aiptasia to remove them, you will only encourage them to spread. Use a syringe with hot water or kalkwasser paste instead. Also, be careful of introducing a fish that is not reef safe to take care of the aipstasia, you will be only trading problems.

Good luck.

 

[sillingw]

I've been following this thread with much interest since I also have aiptasia in my tank - I had peppermint s for three months - untill I introduced cleaner shrimp - I think the cleaners did away with the peppermint (which never touched the aiptaia anyway) - I've tried injecting Kalk with very limited success - (one times in 10 it works) but it's time consuming, messy and not that effective - so I'm looking at the Berghia solution - however - their web site will not take my order (been trying for 4 days now), I get a Javascript error. I think I am destined to breed aiptasia - anyone want some? p.s. if anyone knows how I can get some Berghia, let me know and I'll report on the results