Aiptasia, And Why It's Crap

[nilocmal]

hello. i'm new to this forum, (not forums generally, been doing this since 1994, so am offically both old, and old school).

summary - got a trop tank 3 years ago, which was nice till i got bored with it. converted to salt last july. now reef'ish. amazing. but...

got shedloads of aiptasia whch are now eating my fish and my corals. not good. looks like if i was state side i'd get some burghia, but i'm not and those things are harder to get hold of than gold dust this sde of the pond.

so, got some peppermint shrimps instead. today. they're tiny. i can't see how they'll be able to to avoid, let alone eat the aiptasia.

anyone been here before ?

help and advice much appreciated people.

 

[crazyelece]

Do a search on Joe's Juice or kalkwasser. Use that solution directly injected on them to nuke them. Also a good sharp chisel comes in handy to scrape the rocks (outside of the display obviously). After you have done all you can to rid them, then peppermint shrimp should keep them at bay. They are really only good at removing them when they are smaller and in lower numbers.

 

[tomstanks]

hello. i'm new to this forum, (not forums generally, been doing this since 1994, so am offically both old, and old school).

summary - got a trop tank 3 years ago, which was nice till i got bored with it. converted to salt last july. now reef'ish. amazing. but...

got shedloads of aiptasia whch are now eating my fish and my corals. not good. looks like if i was state side i'd get some burghia, but i'm not and those things are harder to get hold of than gold dust this sde of the pond.

so, got some peppermint shrimps instead. today. they're tiny. i can't see how they'll be able to to avoid, let alone eat the aiptasia.

anyone been here before ?

help and advice much appreciated people.

JOE'S JUICE!!! I use this stuff in my reef tanks when necessary and it is amazing. It is worth its weight in gold, but if I were you I'd get from joesjuice.com. Cheapest I have found it...anyone find it cheaper let me know!

Make sure you do it correctly. You have to feed the buggers the stuff or it won't work as well.

 

[nilocmal]

thanks guys,

one of the buggers was living on the rock my (not too sure of the name) pulsing coral was on. the latter was less than happy as a direct result. so, when i got the peppermints i also got some tropic marin elim aiptas and nuked the culprit. it was very effective. the bugger turned to white mist in a matter of seconds and no sign of it since.

tricky business though. i'm assured this is the same gear as joe's juice. correct me if i'm (the lfs is) wrong.

anyway, got a happy coral now. no sign of the peppermints doing any aiptasia muching as yet but it's early days.

will keep you posted. thanks again for your help. much appreciated.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks guys,

one of the buggers was living on the rock my (not too sure of the name) pulsing coral was on. the latter was less than happy as a direct result. so, when i got the peppermints i also got some tropic marin elim aiptas and nuked the culprit. it was very effective. the bugger turned to white mist in a matter of seconds and no sign of it since.

tricky business though. i'm assured this is the same gear as joe's juice. correct me if i'm (the lfs is) wrong.

anyway, got a happy coral now. no sign of the peppermints doing any aiptasia muching as yet but it's early days.

will keep you posted. thanks again for your help. much appreciated.

we've used the same stuff as we struggled to source joe's juice over here

we had loads of aiptasia, so blasted the few biggest one's with that stuff, did a big water change immediately after, then the peppermint shrimp take care of the rest cos they get em when they're small

 

[crazyelece]

Joe's Juice is basically really strong kalkwasser mix. There are plenty of other good supplies of it. Think of it like kleenex, it is a brand name but anything similar will do the trick. The cheapest supply I know is mixing it yourself. Get some pickling lime and mix it to a paste, then blast them with it.

 

[Donya]

got shedloads of aiptasia whch are now eating my fish and my corals.

Eating the fish? How big are the nems?

 

[mantis147]

i had aptasia, I bought a butterfly fish & it worked wonders it ate about twenty of them!!

 

[nilocmal]

got shedloads of aiptasia whch are now eating my fish and my corals.

Eating the fish? How big are the nems?

the bigger ones are (were) about 1" to 2" across but they've all been nuked now.

one of them had it away with a blue damsel. nasty horrible things these bloody aiptasia.

thanks guys,

one of the buggers was living on the rock my (not too sure of the name) pulsing coral was on. the latter was less than happy as a direct result. so, when i got the peppermints i also got some tropic marin elim aiptas and nuked the culprit. it was very effective. the bugger turned to white mist in a matter of seconds and no sign of it since.

tricky business though. i'm assured this is the same gear as joe's juice. correct me if i'm (the lfs is) wrong.

anyway, got a happy coral now. no sign of the peppermints doing any aiptasia muching as yet but it's early days.

will keep you posted. thanks again for your help. much appreciated.

we've used the same stuff as we struggled to source joe's juice over here

we had loads of aiptasia, so blasted the few biggest one's with that stuff, did a big water change immediately after, then the peppermint shrimp take care of the rest cos they get em when they're small

yes that's the plan we're going with at the moment. nuke the biggies and hopefully the peppermints will sort out the babies.

using 3 x 2ml syringes every other day. aiptasia are slowly disappearing, but ph is dropping fast. was a steady 8.4 for months but is now 8.2 four days into nuking process. do you think i should add something to bring it up again, or do a water change, or do nothing and let it sort itself out ?

i had aptasia, I bought a butterfly fish & it worked wonders it ate about twenty of them!!

they're not reef safe though, right ?

 

[tomstanks]

they're not reef safe though, right ?



Not really. For the most part, if you mean the Copper Band Butterfly then it is reef "safe" with caution. It might hurt some stuff and it might not. It depends on the fish I guess.

I have seen Coral Beautys harrass Feather Duster Worms until they die and in another tank totally ignore them.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes that's the plan we're going with at the moment. nuke the biggies and hopefully the peppermints will sort out the babies.

using 3 x 2ml syringes every other day. aiptasia are slowly disappearing, but ph is dropping fast. was a steady 8.4 for months but is now 8.2 four days into nuking process. do you think i should add something to bring it up again, or do a water change, or do nothing and let it sort itself out ?

that's why we did water changes after nuking some.

we nuked the first of the big ones and to our horror all the mushrooms started looking decidedly unwell within just a few minutes

so we rapidly (well as rapidly as you can when you have to wait for RO) did a water change and it sorted itself.

next time we nuke some we fully prepapred the water for the change, nuked them then started the water change straight afterwards and everyone was fine.

 

[nilocmal]

our tank is fine, apart from the ph dropping. everybody seems happy. the water is spot on - nothing in there that shouldn't be, and plenty of what should be.

it's just these bloody aiptasia !!! as fast as i can nuke them they seem to be coming back, and the peppermints don't seem to be doing much of anything save for crawling out of a rock and looking cute from time to time.

where can i get some burghia in the uk people - anyone know ? supposed to be good gear aiptasia wise if our friends across the pond are to be believed...

 

[SkiFletch]

Believe it, I've seen 2 berghias introduced into a tank at an LFS that was jam packed with aiptasia (prolly 30-40 heads at least). A week later when I returned there wasnt an aiptasia to be seen and there were berghia nudis crawlin everywhere

 

[nilocmal]

great news....

so where can i buy some in the uk ??? or where can i ship them in from so they're still alive when they arrive ???

 

[nilocmal]

found somewhere that will ship berghia to the uk, but not till next year - www.berghia.net

here's what they had to say:

>>
Hello Colin,

We have shipped to the UK on prior occasion. At this time we are
holding all overseas shipments in order to obtain sanitary
certifications as they are required by some countries particularly when
custom agents don't know how to classify Berghia. Certificate of
Inspection must be in our hand prior to planning for shipping. We
intend to work on these but will likely not have them until some time in
2007. This will coincide well with our construction project so this
means we should be able to ship easily to UK again next year.

Best Regards,
Larry
INSTAR (Inland South Texas Aquaculture Reef)
Farm and Chemical
Captive Bred, Tank Raised
www.berghia.net
<<

for all of you out there like me, with aiptasia, crap peppermints, and a major dislike of chemicals !!!