Aiptasia Advice

[Darbna]

So, I have had a tank almost a year now. Converted to Primary SPS and everything is doing pretty good. Growth is a little slow but still coloring up nice and growing non the less. I have had Aiptasia here and there for the last few months and have been pretty good in spot checking the tank nightly and using Aiptasia X. Lately noticing that I am getting more and more of them and am getting frustrated. Found a few that were out of sight tonight and had gotten pretty bit since I didnt see them. I am trying to avoid being overrun with them and wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions. I have a peppermint shrimp in there but I dont think he is touching them. Tank is a 4ft 125 gallon. Also saw some video where a guy was using a laser. Looks fun but have no idea where to get a laser like that. Any feed back is appreiated.

 

[reeftilldie]

how many peppermint shrimp u have in the tank?

 

[Darbna]

how many peppermint shrimp u have in the tank?

2 of them. Was considering getting a copperband Butterfly but have heard mixed reviews.

 

[Nay]

Get a laser

 

[reeftilldie]

eBay item number : 261827375480 you can give this one a try , i have success with it. Or combination of filefish with peppermint shrimp will help too.

 

[DAPG8GT]

Lasers are not the answer.. They don't kill them and actually make them shoot off the little "seeds" and cause a massive overpopulated condition.. Google is your friend..

Trust me I'm that guy who spent $70 on a laser, thought it was working and spent $250 on a 4 watt one ( now I use it on foggy nights to trip out the tweekers up the street =) .. All the while I was working against myself and caused thousands of small baby aptasia to sprout.. There's a big thread on it.. And the conclusion is the same it doesn't work in the long run..

Personally I would suggest natural predators ( berghia is the best imo) like a copper band, shrimp like you have etc.. Imo it's All just a method control vs eradication of you already have a decent amount in the tank. I think it's impossible to eradicate them completely forever if you already have them reproducing in the tank ..

What I've been doing in my newish tank is using super glue.. I use a syringe like the one that comes with aptasia x or the small dollar store tubes and drop a bit on them so they take it in like aptasia x and then smother them in it covering them and about a nickel size around them.. I will be trying a copper and in the future although I had one a few years ago that didn't touch them so it's a crap shoot. Only guarantee predator is berghia that I know of..

 

[johntdaballa]

Get a filefish , peppermint shrimp worked well for me.

 

[ChrisAndJulie2012]

I am not sure how easy or how complex your tank is. But between having a 1 peppermint shrimp in our tank, they very rarely make an appearance. When they do, I have white vinegar and a diabetic needle and inject them with a full dose of vinegar. They usually dissolve away within a half hour or so. I have read a few articles and the vinegar doesn't seem to do much to our water.

 

[Darbna]

Got an army of Peppermint Shrimp today and a small CB butterfly. Cool little fish and is doing great. Already picking at the rocks and what not. We will see.

 

[Rob Lion]

2 key things...

1. re-train your peppermint shrimp to eat the aptasia .. remove them from the tank and put them into a QT or bucket etc they can survive in safely and don't feed them, get a couple of aptasia out (easy ones are if they are on the sand bed) and add them to the peppermin tank. Get them used to eating it again. Once they do, return them to the DT after all other fish have been fed.
2. when you use aptasia-X , make sure all pumps are off, and when you use it make sure they not only "explode" but that you also cover them in the aptasia-X, this stops them dumping their offspring out to grow elsewhere. Leave the pumps off for 30 mins, so that the aptasia-X forms a hard cap over them. Make sure you hit ALL aptasia in one go too.

 

[Waterjockey]

I've been using a laser about once a week for the better part of a year. If I study the tank hard I can usually find 1/2 dozen or so to zap. Haven't had an "outbreak" so to speak, always about the same amount. Assuming there are a couple of big suckers buried in the rockwork I can't see reproducing, thus why there are always some.
I also make sure I "nuke" the heck out of them for a bit after they've appeared to be melted into nothing.