Holy Batman!!

[Montanarocknreefer]

This poor reef hobbyist over on RAG forum wanted to get rid of a few of these and said the rest looked great. He circled the ones he wanted to get rid of in the pic! I told him all of those aiptasia must go! Told him peppermint shrimp the first choice and a copperband would work as well!

 

[mojoreef]

WOW Now he has got a aiptasia problem.How much was he asking anyway .
Tell him not to feel bad one of the local stores out here was actually trying to sell them for 5 bucks a polup. :idea:


Mike

 

[mattseattle]

so how do you get rid of them? i think i have one or two on a live rock i bought. my cleaner shrimp hasn't taken care of them yet.

oh yeah, why are they such a problem? just cause they multiple so fast or are they detrimental to the tank in other ways?

 

[Montanarocknreefer]

Aiptasia(glass anenomes) are one of the major pests in your reef tank. They can over take your tank and sting your corals!

You can kalk them with a mixture of saltwater and kalk and use a syringe and inject the paste into their mouth openings or do it the natural way with peppermint shrimp or a copperband butterfly fish. There is a nudibranch that eats them as well. Johnny

 

[David Winther]

I have a pair of (very in love) Peppermint Shrimp that keep the tank spotless from them. I get a few in the sump from time to time but I just kill them there. It is cool to see the P. Shrimp with a belly full of babies swimming around. Got to see her "give birth" to tons of babies about 3 weeks ago. That was cool.

 

[mattseattle]

yeah i think i have one or two in my tank already on one rock. they are pretty small though. guess i should get rid of them before they grow and/or multiple.

i have a cleaner shrimp but it's not a peppermint shrimp though.

 

[Doug1]

Wow thats some serious aptasia

 

[Stang69]

Wow!!!!!!!






Jeff

 

[Montanarocknreefer]

Yeah Doug and Jeff I remember when my tank was just about as bad!

 

[Fragman]

Sure way to rid yourself of them is to NUKE EM!

Just mix up a Kalkwiser paste. I mean as thick as you can make it and still have it go through a PLASTIC needled suring. The plastic ones are larger pass through than metal. Turn off ALL of your pumps and powerheads. No current is vital. Don't worry this will only take 10 or 15 minutes and then you can turn them on again. You do not need to inject the Aptasia; simply drop some Kalk right onto their mouth opening from an inch or so above them. they will close around it and injest it. They don't retract as when you try to inject them. Wait 5 or 10 minutes before turning your pumps back on. The only caution that you should observe is Don't kill them all at once and foul your tank or OD it on Kalk. With that many Aptasia you may want to go on "2 or 3 hunting trips"

Good Luck

 

[mattseattle]

well i've only found 3 in my tank! so far i've killed 2 of them. the next one i'll get in a day or so

the kalk trick worked like a charm.