How Do You Eliminate Aiptasia?

[krisfal]

I voted for the butterfly fish. I bought a copperband who quickly wiped out the aiptasia that came with the live rock I bought for my 130g. Fortunately, I was able to get him eating other foods so he is staying fat and healthy, I have had him for about 4 months. I noticed he was always picking at the live rock so I started squishing pieces of clam into the live rock in one place as I was feeding. He quickly started going to that spot at feeding time. When he started grabbing the clam from me before I could even get it to the rock I just started feeding him in the water column with the other fish. He will try anything white i.e. clam, oyster, mysis but I have had no luck with anything with color.

 

[lavenderfish]

How does one tell if one is getting a true "wunderman", and not getting a "rat-bunny" or "californication"?

I second this question. My live rock came with lots of tiny feather dusters but a few (3-5) have grown into recognizable aiptasia. Thankfully most really are small feather duster worms. They are in very awkward places and I want to buy the correct shrimp. It is a 20 gallon so aiptasia eating fish are not nano appropriate.:?:

 

[steve-s]

How does one tell if one is getting a true "wunderman", and not getting a "rat-bunny" or "californication"?

Not as easy as you might think. It's really a matter of knowing there could be a difference and knowing what you want, not necessarily what you don't. The L. californica is pretty easy to spot but the L. rathbunae is usually the one that gets mistaken easily. Note the stripped patterns on the abdomen. That's the surest way. Lysmata wurdemanni does not have a vertical stripe pattern on the upper abdominal segments, just the lower.

Lysmata rathbunae
http://www.nachzuchtenregister.de/Garnelen_Krebse/Lysmata_rathbunae/W__Mai/w__mai.htm

Lysmata californica
http://www.oceanlight.com/info.php?img=08641

Lysmata wurdemanni
http://wetwebmedia.com/hippolytidae.htm

 

[tamarindthai]

Raccon woked great for me.

 

[spongebob lover]

I've had good luck with Peppermint Shrimp in the past, and I need to try them again. Several months ago, I acquired a couple of SPS colonies, which were quarantined. I spent alot of time getting rid of a few aiptasia during QT, but alas...I must have missed one....the last few weeks I could see a few deep in the colonies.

Here is a pic from a long while back, showing how the aiptasia will "bud off" from the main anemone. It is easy to see how easily they spread:

OMG!!! Nikki that is insane i feel bad for everyone that has to go through aptasia

 

[balogh03]

Raccon woked great for me.

Hey Dang, did you take him out after the aiptasia was gone, or leave him in? I think they are awsome fish but would probly eat all the coral in my tank :lol:

-augustus

 

[scytale]

Thanks for the pics!

Not as easy as you might think. It's really a matter of knowing there could be a difference and knowing what you want, not necessarily what you don't.

(I never thought it would be easy) but I'm still having touble telling the difference....

Here's another pic (not my shrimp; just a stock photo) It's been labeled as a Lysmata wurdemanni, when you say "no vertical stripes" are you referring to the slightly greenish area in this pic (?shrimp's brain?)?

In other words, if this was a a picture of a Lysmata rathbunae--it would have parallel stripes running from "nose-to-tail" through the green area?

Is that right?

 

[NC2WA]

I use white vinegar with warm water in a syringe. Works like a champ. Not to promote a chemical unbalance in the tank, I try not to do more than one syringe at a time, and every 2 days.

 

[wrightme43]

Thermo Nuclear Fusion. Its the only way to sure.

 

[jake65]

I use Pickling Lime every few months, works good enough for me. Theres still a few here and there but I can keep it under control easy enough.

 

[Scooterman]

Thermo Nuclear Fusion. Its the only way to sure.

Agreed!

 

[wrightme43]

Ridley was right, ever seen alien 2.
Actually I had very good success with a small colony that got thru somehow with a copper banded. It was eaten by anemone in the end though so it was kinda poetic justice.

 

[NC2WA]

wrightme43,

So I assume Confusious's rule about "don't use cannonball to kill mosquito" doesn't apply here??

<and yes, I am being sarcastic>

 

[jnarowe]

I did a poll similar to this on RC and came up with similar results. I have put 60 peppermint shrimp into my system with no noticable effect on the aiptasia, and you guys bring up a good point. I wonder if I have the right shrimp?

Some of mine look more like Lysmata rathbunae than Lysmata wurdemanni. None of them that I can remember look like Lysmata californica. I do notice that they will change colors though depending on mood I guess. I now have been contemplating a CBB, and before everyone starts telling me to use kalk paste, Joe's Juice, etc. let me tell you I have tried all of the above.

As far as I am concerned, Joe's Juice doesn't work at all. I have tried it many times only for the the aiptasia come back a few days later. All of the fiixes mentioned in the poll seem to irritate the anemones but I have yet to actually kill any. That is primarily due to the size of my system and the fact that many of my anemones are in 35" of water.

I have tested these remedies with a rock in my QT, and I did finally kill off a mojano with Joe's Juice, but it took 3 appications. When I dropped in one of my peppermint shrimp, it slowly took care of the aiptasia on that rock, but I also was not feeding the QT. It seems to me that the shrimp in the main system may not eat aiptasia because there is other plentiful food.

I have 5 peppermints in my fuge and I only see one aiptasia right now so again that supports my thoughts on them eating aiptasia when there is no other available food. The fuge is where it all began and is essentially free of them now.

 

[scytale]

Where is everyone finding these "weed-eating" peppermint shrimp???
In the past month I've bought 4 pep. shrimps from SWC and BluSeirra and I've only seen 1 tiny aptasia disappear!
And that 1 disappearance was nowhere near the heaviest aptasia concentration
(in the back corner of my tank--what I had hoped to dub "the all-they-can-eat-salad-bar"!)

If those guys don't start eating soon, I'm going to have to borrow someone's chiller
(because I'm about to UNLOAD a gallon of boiling water into that corner!) :evil:

Update:
Can I offically change my vote from "hot water" to "peppermint shrimp"??

I don't know if it was the scent of "boiled aiptasia" in the tank after I nuked the 2 biggest ones,
or if they were responding to my trash-talking above....
but whatever it was THE SHRIMP GOT THE MESSAGE--the aiptasia are GONE!

"All-they-can-eat salad-bar"?? Done! Gone! Consumed! (in 3 days)!!!

FWIW: The last pair of peppermint shrimp that i bought were from BlueSeirra in Issaquah,
and they were labelled "Wurdemanni" on the tank....they certianly did the job!

(It took them a little while to get started, but once they got going....fugedaboutit!)

 

[jnarowe]

Hey that's great news. And unlike some other specialized animals, peppermint shrimp will scavenge really well too. They make great tank cleaners.

 

[class clown]

I just got a butterfly, so we'll see how that goes. Keeping my fingers crossed he'll develop a hunger for the little annoying things.

 

[fishermann]

Getting a copperband well get rid of the aptasia most of the time but some have been known to not eat them. Make sure you buy one that is eating prepared food, mysis, brine or the best is clams. These fish are bought alot of times to get rid of aptasia and then die from lack of proper feeding after the aptasia are gone. These fish need to be fed more then just mysis and brine, they well slowly die and starve to death in a couple of years if fed on mysis and brine. They have to be fed clams by hand most of the time. They need to be fed daily, not a couple of times a week. I have had one for 6 yrs now and hand feed him everyday some clam, he would eat it out of the shell but the pwdr blu and others tear it apart befote he can so I do it by hand. If the area behind his gills is shallow and not full and filled out he is not getting fed enough. So unless you are ready to put in the time to take care of this very special fish , don't get him to just rid your tank of aptasia. John

 

[jnarowe]

hey Ben, where did you get the ticker? Did you make it yourself?

John: This is an ongoing problem in the aquatics hobby and not just with fish. A lot of it is fueled by LFS operators teling a customer that they can fix a problem with a certain type of specialized organism. But that's the great thing about threads like this. When people search for a "solution" they can get feedback like yours to keep them on track.

I have often considered getting a CBB to control aiptasia but have not done so because they also consume desirable tank inhabitants as well. I may still do it, but believe me, I will be prepared for the consequences. On some level, some of these animals could be traded around and in particular, HA eating organisms like sea hares could be used by one person, and then loaned to the next. That way at least we aren't killing off creatures to save our reefs.

 

[fishermann]

Amen!! Amen!!