Aiptasia help !!!!!

[Fishnet]

Hello all,
I have a 20L with about 40lbs of live rock all of which is infested with aiptasia. I am not talking about one here and one there, but hundreds of it and in all sizes. I have tried all methods to get rid of it but it just seems to come back more than before. Hand killing each one with kalwasser paste is out of the question here. What do i do? Here are my options. Please feel free to recommend any others...

1. Get rid of all the rock and start over with new rock. I can probably do this since it is a small enough tank.

2. Take the rocks out one by one, scrub the hell out of it, let it cure in a seperate tank for a while and put it back in.

3. Get an army of peppermint shripms and bergia and let them duke it out. (cheaper just to get rock?)

Please help...

 

[Mouse]

Copper band Butterfly, or if someone else can remember the site there are these Nudi Branches that eat them allthough they will probably end up as pump fodder.

 

[Anonymous]

this topic and others like it are another reason i'm really thankful i found this board. i recently online purchased a polyp rock and have noticed at least 6 aiptasia living on it. it's been in the tank for a week. i hate to let the polyps go but i'm thinking now that the best thing to do is trade it in at the only lfs in town.

regards,
po

 

[Coraltank]

Fishnet,you'd be amazed how fast a pair of peppermint shrimp can wipe out an Aiptasia infestation.That's what I would do.Best of luck with your dilemma.

 

[bmlerner]

I tried the bergia and the peppermints.

Bergia
Pros: look cool, eat only aiptasia, effective
Cons: not hardy, noctural (mitigates the "look cool" factor), need several (I'd say 3-4+ for your tank)

Pepps
Pros: effective, hardy, cheap
Cons: can/will eat other things besides aiptasia

I have a 20 gal, went through the same thing.

Tried bergia first - they did a great job cleaning out the tank of almost all aiptasia, but then they disappeared and the aiptasia returned. I don't know if it was due to starvation from the loss of their food supply, or poor water quality, etc. (everything tested fine).

Finally broke down and added a single pepp. For a month, the aiptasia population seemed to stabilize, the 2nd month noticed that the population is rapidly dropping. Pepp is still going strong. Have noticed a drop in copepod population since the pepp went in, but I'll be converting my sump into a pseudo refugium to make up for this.

Your mileage may vary.

[ October 29, 2001: Message edited by: bmlerner ]</p>

 

[pcragg]

Peppermint shrimp work great. I bought two for my 55. After about two weeks they finally started cleaning the tank. Haven't had another aips problem in over a year. Make sure you don't get the "camelback" shrimp by accident.

 

[Darkreignn]

Had that problem on a 40 gallon tank and solved it by buying the peppermint shrimps. They did an awesome job. I would highly recommend you buy them.