Those things are beautiful - you sure have alot of them!

[danimal]

Okay I have a serious problem with Aiptasia – the system is going into the 5th year and the problem really started a while back, but they have just multiplied like crazy. Combine that with a less than I gotta get them attitude and I now find my self with an Aiptasia tank….. Lots of people comment on how beautiful everything looks as I cringe at the thought of what they are looking at.

I am considering the following approach. I want to turn my hospital tank (30Gal) into a cleaning station. I rarely use the thing these days and it only takes a little effort to swipe some water from the main tank and get it running. I think this tank can handle even the big pcs of live rock. My thought is to set up some peppermint shrimp in this tank and let them work on individual pcs of live rock. In most cases the encrusted corals could just stay with the pc when it is removed for cleaning. In addition I would be in a good position to use Sodium Hydroxide on the Aiptasia to assist the peppermint shrimp in the task.

Have others tried this? Just an idea that I would be interested in getting your feedback:

That will not work because…..
How much Sodium Hydroxide could you use in a 30 gal closed system?
I should be able to put that water back into the main system – Right?

Agree- that having only one source of food might keep the shrimp active against the Aiptasia?
How many shrimp does it take to eat an aiptaisa?
How long does it take a shrimp to eat an aiptasia?

 

[ChrisRD]

I've never tried this method - not sure how well it would prevent reinfestation. I usually just add the peps to the main tank. Doing it the way you're planning, a butterflyfish might be even more effective in that scenario. Depends what else is on the rock that you actually want to keep.

Personally I've always found the peps to be most effective against smaller aptasia and preventing reinfestation. I generally use a boiling calcium hydroxide mix to nuke the large ones. I have no experience using sodium hydroxide to erradicate them, but as long as water parameters are inline, I don't see why you couldn't reuse the water. Personally, I think I would just ditch it anyway - good excuse to do a water change. :wink:

If you do a search here, the aptasia topic has been discussed many times. I'm sure you'll find lots more info.

HTH

 

[Fishie Nut]

Here's an aptasia killer from Eric Borneman. It uses lye -- Sodium Hydroxide, which KILLS the aptasia on contact. With a little determination,you can rid yourself of all your aptasia.

Lye or 100% sodium hydroxide dissociates completely in water into Na and OH-. Nothing changes but pH, and the pH since it coagulates with the calcium hydroxide remains a very local pH effect and you'd have to add a lot to a really small tank to see a pH effect because of its behavor in the presence of other cations in seawater.

Here's the recipe. Get a capped bottle - like a spice jar...around 100ml or less. Add a heaping tablespoon of lye and dissolve in distilled water, and then a heaping tablespoon of kalkwasser. Use a transfer pipette or a transfer syringe or a syringe with a large bore needle to just slowly drip a little on the anemone. It will turn into mush along with anything else organic it contacts. Turn off all water cirulation as it will take about an hour to ensure everything is dissolved.. Also, by this point, the residual mixture is no longer nearly as caustic since it has equilibrated with seawater..the anemone dissolution and its contact with seawater has already made it safe once you turn the flow back on. It contacts the anemones easily just like Joe's juice, the difference of course being that it actually works well.

Two warnings: lye is extremely caustic and be careful when making the solution...lye boils if added to water...always add water to lye slowly and stir with a non metal object and watch your hands and eyes until dissolved. The container will get hot. Then the kalkwasser. Stir the mixture well before each use...you can do this by simply syringing in and out of the container before sucking up a batch. Second warning - even in solution this stuff will burn you - so wear gloves or be careful.

It's hard to find sodium hydroxide. Red Devil drain cleaner is not sold any longer in most places. Be careful and give it a try.

 

[fungia]

the problem with your idea is you need some peppermints in the main tank. when you remove the shrimps the aiptasia some times grows back again. if there is a lot of aiptasia, you can use a lot of peppermints, like 1 for every 20 pounds of rock.

 

[Anonymous]

Or you can get a butterfly like Chris suggested, just get several people around you to line up for when the butterfly finishes in your tank. About five people can succesfuly rotate a butterfly I believe. Just don't wait for it to starve before you transfer it to another tank. I have one on order and have three people interested so far in rotating. Since we are very close together and butterflys are pretty easy to catch (they hang in the water column at night so I am told) this should not stress the fish much at all. If you don't feel comfortable transferring fish from one tank to the other, this probably is not a good option since the fish will eat all the aptasia in your tank fairly quickly (several weeks?) then starve.

 

[davesafc]

when i first set up my small tank i had apatasia appearing here and there and got 2 pepps they have gone but occasionally one pops up before being devoured. i was told when i bought them they probably wont exhaust all apatasia otherwise they would have no food source.

 

[danimal]

Three pepermints just arrived for my new "nano tank" cleaning station - the experiment begins. If it fails they will just wind up in the main tank.

Just so that there is no confusion I have more than a few - I have aiptasia land! Its a shame I let it get so out of control, but it is what it is and hopefullly I will be able to get things back under control!