Aiptasia in the overflow!

[SoggyDollar]

So I thought this might be a good thread for a vote. What are the opinions concerning the pesky but potentially beneficial aiptasia in overflows and refugiums? This is NOT concerning the display tank, I'm sure we all agree to rid them of their presence there. This is concerning only non-displayed overflows and refugiums.

If you believe 2. is your answer at this time, then please provide your approach to eradicate them in the tight quarters of an overflow box. Peppermint shrimp, nudibranch, blowtorch...

Edited January 24, 2012 by JamesL
Added a real poll.

[JamesL]

I changed it so it was an actual poll.

And my vote is actually the first two. I have them in my fuge, and have tossed a few peppermints back there before, but the anemones remain. I am not really worried about them. I see one appear in my main display from time to time, but I have some peppermints in there that normally deal with it.

[AquaJohn]

If they are in your overflows and sump they will be in your display too.

For the overflows I usualy just take out the durso pipes and leave them dry for a week and any snots stuck to the bottom are hit with the laser. I used to use aptaisa X but it seems to be like food to them now. As far as the sump I have taken it all apart and scrubbed everything with vinegar/water. I even had them in my skimmer lol. I will not say they are eradicated yet but I have not seen any in at least a week after adding the nudis several months ago. I also kept 20 peperment shrimp in my refuge altho when I cleaned it I could only find 5 and there are no preditors in there.

[Timfish]

I may not be very aggressive about it but I'm inclined to take them out. It's been my experience several times that they do not do well in properly maintained tanks and will thin out over time. That doesn't mean if there is a stress event that causes an algae bloom or affects the corals they can't show explosive reproduction compounding the problem.

[+o0zarkawater]

I have some aiptasia in my fuge as well.

I have peppermints in the DT and have not seen an aiptasia in the DT in over 6 months, but I don't bother messing with the ones in the fuge. It just a few, if it was overflowing with them, I might reconsider.

[SoggyDollar]

I changed it so it was an actual poll.

And my vote is actually the first two. I have them in my fuge, and have tossed a few peppermints back there before, but the anemones remain. I am not really worried about them. I see one appear in my main display from time to time, but I have some peppermints in there that normally deal with it.

Thanks James!

So, so far a little bit of mixed review. "Nuke 'em" seems to be favorable so far, but what do you do to eradicate/control them in tight quarters...

I voted "Wait and see..." because I believe in what Timfish says as well as AquaJohn. Not that they are opposing views, they both say what I think could be a cumulative answer. If the Aiptasia doesn't seem to flourish in the filtration system, in other words they are kept in a low/steady population, they are just another cog in the wheel of filtration just like pineapple sponges. But I'm no expert at all. Please keep to voting and explaining...

[SoggyDollar]

Anymore votes?

[afgun]

Just voted. My sump is littered with them. No issues in the tank tho. Plenty of things in the tank that seem to keep them in check. Of course I don't keep a sterile tank either... so someone else's asethetics may not be mine.

[subsea]

Wait and see with focused obsevation and a log book to document the progression of events.

In 35 years of reef keeping, I have only nuked once. I had a combination of growout troughs (two 4' by 8' by 12") and DSB's, with a mature sandbed seeded with many detrivore kits for biodiversity. These refugiums were above my growout tanks and provided food for coral growth. My system volumn was well over 1000G. Once the "red planaria" established themselves, I was forced to nuke to elimanate this infestation. Six months later, my system was free of bad bugs and I had a mature sand bed.

I would never nuke for aptasia, too many other ways to eliminate.

Patrick

[subsea]

Anymore votes?

Kudoes to your signature. It says everything about information passing on the internet. Study on the source, is there an agenda there.

Patrick

[SoggyDollar]

Kudoes to your signature. It says everything about information passing on the internet. Study on the source, is there an agenda there.

Patrick

Thanks! I can't take all the credit though. I saw it somewhere on the internet and thought it deemed repeating.

Any more votes? It still seems a little inconclusive with only 21 votes so far.

[Starsprinkle Rainbowsmile]

I voted to get rid of them suckers! They're nothing but trouble, IMO. I'd use peppermints.