polarbear Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I have a large piece of LR that has a lot of little things on it that look like little anomies. I know there bad and will spread fast which it has. I don't remember what there called. Is there a way to get rid of them. I tried to grab them with my fingures and twezers but they just suck back down in the rock. Please help if you know what I'm talking about. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzobob Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I have a large piece of LR that has a lot of little things on it that look like little anomies. I know there bad and will spread fast which it has. I don't remember what there called. Is there a way to get rid of them. I tried to grab them with my fingures and twezers but they just suck back down in the rock. Please help if you know what I'm talking about. Thanks. Hi, There are numerous posts for removing Aptasia. You will probably want to check first to ensure this is what you have. Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeferMadness Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 google aiptasia, they are very common and is more than likely what you got on your LR. Peppermint shrimp are known to eat them. They also make chemicals that will murder em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnoburns Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 Yep, there are lots of threads on this. Peppermint shrimp are a good natural way to go. They eat alot of the small to med ones. On the larger ones, you can use apstisaX or inject them with lemon juice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted May 22, 2009 Author Share Posted May 22, 2009 I found them on the web and they are what I have. I read about putting something call berghias in the tank that will eat them. Anyone done this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckin Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 I have a couple of peppermint shrimp that don't seem very interested in eating aptasia. I have had good results with Aptasia-X applied on each aptasia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefman Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 The problem with Berghia is they only eat Aiptasia (and I can't remeber if they eat the larger ones or not), but once they have eaten all the Aiptasia, unless you are willing to set up a jar or small tank for them with plenty of Aiptasia in it, they will starve to death. They are also very hard to come by, you have to get them online. I've never seen a LFS carry any. I agree with Truckin, I tried the Peppermint shirmp and they didn't seem to make a dent in them. Stephen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 I had an overnight explosion at one point. Kinda noticed that after a couple of weeks my entire tank was covered in them. I went to the Dome and bought 2 dozen peps, my tank was clear within a week. Often I feel the lack of success is due to folks trying to only use 1 shrimp to combat an entire tank. Keep in mind that their stomachs are only so big, meaning that if the aptasia can reproduce faster then than they are eaten you'll never win the battle. I also reached in and nuked them with Kalk paste. This way I was combating the issue on 2 fronts. Also the peps prefer to eat smaller aptasia rather than full grown pieces. I noticed that after I nuked them that the peps would be all over the dying aptasia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 I never really thought about that, Mike. I've got about 11 visible ones in my tank that I need to rid myself of. I guess I know what I'm doing! -Brooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 What is Kalk paste and do I buy it or make it? I had an overnight explosion at one point. Kinda noticed that after a couple of weeks my entire tank was covered in them. I went to the Dome and bought 2 dozen peps, my tank was clear within a week. Often I feel the lack of success is due to folks trying to only use 1 shrimp to combat an entire tank. Keep in mind that their stomachs are only so big, meaning that if the aptasia can reproduce faster then than they are eaten you'll never win the battle. I also reached in and nuked them with Kalk paste. This way I was combating the issue on 2 fronts. Also the peps prefer to eat smaller aptasia rather than full grown pieces. I noticed that after I nuked them that the peps would be all over the dying aptasia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejaustin Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 I went to Aquadome and got "Reef Kalkwasser". It's a power. Calcium Hydroxide. I understand you can also buy calcium hydroxide as "pickling lime" during canning season and it's about 1/10 the price that way. Made a paste. Fed it tenderly to eat aiptasia and watched them curl up and die. Took a couple times on one that was hanging upside down, but worked the first time on all the others. Works great for the anemones you can see and did not hurt anything nearby. I also got some peppermint shrimp. They seemed to have a fairly high mortality rate, at least in my tank. I have one who has made the adjustment and I haven't seen any more aiptasia. I assume he's doing regular aiptasia patrols and has probably eaten some that I would never have seen until I tear down the tank. ej Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 Thank you as well as everyone else for the help. Its good to know that it shouldn't be that hard to get under control. I went to Aquadome and got "Reef Kalkwasser". It's a power. Calcium Hydroxide. I understand you can also buy calcium hydroxide as "pickling lime" during canning season and it's about 1/10 the price that way. Made a paste. Fed it tenderly to eat aiptasia and watched them curl up and die. Took a couple times on one that was hanging upside down, but worked the first time on all the others. Works great for the anemones you can see and did not hurt anything nearby.I also got some peppermint shrimp. They seemed to have a fairly high mortality rate, at least in my tank. I have one who has made the adjustment and I haven't seen any more aiptasia. I assume he's doing regular aiptasia patrols and has probably eaten some that I would never have seen until I tear down the tank. ej Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 I had an aptasia issue at one point. Used aptasia x and it worked very well. Now I keep two peppermints around and only see new aptasia on the rock if I come back from a vacation after my roomie has overfed or somesuch thing like that. I actually kinda miss hunting down aptasia with aptasia x. The big ones, you actually watch them swallow it then implode like something that is held up only by presurrized water and caves in on itself... i guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAY-ROC Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Looks like everyone has given some good advise on this subject. I have tried lots of things from the lemon juice to copperband butterfly fish. I will say I have not seen any results from the lemon juice, but have had GREAT results injecting lugols solution in them ( also works on mojano). Kalk mix works if you leave the pumps and powerheads off but on the ones that overhang on ledges.... well its pretty impossible to smother those. Peppermint shrimp in my opinion are 100% the way to go because they eat them and wont starve when they are all gone. What mike was saying is right when you go to war you need to be sure you have enough troops to fight the battle. Also shrimp are scavengers so they will eat when food is introduced and if they get trained on that food then they will only eat the food and leave the aiptasia, so I limit the amount of food and how often i feed to keep the shrimp buisy looking for the pests. I like fat fish so i keep seaweed in there for them and all seems to work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Peppermint shrimp for the small ones, liquid calcium injection for the large ones. You dont have to be quite as concerned with the calcium as you would with kalk... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmmze Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Lots of peppermint shrimp has worked in the past for me. Everything else I have tried has work for only a short time and they are right back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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