Aiptasia question

[aro-man]

Alright guys, i need some advice on which course of action to take. I have a aiptasia infestation in my 120. i mean like if i took a hundred aiptasia, put them through a blender and dumped it in to the tank! What happened was i went outta town for a couple months and my friends would come and take care my animals. Apparently they went to the beach and thought id be cool to put a rock with some of these cool little anemones on it in to my tank. Imagine my surprise when i came home haha! Ive been dealing with it ever since. Tried aiptasia x, kalkwasser paste etc, uped water changes and increased skimming but it is a losing battle. After every dose kalk or x, they seemd to come back in greater numbers. They are all on the glass and pretty much every rock. The only place that doesnt have is the sump. Youd have thought the planula would have washed down but whatever. The system is liverock with a few hardy softies. Heres the kicker, my dragon eel does not let anything live in her tank. Only a skunk cleaner. No copperband, racoons, and for some weird reason, she eats the peppermints. So finally i think im gonna take her out and put her in the quarantine tank and am deciding between dropping the salinity or just filling it with freshwater and letting it sit. Id prefer to do hyposalinity and if i do hyposalinity, what sg do people find most effective? Sorry for the long post, just pissed haha! Lemme know what you guys think!

 

[NCStateFisher]

i'd make your friends buy all new rock honestly. if you have THAT much of an infestation and cant have a copperband or peppermints you're most likely not going to get rid of them with chemicals. good luck, i'd be mad as hell, hope you get it fixed without having to bleach the rock

 

[wildman6809]

Take the rock out and let it dry out. I dont tjink there are any easy fixes. There is a nuti or something that will eat them but all kinds of fish eat them

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[lil_pendejo]

I used to use a syringe filled with freshwater and inject it into the base when I had my reef. It worked on the 75 I used to have but good luck finding a syringe.

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[jamncook]

U can actually inject them with white vinegar. Instant death.


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[drew1004]

We heard and have tried lemon juice in a tiny needle/syringe and it has worked awesome (ofcourse we don't have a super huge infestation) try finding a diabetic for the needle ( my dad is insulin dependent)

 

[Anchovie]

+1 on the lemon juice. Works great on the larger ones that the shrimp won't eat. I got a 50 pack of syringes at the local clinic. Most clinics and free health centers will sell you or even just give you clean syringes. It's so heroin addicts don't get aids I guess. Either way you just walk in and say I need 50 syringes and they say "comin right up".


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[Kevin8888]

Since you have such an agressive infestation, your best bet is to take your rock out and let it dry, but the problem with that is it may not work as there could still be planula in the water still, or small ones on the glass, sand etc. So unless you want to nuke your tank (or take the huge effort of killing them individually which in these numbers probably wont actaully get rid of them) I recomend getting a good number of Berghia verrucicornis, the nudi that eats them. They may not eliminate them in a larger tank, but they definatly will keep the numbers down to a minimum if you have enough.

 

[Cichlas]

I used peppermint shrimps a couple of years back for an infestation. The trio worked wonders and much quicker than I expected. I did try Joe's Juice, but with so many, it was impossible to get the small ones.

 

[DripN.Wet]

If you are taking the eel out, I would suggest re-arranging all the rockwork; adding a large copperband, a few large tangs and some peppermint shrimp, and nudibranchs...then after a week in QT add the eel back to the tank. Sometimes adding the eel after the other livestock into an unfarmiliar tank will cause them to acclimate to the new inhabitants as well as the new aquascaping. Keep the eel well fed after adding it back into the DT.


(tangs help to provide movement and distractions; and you can often get larger ones for cheap on Reef club websites or reefcentral)

just my 2 cents!!! if it works it's better than having to nuke all the rock.