Resuming The Aiptasia Attack!!!

[Learner]

Aiptasia-X still being used.....now up to around £60 spent on the stuff so far, and will need lots more!!!

These things are going to ruin me  :'(

The young Aippies are now making a show. Not happy.

Anyway, I digress; I was watching aiptasia killing vid's on Youtube...yes, that is now how obsessed I am.... :-[ ???

I saw one guy who switched off the pumps, injected the aippies with concentrated lemon juice, you know, the squirty kind.

He then switched the pumps back on, ran carbon for a few days, and vacuumed the 'dead aippies' out of the tank 24hrs later!!

Any idea if the lemon juice will harm the tank or its inhabitants?

BTW, still trying to find peppermint shrimps...no luck yet. :(

Grateful for any advice...again!!!

Thanks.

[Bergy]

lemon juice or 'joes juice' of Mrs Wages Pickling lime would all work...

You can find Mrs. wages in most walmart and other markets.. it is used for pickling...

[Learner]

lemon juice or 'joes juice' of Mrs Wages Pickling lime would all work...

You can find Mrs. wages in most walmart and other markets.. it is used for pickling...

We don't get 'Joes Juice' here in the UK, so lemon juice would be okay?,

The acidity wouldn't have any adverse effects on the tank?

Seems too simple..

[pinkorchid]

Gosh what a huge PITA they have been!!!!  :-\

The supplier I used for my snails and shrimp seemed to have plenty of pep shrimp....wish I could zap some over to you!!
Interesting about the lemon juice...

[Learner]

Gosh what a huge PITA they have been!!!!  :-\

The supplier I used for my snails and shrimp seemed to have plenty of pep shrimp....wish I could zap some over to you!!
Interesting about the lemon juice...

That's so nice of you Amy, I wish you could too. :)

Awaiting more opinions on the lemon juice thing before I attempt anything too radical. ;D

Thanks anyway,
Tania.  :)

[Just_Greg]

to be honest, i've tried JJ, lemon juice, boiling water, etc...

Mrs. Wage's is simply pickling lime, and you should be able to find it (or an equivalent) in the super market.  it's about as cheap and EZ as you can get.  just make a thin paste and mix in some clam juice or mysis juice, etc.  then all you do is put a bit in the water in front of the appie's mouth and it will ingest the stuff and die.

lemon juice is OK, but injecting appies is a PITA and the lemon juice can crash your pH if you use too much or kill too many appies.  you should also be careful using JJ, kalk, or the equivalent, as you're pH can spike high as well.

[Bergy]

agree with greg, if you use too much lemon or anything with differing pH, it will affect the pH of your tank..

If you can, i would inject the aptasia.. not just place near it's mouth...

Stick the bugger.. puncture it...

and do this side tonight, and that side tomorrow nite, and the middle the night after that...


I would also turn the rock over and do the back side...and ultimately, you might have to think about getting new rock, or storing your rock until the rock is devoid of life and hitchhikers


its a basica strategy called stop loss... pick a point in time or effort or money, and if you reach that point and havent beaten the aptasia, then call it...

[Learner]

Thanks for advice and input (again), was thinking about removing the rock,  but there is soooo much stuff other than the aippy's on it, I would feel like a murderer. :'(

Must be the latent Buddhist coming out in me. ???

Off to the aiptaisia-x shop again. tra la la la

[psykokid]

Well.. aiptasia x and peppermints have failed to do anything to the appie population in my tank to the point they are starting to become as prominent as the green striped mushrooms that proliferate in my tank. I found a local guy that had gotten in on a bhergia nudibranch group by a few months ago and has been successfully breeding them for a bit. I took him over a few infested rocks as food for his breeders and i got 5 large juvies at a substantial discount. Im drip acclimating them as we speak so we'll see how it goes. If it goes good and they clean out the appies and breed then i will give some to lanny or whomever so they can breed them. If it fails then i will probably  just pull the rock and cook it and suck it up and buy some new rock from some that has already cooked theirs off and made sure its pest free.

Stay tuned.. Good luck with your battle!

[Bergy]

... was thinking about removing the rock,  but there is soooo much stuff other than the aippy's on it, I would feel like a murderer. :'(

Must be the latent Buddhist coming out in me. ???...

I understand completely, but if you can get over the hurdle of killing the aptasia, then youarent complely taken over by Mr Buddah...

It is possible to cut the rock/chip the rock...

It is pretty easy actually...  You can use  some 'nippers' and kinda nibble through the rock... like cutting/breaking off corners or areas where the appies are...

if you want more precision, you can use a chisel, or even a DREMEL tool... you can buy those now for about $19.95  and a couple extra bucks for abrasive blades or even diamond blades

Even if all you do is salvage the 'good stuff', and toss the rest, and get new live rock,   or hell, at this point you can buy nice lookin dead stuff...

Your tank will seed the new dead stuff and bring it back to life...

not sure if MarcoRock will ship to you or not, but almost all of thier business is shipping live rock.... and thier rock is perfect...

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

I think I may have an Aiptasia in my tank. Do they kind of look like cleaner shrimp legs?

[Learner]

Hi Psyko,
Hope you have more luck than me with the Nudibranches.....haven't seen mine for weeks!!

Let me know how you get on with yours. Funny how Pep's are good for the aippy destruction in some systems, and not others eh?  ???

O C,

An Aiptasia anemone!!!
If you  have any, get on top of them NOW.

[psykokid]

 I picked up 5 from the bloke that was selling them. I put one pair on the right of the tank and one pair on the left side of the tank. The last single one went in the center on some of the LR that i had gotten back from him. He said there were a few smaller ones in there that he couldnt get out when he was cleaning the newly hatched batch that had used my rocks for food. I put them in the tank at the very top of the rock work with all flow off and the lights off. The pairs have stayed pretty close toghether. The pair onthe right side of the tank went straight to work and ate two or three smaller ones right off.. We'll have to see how they fair. I may have a problem with them breeding as it seems that bristle worms tend to eat the eggs and i've got plenty BW's of all sizes..

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

The things gone ??? ??? ???

[psykokid]

Here's another shot of what appies look like :