Aiptasia need help!!!

[mikeguerrero]

I know there have been numerous postings on fighting this pest. I've never had this guy in my reef, well up until I finally admitted to myself that what is on my rocks has to be aiptasia.

I never thought aiptasia could be light green almost like a button polyp. Also, they don't have long stalks like the typical aiptasia.

So I never thought I'd bother with these few on this one particular piece of live rock. With time I've noticed they have spread and sprout around other rocks just isolated ones.

The mother colony is on one particular rock that is easy to get out of the tank.

What I'm asking here is, does anyone know where I can pick up a predator that will feed on these anemonesf? I've tried the peppermint shrimp and he has ignored them.

I've heard that there is a particular type of sea slug that will take advantage of this notorius pest.

Anyone have any luck with them in the past?

Also can anyone tell me how well joe's juice works? Do they sell it with a syringe so you can get started?

Thanks,

MG

 

[drty811]

mike,

your in luck, i have had 100% deaths with joe's juice. it does come with an cyringe. i have killed all aiptasia and majano anenomes with it.

peppermint shrimp will eat it but youll have to teach it to. if you can grab the anenome and try to feed it to the shrimp or put the rock and the shrimp in a hospital tank and let nature take its coarse.

not sure on the slug though.......

i have all anenomes under control.....ever once in a great while ill see a small one on the glass and ill just smoosh it with my finger... :evil: :twisted: . the only reason i get them back is cause i leave them in my fuge/sump.

HTH

 

[mikeguerrero]

Erik,

I need you to see a picture of mine. I've had them for almost 6 months and they have all stayed on just this one rock.

They are florescent green, not brown at all. They have small tentacles not long ones like the pictures show.

They also have a much smaller base, not long like the pictures show. They are all smaller than a dime in diameter, largest one would barely be the dime shape.

I also purchased one large peppermint shrimp he has down nothing to them in over 2 months.

I'm getting concerned because I don't know what they are. I will pull out one rock and try a macro shot.

Mike G

p.s
I think they look green because they are under my 20K bulbs. When I pulled out one rock, under normal light, they appear brown.

 

[drty811]

yeah if you get a pic, im sure with all of us we can ID it.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Erik,

These are the best I could do. Under these pics they look brown, but under my 20K bulbs, they look very pretty green.

Tell me what you think?

Mike G

 

[drty811]

i would definitly say they are aiptasia, you can nuke them the best while they are out of the tank. if you cant take the other rocks out, it isnt a problem. my only recommendation would be to try not to get JJ on anything else. it should harm anything else, i havent ever had a problem, but i just liek to be extra carefull.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Well,

After posting my pictures and taking a sample rock to my LFS, I purchased joe's juice. They nuked the sample rock I brought in and off I went home with zero aiptasia on the small rock.

Once I got home I turned off all powerheads and return line. I removed my glass tops and the water was gleaming from my metal halides.

The aiptasias were all widely open and ready for joe's juice. I started targeting the bigger ones first and worked my way around to the smaller ones.

One by one they absorped all the juice and retracted to their lair to die. My eyes do not deceive me, these guys are gone within minutes.

I'm awaiting for the next couple days to see what batch make in through, so I can nuke them again.

It was a simple and fast solutions to at least 25 aiptasias that were all over the place. I highly recommend Joe's juice to anyone who has these small evasive pest in their reefs.

MG

P.S
Thanks Erik, I'm glad you casted your opinion on my problem, you movitivated me to nuke them.

 

[drty811]

anytime mike, glad to hear i helped. i know i hate them and love nuking'm. hope everything goes well. keep us updated.

 

[Semo]

do the juice, I used it early in my days. I got in all in the tank. Nothing died other than direct hits. The stuff works...

 

[EDGRAY]

Yeah Joe's juice always comes to the rescue.. and well just for the record MIKE the eating nudie is the BERGHIA NUDIE... http://www.saltyunderground.com/ if not wrong Brandon have some cause he was sick of the aptasias... but glad the JOE came to the rescue :mrgreen: :lol:...

 

[Abarnswell]

Hi, Everybody!!

I am in a dire situation with my 15 gallon tank. Aiptasia have literally taken over... I have hundreds of them. Before, when they weren't this bad, I used Joe's Juice to kill all of the ones I had, but a few months later, there were even more of them. Now I have hundreds in a little 15 gallon. I am desperate now.

I have one pair of Clowns, one Cleaner Shrimp, and a few blue-legged hermits and snails.

I just read up on the Berghia nudies, and wondered about trying that? My question is, if the Berghia are successful and eat all of the aiptasia, then won't the Berghia starve? Does anyone have experience with these?

I'm really desperate for help, so any suggestions would be appreciated!!

UPDATE: I have answered my own question. If the Berghia completely eradicate the aiptasia, the Berghia will starve and die. I guess they won't eat anything else. :anxious
Thanks!

 

[drty811]

April
if you get the nudies, just take them out and get rid of them after they eat all the aiptasia. or get alot of joe's juice. :mrgreen:

 

[reefman23]

I agree that you could use the nudi to significantly cut back on the aiptasia. From there, you can maybe trade out your cleaner shrimp for a true peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni, not Lysmata californica. They will take care of the aipatasia that is bound to pop up. Or could could just continue following up with the Joe's Juice after the nudi does his thing.

HTH,

Jesse

 

[mikeguerrero]

In my experience you need a large group of peppermints to do the job. I only purchased one large one and he never does anything to my aiptasia. I had to do joe's juice which wiped them out.

MG