How to kill aiptasia effectively

[KrisReef]

Hmmm, seems like the more I drink the better they look!

If you have been drinking then put the laser down before you put an eye out.

 

[Lavey29]

Hmmm, seems like the more I drink the better they look!

I used to say that in the bar all the time

 

[Lavey29]

If you have been drinking then put the laser down before you put an eye out.

That's funny stuff there

 

[BeanAnimal]

what's worse: aiptasia, or permanently ruining a reef tank with uronema from adding unprepped animals/no qt?

don't skip disease preps or we'll wind up asking for rescues in Jay's forum by December.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, I suppose that everything must look like a nail. Why try to turn every conversation, regardless of the topic to disease prep or ammonia?

I look for Sundial snails, Heliacus variegatus, a long time ago to get rid my tank of Zoanthus. That was 30 years ago. This snail is a specific Zoanthus predator.

sadly they don’t eat protopalythoa….

 

[taricha]

Not a lot survives an overcoat made from sodium hydroxide and kalk;

Technique for Spot-Treating Algae In Tank (unless it's dumb) NaOH+H2O2

(Edit: after trying it, Garf's suggestion - posts 4,5,6 - is better. I'd use Sodium Hydroxide denser than saltwater + Calcium Hydroxide.) I looked for a few different things to kill hunks of algae in a tank without having to pull the rock out and that might be less work/more effective than...

www.reef2reef.com

I've continued to use it since that thread for numerous things. softies, algae etc. a little NaOH+kalk is my go to for any local thing I don't want in the spot.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

TL;DR

I just use F-aptaisa and smother the bugger. Problem a lot of ppl do is try and kill them by poking at them and the aptaisa just spew babies into the tank. You can't dick around with them, you need to smother them like right now, and they retract instantly and have no way to release babies or come back out once covered. I've seen ppl inject kalk into them all the while their defense is releasing babies really fast. I've learned locally that the club here just use franks and have great success. I myself find the odd one every few months and just hammer them and let the paste harden and then turn the pumps on and just leave it covered till I decide to blast off the hardened shell paste.

I got a frag of zoa's 3 weeks ago and they were doing just fine and on the 4th day I noticed half the frag was closed up and low n behold 3 aptaisa were there. They are masters of hiding and decided to come out 4 days after being in the dt. I grab the frag and in the garage it went. Called the company I bought from and they sent out another frag and it's clean. Observation is key with them. I always get a flashlight out a few times a week at night and look for them. If I did one I paste away and never think about it coming back to life.

Every one has there own approach to killing/dealing with them and that's great. I'm just posting what works for me

Also my LFS is always nice enough to sell a bristle tail file fish if you want and return it after the job is done. If they know you they'll just give you the fish and just return once it's done.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

And to think back in the 90's I loved seeing them in the LFS and always wanted to have some until I found out they were not good and just a pest. Out of all the 90's I never got a single aptaisa and that was when we could buy premium purple covered Fiji live rock. The rocks always had beautiful little corals on them but never aptaisa. I wonder why!?

 

[Hot2na]

Berghia... always my go to ..They hunt em down wherever they be..down to the last... then they die out.

 

[Dburr1014]

Not a lot survives an overcoat made from sodium hydroxide and kalk;

Technique for Spot-Treating Algae In Tank (unless it's dumb) NaOH+H2O2

(Edit: after trying it, Garf's suggestion - posts 4,5,6 - is better. I'd use Sodium Hydroxide denser than saltwater + Calcium Hydroxide.) I looked for a few different things to kill hunks of algae in a tank without having to pull the rock out and that might be less work/more effective than...

www.reef2reef.com

Just read the other thread.
Lye, Kalk and some milk of magnesia should do it.
All over the counter to make f-aiptasia.
I'm going to have to make a trip to the store and try it. Philips brand looks to have only 3 ingredients.

Water
Magnesium hydroxide
Sodium hypochlorite

 

[Garf]

milk of magnesia

Pretty sure both lye and kalk form magnesium hydroxides in salt water, as part of the high pH reaction.

 

[Dburr1014]

Pretty sure both lye and kalk form magnesium hydroxides in salt water, as part of the high pH reaction.

Oh, I'm really not all that sciencey. LOL

 

[taricha]

Water
Magnesium hydroxide
Sodium hypochlorite

(Hypochlorite = bleach, so not using that one. )

 

[BeanAnimal]

I've continued to use it since that thread for numerous things. softies, algae etc. a little NaOH+kalk is my go to for any local thing I don't want in the spot.

Hundreds of mushrooms? Hrmmm

 

[Dburr1014]

(Hypochlorite = bleach, so not using that one. )

Oh, okay, thanks on that one!

Geez, if I ever get "backed up" I'm not using that on myself either! Why would anyone want to drink bleach, yuck!

 

[taricha]

Hundreds of mushrooms? Hrmmm

Not hundreds all at once, but yeah. I use it for any mushroom that isn't where I want it.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Not hundreds all at once, but yeah. I use it for any mushroom that isn't where I want it.

Does it kill them or just make them angry and force them to let go?

 

[taricha]

Geez, if I ever get "backed up" I'm not using that on myself either! Why would anyone want to drink bleach, yuck!

A little chlorinated water (tap water) doesn't hurt anybody (human). Pretty rough on animals with gills though.

 

[taricha]

Does it kill them or just make them angry and force them to let go?

Anything covered with direct hydroxides will be killed.
Majority it kills on one application. A minority will grow tiny bits from surviving foot tissue. But then those bits are super easy to cover a few days later and it's all gone.

 

[mullstang]

Everyone has or will have these buggers if you don't QT everything. They have adopted to living in our tanks quite well and are really good at survival.

I have used many ways to kill aiptasia I still find them. I have only seen one in my system in the past couple years until a couple days ago. I probably have a dozen since trying to kill that one a couple months ago.

There are several ways to kill aiptasia but I have never found any to be 100% effective.
Not even the Berghia nudibranch is 100%, they eat what they can find and die. Others have success with shrimps and certain fish but if they leave the system certainly the aiptasia will return.

Kalk paste, lemon juice, and commercial remedies at the LFS, all the same. If not used correctly they don't kill 100%. Most likely they lead to the aiptasia getting worse.

I came across this article today and it's the first I've seen it so I wanted to share.
This method says it's about 90% effective. It will burn the aiptasia as long as it's gets onto the target.

This is NOT to be taken lightly by any means. This is a chemical that can do some damage if you don't take your precautions. Wear your personal protective equipment (PPE).

Happy Reefing

aiptasia control

www.reefscapes.net

I have been using NaOH for the last several months to manage aiptasia, however it hasn't worked to eliminate them. I went from finding one or two a week to hunting down a dozen or more every saturday morning. Most of the ones I killed were the size of a pea.

I'd get every one I could find. Then a week later there would be a dozen more.

In the end I gave up on this and introduced an aiptasia eating filefish. I haven't found a single one since the fish went into the tank a few weeks ago. So far it hasn't bothered any coral or my clams, but I know that is still a risk. I see it pecking at the rocks all the time. I don't know what all it is after, but it is getting the aiptasia as they grow because I never see them anymore.

That matches my experience with aptasia. I had no luck with the commercial products alone. I added the filefish which eliminated the juveniles and I used Joes Juice for the mature ones. It has been over a year without any sightings and the filefish happily pecks away and eats pellet and frozen foods. I have a softy tank and the filefish is not interested in those.

 

[haslip]

They're not reef safe - at all

Not trying to argue but I had different luck I guess. Torches, Hammers and Zoas did well and he did a heck of a job on aptasia. After about a year I let another reefer have him with no issues to date. Kinda the way this hobby goes though.