I have an aiptasia problem. I've had it for years. I've tried kalk paste, aiptasia x, Copper Banded Butterflies, and Aiptasia eating filefish. All have some success, but unlike Pokemon I apparently can't catch them all. I find with the pastes I can target the visible aiptsia pretty well, but it's the ones that live in the crevices and cranny's I can't get to or can't see. I even put on a snorkel and mask and get my face into the tank to go after these little pests. The fish do a great job, but I struggle to keep CBB's alive (I've had 3 in my 10 years of reefing) seems like they don't live to a year in my tanks. The Filefish was great at his job, until he started eating my zoas and palys when he couldn't find any more aiptasia.
So if I want to eradicate them from my reef, what would I need to do? It seems likely that the aiptasia are in my sump, display, and 40b side tank. It's in the rock for sure, but are they in the sand as well?
Maybe what I am thinking about is removing all of my corals to a qt setup, whatever rock is coral-less would go into a vinegar bath or sun baked. I have a lot of LR that has been "cooking" for 6+ months now that I could use while that rock is curing. Once all the rock is out I can siphon out the sand and replace. I'd need to take apart the rock and marinepure in the sump as well. And clean it really well.
If I did all of that how could I make sure it was all gone? I occasionally see them glass and plumbing, so would I truely be looking at emptying my display, sump, and 40b of all life and then running a crap ton of vinegar for a while to kill everything in the tank? Then draining it all, cleaning it up, and essentially starting new? Would I be looking at a cycle then? Is all of this overkill, is there an easier way? My level of frustration with this is to the point where I look at my tank and I only see these aiptasia, and I want to just sell everything off and be done with it.
Thoughts, suggestions, tips, help, pretty much anything is welcomed and appreciated.....
So if I want to eradicate them from my reef, what would I need to do? It seems likely that the aiptasia are in my sump, display, and 40b side tank. It's in the rock for sure, but are they in the sand as well?
Maybe what I am thinking about is removing all of my corals to a qt setup, whatever rock is coral-less would go into a vinegar bath or sun baked. I have a lot of LR that has been "cooking" for 6+ months now that I could use while that rock is curing. Once all the rock is out I can siphon out the sand and replace. I'd need to take apart the rock and marinepure in the sump as well. And clean it really well.
If I did all of that how could I make sure it was all gone? I occasionally see them glass and plumbing, so would I truely be looking at emptying my display, sump, and 40b of all life and then running a crap ton of vinegar for a while to kill everything in the tank? Then draining it all, cleaning it up, and essentially starting new? Would I be looking at a cycle then? Is all of this overkill, is there an easier way? My level of frustration with this is to the point where I look at my tank and I only see these aiptasia, and I want to just sell everything off and be done with it.
Thoughts, suggestions, tips, help, pretty much anything is welcomed and appreciated.....