Aptasia!

[MikeM]

Hey everyone!
I purchased a tank last weekend and inherited the livestock. This includes fish, rock, and water. I noticed today that I have aptasia starting to grow. I plan on a water change this weekend and I have only had the tank for five days. The tank only has a few fish and a few corals. Green mushrooms, bubble coral, galaxy. I am aware that a copperband will take these things out. What other options do I have? I have never had aptasia before. How quickly can I expect to see results? I am open to suggestions. Thanks...I appreciate it!

 

[hurrafreak]

I've always had great luck with peppermint shrimp

 

[reefmaster719]

Aiptasia x...peppy shrimp..or drying all the rock out and praying for it not to be there when you put it back in.

 

[CRW Reef]

Could also try a bristle tale filefish. I have had one in my reef for over a year and at one time it mowed down over 200 apitasia I had.

 

[Campbell]

You can also go to Walmart and buy mrs wages pickling lime and it'll kill that aiptasia just make sure you put it in a syringe and squirt it directly on the mouth while its open... It'll help if you turn off your flow for a few minutes so it doesn't get anywhere you don't want it... Just be careful not to overexposed any zoas or corals... It's cheaper than aiptasia X...

 

[Campbell]

You can find it at Walmart by the glass jar section and kitchenware... Courtesy of notxes...

 

[Cake_Boss]

If you're going to use pickling line (kalk), watch your pH. It will raise it. Kalk has a pH of 12. The effect will be amplified in a small tank. If you need to, do a few a day, as opposed to all at once.
If you don't completely cover the aiptasia, it will get mad and release it's little spores (gametes), then you'll have a real treat!

Personally, I like chipping the rock from underneath of it. The problem with this is that sometimes they are really down deep, if you don't get it all...well...you've successfully fragged an aiptasia!

 

[RuRoo]

The problem with this is that sometimes they are really down deep, if you don't get it all...well...you've successfully fragged an aiptasia!

Ha ha ha. Nice. I use Aiptasia X, works for me.

 

[ReefCheif]

Copperbands are good for eliminating the aptasia, however a problem Ive had in the past (twice to be exact) is once theyre done with the aptasia they wont eat anything else and seem to die, at least thats been my experience. Peppermints work really good, but you need to make sure your buying true peppermints and not camel shrimp as camels will not eat aptasia, but they look almost the same. Also, peppermints are found both in the pacific and atlantic oceans, but since aptasia is tropical and primarily only found in tropical regions of the atlantic ocean, youll want to make sure you get peppermints from the same areas as pacific peppermints will not have a tatse for aptasia as its not a regular part of their food chain, Elite Reef in Westminster / Arvada gaurantees to have atlantic peppermints.

I have also recently had great success with aptasiaX, just follow the directions perfectly and suck out the crap thats left before turning your pumps back on.