Aptasia

[Funkyskunk]

Hi there guys, I wonder if you could help me, I seem to be having a problem with these monsters.

Every time I Joe’s Juice one, I see another, I know that Copper Bands are supposed to help, but I really don’t want to introduce more fish to the system.

I also heard the peppermint shrimp help, but have heard mixed reports……

Can anyone give me some advice?

Thanks

[Pikeman]

I've used Peppermint shrimp with success in the past.

[Aquatic Image]

I too have used peps in the past. Although it is really hit or miss. I have also had peps go after LPS corals. A CB butterfly may do the trick too if you decide to add another fish. I have always heard good things about Joes Juice but I know it can be a PITA to squirt them all.

[wasp]

Just keep at it. They have been eradicated from my system, but it took a lot of stubborn persistance. I'ts amazing how you can think you've got them all, and then even months later, one will pop up. But once they are down to very low levels, it is a case of keeping the Joes Juice next to the tank, and kill them every time you see one. you will eradicate them eventually.
Even though they can go in some inaccessable places, they do not favor the totally dark places where you cannot get them at all, they will slowly move into the light, that is their one weakness.

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !


Ahhh ... the perpetual Aiptasia war ... :shoot7:

I have always heard good things about Joes Juice but I know it can be a PITA to squirt them all.

Indeed ... but satisfying ... you get to watch the Aiptasia melt ... VERY satisfying.



The reproductive variety of Aiptasia can be very problematic ...

Anemones can reproduce sexually and asexually. The latter method, termed cloning, most commonly occurs by longitudinal fission, inverse budding or marginal budding, but pedal laceration is the method used by Aiptasia (Muller-Parker, pers. comm.) Cloning is common in some anemone species and results
in extensive patches of clones on reef bottoms. Cloning is considered to be adaptive in the colonization of space because clones inherit high fitness from the adjacent parent (Shick 1991, Ayre and Grosberg 1995) and because budded clones can colonize space rapidly (G. Muller-Parker, pers. comm.). Pedal laceration in Aiptasia entails very low reproductive effort (Hunter 1984), and this process also ensures that symbiotic zooxanthellae are contained in the propagules (Muller-Parker and D'Elia 1997).

Extracted from:
A NEW RECORD OF ANEMONE BARRENS IN THE GALAPAGOS
By: Thomas. A. Okey, Scoresby. A. Shepherd, and Priscilla C. Martinez
http://www.conservationinstitute.org/anemonebarrens.htm

I've found the combination of Joes Juice and peppermint shrimp to be very effective. The Joes Juice dissolves the majority of the Aiptasia's body, and the peppermint shrimp consume the tissue that remains. But wasp's experience matches my own ... Aiptasia battles constitute protracted warfare. Let the games begin ...

I have also had peps go after LPS corals.

Indeed, but my major problem with them has been that about 1 in 12 develop a taste for polyps ... typically mushrooms and Palythoa. I've observed that Pacific specimens are typically less likely to go after polyps than Atlantic specimens ... go figure ... but opinions on this correlation differ. You pays your money, and you takes your chances ... and so it goes.

Butterfly fish as Aiptasia predators include Chelmon rostratus (Copperband Butterfly), Chaetodon auriga (Auriga Butterfly), and Chaetodon unimaculatus (Okey, Shepard and Martinez, 2003) ... but I've never really trusted any of them in an SPS reef tank.



One of the commonly overlooked fish predator options are two damselfishes from the Genus Stegastes ... the Island Major (Stegastes arcifrons), and the Southern Whitetail Major (Stegastes beebei).

The two species of territorial damselfishes mentioned above, Stegastes leucorus beebei and S. arcifrons, are known predators of the Aiptasia anemone in the Galapagos (Grove and Lavenberg 1997, and SAS personal observations).

Extracted from:
A NEW RECORD OF ANEMONE BARRENS IN THE GALAPAGOS
By: Thomas. A. Okey, Scoresby. A. Shepherd, and Priscilla C. Martinez
http://www.conservationinstitute.org/anemonebarrens.htm

WetWebMedia has some good stuff on Genus Stegastes Damselfishes at:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/stegastes.htm

Stegastes leucorus beebei is actually kind of cool looking:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/DamselPIX...0Juv%20GAL.jpg


And then there's the Nudibranch option ... much has been written on the Aiptasia eating nudibranch Berghia verrucicornis. Availabilty and cost are a whole other set of issues ...

Everything you ever wanted to about culturing Berghia nudibranchs is at:
http://www.breedersregistry.org/Repr...berghia_bb.htm

HTH

[Funkyskunk]

Thanks so much for all the info, it is greatly appreciated , time for WAR :shoot7: :shoot7: :shoot7: :shoot7: :flame: :flame: