TONS of very tiny aiptasia!!!

[nicolebrzu]

I had an awful algae outbreak a month or so ago... hair, cyano, diatoms, everywhere! After trying many different things without the results I wanted to see, I ended up taking each rock out of the tank, putting in a bucket, scrubbing with a brush, dipping in clean saltwater, and putting back in the tank. Fixed my algae problem!!!! WOOHOO!

But unfortunately.... it seems one particular rock must have had a few aiptasia on it that I stimulated to spread when I scrubbed because now this rock is COVERED entirely with tiny aiptasia. All less than a 1/4 inch tall. Too small for my camera to detect, but I'm almost entirely sure they are aiptasia.

How on earth do you get rid of so many tiny ones?? I started trying lemon juice, but after injecting a few I realized it is impossible for me to sit there all day injecting what seems like hundreds of tiny little things. So it seems lemon juice and other chemical means are out of the question.

I've read mixed opinions on peppermint shrimp but it seems so difficult to ensure you're getting the right kind of shrimp.

I've read excellent things on berghia nudibranchs but shipping on those little guys cost more than the slug itself!

Any fish that supposedly eats them is too big for my 40 gallon tank.

I'm stuck!!! Help!!!
I don't want to get rid of this rock! It has a beautiful purple encrusting sponge on it and some mushroom corals (which are very irritated by the aiptasia!) and is a cool shape. What do I dooooo?

 

[dltt]

Man, I am sorry, wish I had some advice. I have been reading a little about the zapper, sounds promising, but still alot of work.

 

[Thespivster]

I'd go the shrimp route...they are cheap...Google a couple of pics of them before you go to the LFS. Get 2 minimum just in case one doesn't have much of an appetite. They have worked for me twice now.

 

[ShellB]

I wish I could help. We struggled with aiptasia for awhile but nothing close to that quantity. We used aptasia-X, I'm not sure if it'll help but it's another option.

 

[jjmoneyman]

If you could remove the mushrooms I do that and cook the rock to make sure you get those things. I have 2 peppermints and have never seen an aiptasia in my tank.

 

[nicolebrzu]

Just an update.... I ended up buying two peps from my LFS who said whenever they have coral frags with aiptasia, they stick them in the pep tank for a few days. I moved the offending rock to a 10 gal tank with the two peps after removing the mushroom corals. That was about a week ago.

HOWEVER.... last night in doing some researching I found something interesting. I don't think they are tiny aiptasia at all. I think they are colonial hydroids. So now I'm back at square one... I'm pretty sure the peppermint shrimp arent going to do the job here. Anyone know of anything that eats them??

 

[catran]

I wish I knew what could eat them. I have a zapper and have used it on aipastasia, mojano, and vermetid worms and it works great!

 

[Fishwhiz]

Throw a couple peppermint shrimp in there. They tend to eat smaller aiptasia. For the larger ones, inject them with aiptasia x or similar product.

 

[Thespivster]

How about an aptasia species tank?