nightmare comes back! help!

[Clownnut]

this morning turned on the lgiht, found 4 penny size aptasia anemones in the tank!!!aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa................. ..................................
cant do peppermint shrimp(already got 3 shrimp in the tank)
cant do copperband butterfly(few stony coral, and couple flowerpot coral)
tried the joes juice before...
what can i do......

[FastFish720]

wow! kalkwasser mix and a syringe! Just mix a strong batch of kalk and shoot the powerful mix into them with the syringe. Make sure they are open when you do it. I find it works best to hit them multiple times.

[the_colonel]

This has worked well for me in the past:

Mix Kalk and water to form a thick past. Apply the Kalk paste to the base of the aptasia using a syringe. This will kill the aptasia, however will leave a white "bleached" spot on the live rock. The white spot is better then aptisia thou...

Good luck.

[Irenicus]

Well, that kind of shoots down your scissors idea.

I would keep trying with joes juice. There is a nudibrach that feasts on aptasia but it's name and care requirements allude me.

[the_colonel]

Jake, you beat me with the same response by two minutes.

[Havre]

I have had a reef tank up and going now for 6 years for 5.5 of those years I have had aptasia. (Deal with it!) Your best method is the kalkwasser one that the Colonel speaks of, except heat the kalk mixture in the microwave until it starts to boil.

[the_colonel]

Originally Posted by Harv

except heat the kalk mixture in the microwave until it starts to boil.

Scott, I have never tried that, what is the reason to heat it up?

[Clownnut]

i had read something from internet. they said lemon juice can do the same trick as the joes juice ?anyone?

[FastFish720]

Just do the kalk

[dirk griffin]

I believe Scott got that from me....I just went thru my tanks again with no survivors. There isn't any formula and it has been debated that some of this is fiction. But it works, depending on how many aptasia need to be zapped, roughly mix a couple of ounces of water with 2-3 large teaspoons of kalk. heat this to a boil, supposidly it allows the water to absorb more kalk. Does NOT matter if you use it hot or cold and injecting is also NOT neccesary. Injecting or squirting it on the aptasia will work. For the dozen or so I just hit, I squirted the cold kalk on the "head" and along the neck. It took them at least 3-5 seconds before they even know what hit'm. As they slither back into their hole in the rock just keep squirting until the hole is covered too.

[David Grigor]

I haven't mess with Kalk paste for a long time.

When your only dealing with a few vs. many. I just use a small amount plumbers putty to cover the crevice where the aptasia is located. Wait a month or so ( or just permanently leave it ) then pull off the epoxy.

[Jeremiah]

When I did the Kalk I also heated it up... Don't remember who told me to do that though. Worked like a charm. I just dropped a couple drops on the top of them and they ate it right up.. Only one lived through it.. But I didn't smother them like mentioned above....

[clownfishcrazy]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

Well, that kind of shoots down your scissors idea.

I would keep trying with joes juice. There is a nudibrach that feasts on aptasia but it's name and care requirements allude me.

Bergia nudi.

I am getting 10 peppermints to take care of the aiptasia in my tank.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by David Grigor

I haven't mess with Kalk paste for a long time.

When your only dealing with a few vs. many. I just use a small amount plumbers putty to cover the crevice where the aptasia is located. Wait a month or so ( or just permanently leave it ) then pull off the epoxy.

Haven't you ever had them pop out another hole in the same rock, David? I sure have! I think I puttied about 4 holes on one rock on 4 different occassions until I finally just kalked him...

[David Grigor]

No but I guess it depends on your rock and where they are located. Mine was pretty dense rock.