Aitapsia swallowing my fish!

[digibee]

Yesterday, I saw one of my many aiptasia swallowing my small scarlet pink stripe wrasse.

I think the fish is already dead; and float near the aitapsia mouth.

Seemed like the aitapsia is getting wild in my tank; most of them are getting bigger!

You encounter before?

[Ketchup]

Never see before but heard there's a possibility as Aitapsia is essentially mini-anemones. If your aitapsia very big in size? You may want to try copperband or maldivan butterfly to see if it helps. Also, can use joe juice.

[desideria]

wah luke... your aiptipsia is se peh powerful man.. LOL

[mitlancer]

Yesterday, I saw one of my many aitapsia swallowing my small scarlet pink stripe wrasse.

I think the fish is already dead; and float near the aitapsia mouth.

Seemed like the aitapsia is getting wild in my tank; most of them are getting bigger!

You encounter before?

Yes, mine was a peppermint shrimp, the hunter being hunted instead!!!! But benefit of doubts, I wont know if the ps was already dead or not. Got a klein butterfly from ah beng, cheap cheap n it really clear quite alot of my aiptasia, but will still leave those large ones alone.... mayb too large for their liking, like old chicken, meat too hard to eat liao.

[Tian85]

Yes, mine was a peppermint shrimp, the hunter being hunted instead!!!! But benefit of doubts, I wont know if the ps was already dead or not. Got a klein butterfly from ah beng, cheap cheap n it really clear quite alot of my aiptasia, but will still leave those large ones alone.... mayb too large for their liking, like old chicken, meat too hard to eat liao.

How about try the lemon juice method to kill of the big one.

[digibee]

The one swallowing my fish, is 50 cents coin in size;

I have bigger ones with longer "tentacles".

Joe Juice did not help; tried 3 times;

The aiptasia will shrink for about 2 days; but then came back up again.

Yes, got a small klein butterflyfish; but no action yet after about 4 days.

Also, got one small tahiti butterflyfish; also no action yet.

Peppermint shrimp .... got 2 ... but became the food of my mystery wrasse!

So; now waiting for my 2 butterfly fish to take action ...!

BTW, tonight, I will pump a few mysis shrimp into the aitapsia;

hopefully; the fish will eat the mysis and maybe; just maybe they will try out the aiptasia ..ha!

[mitlancer]

The one swallowing my fish, is 50 cents coin in size;

I have bigger ones with longer "tentacles".

Joe Juice did not help; tried 3 times;

The aitapsia will shrink for about 2 days; but then came back up again.

Yes, got a small klein butterflyfish; but no action yet after about 4 days.

Also, got one small tahiti butterflyfish; also no action yet.

Peppermint shrimp .... got 2 ... but became the food of my mystery wrasse!

So; now waiting for my 2 butterfly fish to take action ...!

BTW, tonight, I will pump a few mysis shrimp into the aitapsia;

hopefully; the fish will eat the mysis and maybe; just maybe they will try out the aitapsia ..ha!

Ok, yours definitely bigger than mine!!! LOL

Think u need big butterfly fish to deal with them. Someone taught me to cut the aip so that the butterfly can then eat it in pieces, but may risk having more aip if these flesh float elsewhere n not being eaten.

Yes, joe juice n other chem wont work on big ones, unless you are pumping alot to just one aip. I notice how the aip melts apart when injected.... so u need alot to ensure all the flesh r melted before u stop injecting. so far, i left with only few large ones which are hidden n hard to reach.

[FuEl]

Racoon Butterfly is the best. No need to wait at all..

[Underwater]

Avoid copperband unless you are willing to feed frozen food to this fish and ensure there's enough food for it to eat cos it's a very slow eater. Sure loose out to tangs, angels and wrasses.

Another thing is not 100% will eat aitapsia.

[serravorte]

yes bro.. i have the same encounter...

3 ap in my tank... then i dun care...

now easily MORE THEN 15... OMG..

just got a copperband from CF today...

HOPEFULLY it will kill them all...

lots of copperband left at CF...

good luck in fighting them...

CHEMICAL AND PS wont work for me...

[digibee]

Yeah? Think I need to get one raccoon butterfly fish.

Pinnacle should have some, right?

Anyway, putting mysis into the aiptasia did not work;

It back fired!

Now my aiptasia got fatter! Swallowed a few mysis shrimps.

By the way, Aiptasia is spelled this way.

And, last count, I have about 25 aiptasias with a few as big as 50 cents coin!

[Ketchup]

wah, i think ur situation is quite bad leh... technically, aiptasia cannot "catch" fishes unless it's weak/unhealthy or very slow moving... Hope your butterfly will do the job. I know ours did well.. but also nips at some LPS/Zoas... give and take..

[tunicate]

How about try the lemon juice method to kill of the big one.

With that kind of size, digibee probably will need to feed whole lemon to it. LOL...

[digibee]

was just thinking of using lemon juice!

Ketchup, yeah, these butterfly fish do nip some corals;

But luckily, I do not have expensive corals;

I think most probably will try the raccoon butterfly next.

[vincegoh]

Wow! Though I have a lot of Aiptasia in my previous tank which they are small in size. I dont think they will eat your fish though, most probably it is dead before hand.

Good luck and keep us inform how u get rid of it eventually.

[desideria]

hey luke give your taihitian butterfly a chance.. we had pretty big ones also and all GONE now thanks to the taihitian butterfly.

It also stop nipping at the zoos but will still occasionally nip here and there la..

[FuEl]

Do note that racoon butterfly will also decimate your other corals besides aiptasia. Same applies for other non-reef safe butterflies.

I have successfully bred Berghia nudibranch for aiptasia control. While I can hardly see them with my naked eye as yet, I believe they should become rather visible in the few weeks to come. So do not fret, there will be a constant local supply of berghia. I will take a microscope shot sometime this weekend.

[peacemaker]

Anyway, putting mysis into the aiptasia did not work;

It back fired!

Now my aiptasia got fatter! Swallowed a few mysis shrimps.

Lol... you fed the troll!

I have faith in peppermint shrimp as they did solve my problem. You have to be patient with them though.

[Ketchup]

I think PS will not work for his case since the aiptasias are too big... Also, I read that for PS to work, you probably need like 10 of them as some will not even touch the aiptasia.

[digibee]

Do note that racoon butterfly will also decimate your other corals besides aiptasia. Same applies for other non-reef safe butterflies.

I have successfully bred Berghia nudibranch for aiptasia control. While I can hardly see them with my naked eye as yet, I believe they should become rather visible in the few weeks to come. So do not fret, there will be a constant local supply of berghia. I will take a microscope shot sometime this weekend.

Yes, I need to try berghia nudibranch too.

Let me know soon.

Thanks!

[digibee]

I think PS will not work for his case since the aiptasias are too big... Also, I read that for PS to work, you probably need like 10 of them as some will not even touch the aiptasia.

Yeah, but got 2 of them earlier;

1 is missing; while the other was on a rock before being snapped up by my mystery wrasse!

So dare not try any more as PS is not cheap leh.

[TayHongSiang]

if its those big and scary ones...u have to use epoxy and just stick over it to kill them..otherwise, take that piece of infested alien rock and cook it...once these aliens start to split and spread....it will be very hard to control...and they can move and float around....n build colonies...those small baby aliens u can use lime / lemon juice and squeak directly at them and they will melt...

[mitlancer]

if its those big and scary ones...u have to use epoxy and just stick over it to kill them..otherwise, take that piece of infested alien rock and cook it...once these aliens start to split and spread....it will be very hard to control...and they can move and float around....n build colonies...those small baby aliens u can use lime / lemon juice and squeak directly at them and they will melt...

Ah Siang, but if the aip is at a rock with nice zoas, cannot cook liao... that is what happen to mine. trying to control their population.... its a nv ending fight sia. Damn tiring....

[digibee]

Ah Siang, but if the aip is at a rock with nice zoas, cannot cook liao... that is what happen to mine. trying to control their population.... its a nv ending fight sia. Damn tiring....

Yeah; taking out the rock is the last last resort; because those rocks also got nice coralline encrusted already.

These aiptasia have reduced the hiding places and spaces for my fishes to swim or rest!

[yellowtang]

Aips have superior survival instincts. I kept 2 copperbands and was happy that the aips were all gone after 2 months. Gave away the butterflies and to my suprise, the Aips appeared again. Many of them were actually hiding in the holes and cracks of the rocks. So dont be too happy about it.

Tried bergie nudis ( I imported them direct ), effective while they are alive, but the wrasse love them too.

Joe juice, really no difference from my juice! At least mine is free. To be effective, you need to siphon off all the remains of the Aips after the applying the juice. If not , you will get babies Aips everywhere.

So i have given up the fight. Maybe i will inject dye into them and sell them off as a new found rock anemonie.

cheers