GRRRRR aptasia

[crzy4reefs]

Ok for months i've been battling this horriable hitch hicker, i've tried joe's juice i've done a kalk paste thing and tried killing them that way. i've tried pep shrimp (they've disappeard). it seems more i trie to kill these things the more they multiply, it's really starting to get agrivating.

any other suggestions. i was thinking of getting a copper band butterfly to eat the stuff then sell him (my tank is only a 45 soon to up grade to a 210 but don't know when that'll happen) my concern with him is my zoa's. i was thinking those aptasia eating nudi branches but i have bulkheads that they might get sucked into. Any help is appreicated.

 

[B.rian]

is it throughout the tank, or just on a few select rocks? you can always try drying out the rocks or boiling the rocks, if it is just one or two rocks.

 

[crzy4reefs]

it's pretty much spread all over, it seems the more i try to kill them through injection the more they multiply. i was reading and somewebsite said that racoon butterfly's also eat the aptasia and are hardier than copper band.

any one know of any other injection methods besides, joe's juice, hot water, and kalk paste.

 

[fishieness]

lowing nutrient levels is probably the best way. i got some lr from a fellow reefer, only to after it was in my tank find a bunch. i found a few very small ones on the skeleton of an acro. i jsut broke off the skeleton, let they dry out and die, and theni jstu put it back in as a tiny piece of rubble.
i have one more. i got the rock in april and it hasnt mulitplied once. there are a number of simple things you can do. you can take it out the rock and let it dry. but i dont know how many you have. if you have a lot, that might not work. if you want, you can get somethign like holdfast epoxy. take the rock out, dry the spot, and apply the holdfast right over it. it obviously wont survive with no flow, light, water, ext. the holdfast doesnt realy dry if you use it underwater, but it might still work. im holding up a frag with some right now. it is sticky, but not realy drying.....

 

[fishieness]

lemon juice can also work for an injection

 

[crzy4reefs]

those are good ideas fishieness.......taking the rock out and drying it is not an option. as i have corals on the rocks. i have 6 good size aptasia and the rest are small

 

[crzy4reefs]

straight lemon juice or water it down?

 

[Gina McReeferson]

Aquarium Gallery has some nice CBs in stock, or at least they did this weekend. We saw them eating (we bought one and he is doing well) and they look healthy. They have some pretty small ones too. 20% off sale going on now as well. Just a thought.

-Dave

 

[crzy4reefs]

Thanks dave i'll have to check them out.

 

[fishieness]

yeah. strait lemon juice is best. and you are only injecting a tiny amount so it wont do anything to your tank.

 

[Greg Hiller]

You might try again with peppermint shrimp. They don't always survive introduction to a tank probably due to shipping stress. Once they are in a tank though, and established, they can be a very effective control. The big Aips you can take out with injections as has been mentioned.

 

[crzy4reefs]

Thanks greg maybe i will try them again.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I've always had Pepp shrimp & never had a problem with aptasia
I saw a big one day & thought I would have to nuke it

Checked that weekend & it was gone
Maybe they were letting it plump up

 

[Gina McReeferson]

A couple of months ago (I'm guessing), I actually got to watch one of our peppermints eating an aptasia that I had been keeping my eye on. It was so nice.

-Gina

 

[JayM]

I threw 10 peps in my fuge to snack on the aptasia on the LR. Haven't seen one eating any of it yet.......

 

[Moe_K]

I too have had great luck with peppermint shrimp.
Be sure you're getting true peppermint shrimp. Camel shrimp look like pepps and won't eat aiptasia, IIRC.

 

[crzy4reefs]

yeah i know what the peps look like, the just didn't make it in my tank. i did the drip acclimation that i do for anything going in my tank. so i'm not sure if i want to try them again.

 

[HoneyBee]

We had a rock with aptasia on it and our peppermint shrimp wouldn't go anywhere near it. Brenden at Aquarium Gallery said maybe we had the wrong kind of shrimp and to capture one and bring it in so he could see. (3hours and 1wet floor later) Well he said it was the right kind, just maybe didn't feel like eating it I guess. They have a tank there full of peppermint shrimp, they put our rock in it and those buggers swarmed it like ants at a picnic... so we bought 5 peps out of that tank... and forgot our rock there. Apparently some peps like to eat it more than others.

 

[crzy4reefs]

yeah that's what I heard along with the fish that supposedly eat it as well.

 

[JeremyAN7]

I recently have been battling the aiptasia problem. My newly trained CBB is mowing down all the aiptasia. I think i had between 300 and 500 copies of the pest in my tank, and am now down to less than half. So far the CBB has not touched ANY of the 7 kinds of Zoes or anything else. He looked for a minute at the condilactus and a minute at the soft tree but then moved on...