Aptasia

[plomanto]

I have been fighting them for months, it's time to get drastic.

My question is if I put all my live rock in a dark container with circulation and a heater do water changes ( I guess kind of like cooking the rock) will the aptasia die off in the dark?

Any advise would be great

Thanks Peter

 

[steve-s]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers.

It will work, just going to take awhile. Many months most likely. These pests don't go easily or quietly.

As the rock shed it's detritus it will continue to feed them and they will continue to survive, though not thrive. It's only when all the nutrient is removed will they begin to die off permanently. They really are survivalists, cockroaches of the reef. They do not require light and food, just one or the other. They explode with both.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Clownguy]

Peter let me tell you from personal experience no they dont and you would be suprised how many come back quickly even with a depleted food source in the containers.

Chris

 

[tike]

Hmmmm. I have never tried it before. I know they depend on light as a food source so if your sure you have low nutrients in the tank it could work. About 6 months ago i had a HUGE problem with them 6 months ago in my 20 nano. I bought 4 peppermint shrimp and they eridicated them in one month .

HTH
willie

 

[plomanto]

Not what I wanted to hear guys but thanks. Do you guys have any way to get rid of them. I have tried Kalk paste, joes juice, lemon juice, lime juice. I have been doing them in rotation about every other day. They just keep comming back and multiplying..

Thanks for the info
Peter

 

[tike]

How big is your tank??? I purchased peppermint shrimp from reeftopia.com and they did the trick for me. My tank was heavily infested....on rock in holes on the rock on the glass. My wife tried to count them all and she got tired after reaching 325!:lol: The shrimp cleaned them ALL up in one month. Haven't seen any since and that was 6 months ago.

willie

 

[Jiddy]

How big is your tank and how big of a problem is this? I had some starting on my rockwork and i just yanked the rock out, its currently drying before i put it in.

 

[plomanto]

I have a 120 with about 200 lbs of rock....Maybe 100 small aptasia

 

[CarlaW]

You need one of these!!!

[/IMG]

 

[wrightme43]

Are they spread onto all the rock, or just some of the rock? If just some, are you willing to put them in freshwater for a week or two? I did that, to all the rock I gave my brother, when he gave it back. I put it outside, in a tote with fresh water, in the cold, and every thing died. Then I moved it into my live rock curing vat with fresh live rock. It did just fine. No aptisia at all.

 

[Jiddy]

Charlie i heard that hermit crabs were bad when they got bigger?

 

[Sk8r]

I have a few aiptasia in my 52, but they don't successfully reproduce. The peppermints like the little ones. The 6 I have are no problem, and one batch that was particularly obnoxious I set a speciman on. I haven't heard from them since. My peppermints, however, do not take on aiptasia unless the ph/alk is optimum.

 

[liveforphysics]

http://www.garf.org/copper/COPPERBAND2.html

 

[Dr. Dee]

Hay man if you want to kill them!! just get some pepperment shrimps or
a med racoon fish, But it will eat your corals

 

[Elmo18]

Peppermint shrimp from liveaquaria.com or reeftopia.com will eat them......imo...

Let nature do its dirty work...

Best,
ilham

 

[ScottT1980]

I would go with a butterfly sp. There is variation between species and even amongst individuals within the species regarding their propensity to knock out aiptasia and the liklihood that they will nip at other corals in the tank. I have been battling this problem (probably up to 1000+ initially) over the past 5 months with a 200 gallon I "inherited." Peppermint shrimp have not worked in my case. I have introduced a copperband butterfly and while it is enjoying feather dusters currently, I have seen it pick at a few aiptasia. I am hoping that once the dusters are depleted, the aiptasia will become the primary target. However, in the meantime I kalk paste the ones I see...

If you plan on going the butterfly route, I would suggest getting one that is already eating prepared foods, and also has an interest in aiptasia. This is harder to come by than you may think...

Take er easy
Scott T.

 

[CarlaW]

The particular butterfly that I pictured, Auriga, cleaned an 80 gallon tank in 2 weeks. Eats mysis, brine, freeze dried plankton, formula one cubes. Like Scott said, if you get one that is already eating prepared foods, you are one step ahead of the game.

 

[Llarian]

My peppermint shrimp is broken, it completely ignores the aiptasia.

I've been trying to find a berghia or two locally for months now with not much success I'm afraid.

-Dylan

 

[plomanto]

Thanks every one.
I think this is my plan as of now.
1) Move all corals to my prop tank (done)
2) Move all rock to a holding bin
3) Remove all fish and other animals
4) Remove sand bed and clean sand
5) Put in clean sand and all the rock
6) Add Copperband Butterfly and 6 to 8 Peppermint Shrimp
7) Wait, Wait , Wait
8) When aptaisia are gone add corals
9) Slowly add a couple of fish
10) HOPE TO HECK THIS WORKS ! ! !

 

[Sherman]

Clean sand? Doesn't this equate to Un-Establish it?