Help With Aptasia

[sandlot13]

Alright, freakin trying to get my tank back in to a respectable reef tank...... unfortunatly, aptasia has taken over!!!! Ive tried using joes juice, but that stuff is worthless.

Anyone else have any bright ideas?!?! My tank is a 20L, if that helps!

PLEASE HELP!

 

[Bainic]

I think that there's some fish/inverts that eat aptasia, not sure but I think copperbanded butterfly and peppermint shrimp, check those.

 

[twilliard]

:shock: Did some one say Joes juice is worthless?? :shock:

It works wonders when used right. Oh and only the ones you can get to without tearing the tank down.

So thats about the easiest way, calk paste or JJ
May try the hit or miss -CBB fish-

 

[loohunter]

my blue face angel eats them

 

[twilliard]

Does an angel eat coral too??

 

[loohunter]

it eats xenia and some lps like brains but i keep hammers torches frogspawn and sps with no issues

 

[loohunter]

oh and also bta's

 

[twilliard]

Well scratch that idea of an angel in my tank.

I have a few aptasia I cant get too with my JJ and I dont feel like tearing the rock out.

 

[loohunter]

Well scratch that idea of an angel in my tank.

I have a few aptasia I cant get too with my JJ and I dont feel like tearing the rock out.

yeah i guess they can be kinda hit and miss with angels. my girlfriend likes that fish so much that it wont be going any where. so i have to build the reef around that fish

 

[twilliard]

LOL kinda like my lion fish. I want to add a school of fish but I cant because of him!

And he doesnt eat aptasia LOL

 

[kendog261]

I have a peppermint shrimp and seemed to work great

 

[sandlot13]

ya, i was leaning towards getting a peppermint shrimp...... but my eel might eat him, so that would be an expensive meal. As for the Joes Juice.... Ive used it twice now, and every time the aptasia comes back worse!!!! Im really starting to get mad about it, cause it seems to work for other people..... why not me

 

[Holygral]

I had good sucess with boiling water and a direct hit with a turkey baster.

 

[mark peacock]

get a copperband i have no issues at all with them eats everyone i ever got.

 

[Curtswearing]

As for the Joes Juice.... Ive used it twice now, and every time the aptasia comes back worse!!!! Im really starting to get mad about it, cause it seems to work for other people..... why not me

It does this for many people. If the entire anemone doesn't dissolve, there will often be a pedal laceration so one aiptasia might turn into 3 or 4 smaller ones which grow to be the size of the original. In fact, one of my friends purposely grows aiptasia to feed her berghia nudibranch's and is toying with the idea of using Joe's juice to increase the numbers.

I've never like peppermint shrimp because many of them never touch aiptasia and many start out eating aiptasia and then convert to fish food. I prefer berghia.

I know that last week her $15 berghia were on sale for $10 for phone orders. You might want to give her a call to see if the sale is still on. http://www.saltyunderground.com/

 

[chadmace]

Like Holygral I got rid of mine with boiling RO/DI water and a turkey baster. Haven't seen any since.

 

[sandlot13]

hmmm, the boiling water technique sounds like it has potential........ just gotta make sure i dont blast any coral when I do that. As for the copperband, i would do that no problem, but i dont think my tank is big enough for a fish like that. Berghia is my second choice now i think, though I would rather not have to pay for shipping of one of these guys... might have to if i know it works though.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

In your little tank, use a hypo filled from an insulated cup of boiling water in lieu of the baster. Precision sharpshooting using less ammo will heat your tank less and minimizes risk to friendlies from overshot fire.

 

[scytale]

I've never like peppermint shrimp because many of them never touch aiptasia and many start out eating aiptasia and then convert to fish food.

(+1)

My Peps waited about 3 weeks before they ate a single aiptasia--then they cleaned out the whole tank in 3 days--ate about 40 aiptasia! :shock:

....Now it's 2 months later and I'm starting to see a few apatasia pop-up in new locations...
(but the shrimp, they just stay in their caves and wait for a stray pellet to float by )

I guess it's time for me to put a kettle back on the stove.....

(BTW: you can buy "Flavor Injectors" (aka 30 ml syringe) for cooking at alot of grocery/home stores--there large capacity lets you zap more aiptasia quickly--with less time spent re-loading. )

 

[LarryB]

so you just leave the rock in the tank and sneak up on them with the syringe full of boiling water and let 'em have it? Do you poke it into them or just spray them? I have a couple in my tank right now but I could just remove the rocks and scrape them off and then give them the spot blast of boiling water, I would think that would be "plan A", as compared to doing in in the tank?