severe aptasia problem

[reeftarded]

I have a 50g reef that has been plauged with aptasia for some time now. I have tried all of the conventional methods of eradication but with little success. I even added a copper banded butterfly to the tank with no luck. They have infested my refugium, growing all over my chaeto, glass, and sand bed. Every time I remove a large amount of the population with kalk, they just seem to come back even stronger. I'm thinking about dismantaling the whole tank and scrubbing my live rock, rinsing my sand and tossing the chaeto. I really would like to find another solution to this problem since my tank is 2 years old. Please help

 

[Scooterman]

Peppermint shrimp buy a few medium sized. I had it real bad, took a long time, I used kalk paste, Joe's Juice & shot straight vinegar, which you need to be careful doing that, you will need to test water parms so don't do much at one time. You can't break off any pieces either. The kalk past I'd make very thick enough to smother it & leave a white spot over the rock.

Hope this may help, also welcome to RF!

 

[Krish]

I've never had an aptasia problem (thank goodness) but yours sounds serious. Knowing me, i'd probably do the same thing you are suggesting, but that's just me. I'm not sure what to tell you though other than I hope you get things sorted out and don't have to resort to taking everything down and basically starting over. Best of luck and I'm sorry I don't have any words of advice, but like I've said, never had to deal with them myself before...

 

[Scooterman]

Oh yea they hide inside the rock, you would need to do more than scrub them I'd say, I really don't know past that point. Lesson learned for me also, next time I will be very careful where I get my rock & not where you got it last time. I don't know what else to say I'm sure you 'll get more pointers here.

 

[matts125]

hey in your 55 gallon tank I would put 5-6 peppermint shrimps in there, preferable ones from reeftopia, they have a good reputation for taking car of aptaisa. I have 8 in my 120 and the only time I have had them is as hitchhikers and they last a day or two tops...


Matt

 

[liveforphysics]

If you have other food in your tank for pepermint shrimp, they wont do any good. If you have large aptasias, pepermints can actually be snacks for them. They have slow metabolisms and tiny stomaches.

What happened with the first copper banded?
I have seen a copper banded destroy about 500 aptasias in about a week or so. I would get a CBB, stick it in the fuge untill its aptasia free, then stick him in the display.

 

[dpaynter]

I had good luck with the peppermint shrimp as well, but I've also seen lots of comments from people who have tried them with no results. Whatever you do, note the comment by liveforphysics; you have to treat the refugium and the main tank until both are clean.

 

[MarineTeng]

well, i know that livestock vary on their eating preferances, perhaps buy a bunch of peppermints from different places, or try and get a copperband that has been eating them, i might need a peppermint soon to, i've had a few, been doing all i can to remove them asap

 

[Rock-N-Ruin]

saltwater city in bellvue has peppermint shrimp quite cheap.. I finally have won the battle for now! I had about 10 at the worst time, but only a few were good size, I used a combination of Joes juice, seachem carbonat hardner/ in a syringe, right in the face...heeheehee and also a good 5 mL. Kent liquid calcium... added a couple peppermint shrimp towards the end and they only seem to be able to manage the little ones but once you get the big ones, the spawn from them is eaten quickly... not every thing works for everyone... good luck

 

[Kitteness]

wow I feel your pain I have problems too! I am not spending anymore money on those dang pepermint shrimp everytime i put one in it just disappears. Something thinks they are quite tasty in my tank. I have had to try all kinds of things. The latest thing I heard of is boiling water which I am going to try I will let ya know how it works. The only way I have been able to get rid of mine is calcium and to take the rock out and dig and suck the sucker out with the syringe. I know that if any part is left it will just rejuvinate but I have had a lot of success with just coating them in the calcium and digging them out with syringe and they haven't rejuvinated. The really big ones are just about impossible for me also to remove. Hope a miracle comes along for both us.

 

[aquarookie]

Wet Web Media always advises to reduce your nutrients and the Aiptasia starve to death. If you overfeed the tank or don't change the water enough, they flourish. See if you can feed it less, or change the water more, or get a better skimmer/filter etc.
Hope this helps

 

[CarlaW]

[/IMG]

Works for me!!

 

[Beto]

I had a 42 of these aipstasia that I counted once(last december)...bought two peppermint shrimp...and 45 days later...they were all gone. While trying to get them under control, I cut back on the fish food hoping the shrimp wouldn't get any, and that they'd resort to eating aipstasia over starving. Now I have nothing for them to feed on so I give them regular fish food.

 

[chinta]

Hot Water has worked for me in the past...
Good Luck

 

[ethanriley]

Somebody help me I know that I have seen a thread about a "new" species of nudibranch that just loves aptasia and doesn't attack corals. Seems to me it was white with black stripes or black with white stripes depending on how you look at it. I remember they got rave reviews. I will dig around and see if I can find the thread.

 

[ethanriley]

Berghia verrucicornis this is the scientific name knew I remembered

 

[ethanriley]

Go to wetwebmedia.com there is an excellent artcile by Anthony Calfo on these little nudi's they should do the trick for you

 

[fishcrazee]

I've heard that you have to be careful who you buy your peppermint shrimp from, as many times they are mislabeled/not identified correctly, and if that's the case, your shrimp may not eat the aiptasia, as they are not the correct species for aiptasia control. I've heard people have great results when they have used actual peppermint shrimp.

 

[wayne in norway]

Aiptasia don't live on fresh air and love, they require particulate food. If you have that many you might need to consider less feeding/more cleaing as well as killing them.
I always preffered biological eradication. Chaetodon kleinii is somewhat more hardy than a cbb, but less reef safe.