What would you do to Fix this??

[Shane and John]

I am having an issue with Aptasia ..Simple right..Just paste them..Ummm..I cant..


So my tank in a 120 gallon with a corner overflow..These Pests are taking over the whole corner....I cant reach in there to Paste them...So do any of you have any idea as to what i could do to wipe em out?

Would a peppermint shrimp be able to live in that small space?Obviously a fish cant....I am stumped on how to correct this!

Help me...Please!!!! thanks...Shane

 

[estanoche]

I know it sounds scary, but maybe you could shut off your return, dry out your overflow for a few days, run some pumps in your tank for circulation, then scrub it down with a paste solution, let it dry some more, and then run your return again and see how many come back.... maybe that would work?

No idea though - it is just a random idea.....

 

[Burke]

I use kalk in a syringe to zap em and it usually floats down. Perhaps, turn off your pump and try to float it down on top of them. I would give that a try. Or even add a bunch of Kalk and swirl the water in there, I doubt they could live with that much calcium in the water. Just let it settle before you turn it back on, that shouldn't hurt anything else... Good luck. I hate aptasia.

 

[Bored4ever86]

how big is the space, enough for your fist? you can always just try to scrape the inside and collect the bodies on the other end trick otherwise try a pep shrimp good luck

 

[balogh03]

That is the best place to put prefilters . I would be okay with just leaving them there. Do you have a probably with them getting to the rest of the display too?

 

[returnofsid]

If they're staying put, leave them. Aiptasia are actually amazing for filtration, IF you can keep them out of your display. If you do want to be rid of them, I'd go with the suggestion Estanoche gave you. Take your sump offline for a day, add power heads to the display, if needed, and drain your overflows. Remove your overflow plumbing, to make it easier to get your hand down there, and either kalk the heck out of them, or leave the overflow dry for a few days.

 

[Shane and John]

Thanks for the replies guys..I ocasionally get them in the display,But nuke em as soon as i see them..I guess i just hate looking at them!Some of them are getting to be Huge,Thats what I am worried about..I work very hard to keep a pest free tank and its just discouraging to see all those that i cant Kill!!

 

[WA coral]

the large ones can reproduce in the water colum so best bet is to get rid of them.. if you can shut off the return pump and fill the overflow with a ton of kalk it will nuke them in a day or 2 and then just siphon out the kalk mixture and rinse and repeat till clean of kalk

 

[roscoe]

I know I've said this before but I'm gonna say it again. Mechanical removal is only temporary. If you don't get every bit of flesh out which you won't. They will come back stronger than before. Not to mention they reproduce by releasing spores into the water colunm or laceration so if you have one you will eventually will have more. The only real and safe way without worrying if the natural predator will attack your corals after the aptasias are gone is a true predator that soley feeds on them such as the Berhgia Nudis. I only say this because I battled them and lost in the 40b for a year or more. I eventually let them be as they were out of controll at that point and was planning an upgrade to my current system.

 

[Shane and John]

So would the Nudi's be safe in the overflow area?Would i need to shut down the Main pump while they were in there?I have never seen a Nudi so I am not even sure how big they are??Bet they would grow after chomping on the forest I got going..Lol!!

 

[Shane and John]

BTW..Thanks for all of your Input..I Love this site and you fellow reefers!!

 

[roscoe]

I'm not sure how they would do in the over flow but I would imagine they would be fine as there is really no strong current in there to blow them around.

 

[returnofsid]

I believe Berghia would do just fine in your overflow. Once they've "grabbed onto" rocks, in a reef tank, they handle lots of flow just fine. However, it does take them awhile to consume all your aiptasia. You'd also want to make sure you have a decent number of them. They work in "packs." They individually hunt out aiptasia and once one of them finds aiptasia, they send out a signal, somehow, to the rest. Then the rest converge and they attack the aiptasia together. A lot of people with small tanks, buy 1 or 2, and then wonder why it doesn't work. With only 1 or 2 seeking out Aiptasia, they may not find them before starving. It's best to have at least 4, even in a small tank. Larger tanks will need more. Also, in your enclosed overflow, you'll have a much better chance of siphoning out egg strands and hatching them out. As long as you can supply them small aiptasia to feed on, you'll quickly have LOTS to sell or trade! They reproduce very quickly.

At one point, I had quite a "crop" of them growing, until my Co2/Alk crash killed them all.

 

[Shane and John]

ok now..On the the next question...I like the nudi idea..So where would i go to get some of these? Do you order online,or would a lfs store sell these?Or better yet,do any other reefers have some??

 

[returnofsid]

There's the catch. They're actually kind of difficult to get ahold of. There was a guy, here on RF, who bred and sold them, but he doesn't anymore, I don't think. PM Dew2Loud though, and ask him. Also, Google "Berghia" and see what you can find.

 

[Burke]

Barrier Reef has had them recently. If they don't have any, they might be able to order you some.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

I have used the nudi's on my 100 gal system I placed some in the fuge and also some in the DT they will work good with flow They have been caught and spit out of my tunze 6100's on full blast to land and start crwaling again the only issue I would see is if you have a mexh mod on your return then may be a little hard for them to pass through the fan blades. they are the best natural pred. IMO.

 

[jrgilles]

I saw a group buy for these about a month ago on reef frontiers. If you search the forum and find that thread, it might be a good start. Could probably start another group buy or find out where those guys purchased from

rob

 

[BCT182]

Maybe just get a copperband and dont worry about the overflow. I have a CB and he's keeping my display clear. My sump and refugium look like Im intentionally breeding them or something.

 

[Shane and John]

hey Brett.Does your CBB pic at any of your corals at all?That would be my biggest concern.I do however like like this Idea,provided he will fit in with my corals!