Aptasia infestation

bleavitt · #1 03/04/2007, 10:56 PM

Dear RF community. I have a 120 G reef that I have had for 3 years. Over the last 4 months I have had an aptasia infestation. Joe's juice works, but I cannot keep up with the pests. Twice I have taken out all my live rock and scrubbed them off with a wire brush. I bought 10 peppermint shrimp from saltwaterfish.com and I only can find 3 left and they do not eat them. I bought a copper banded butterfly and it was killed by my purple tang. The other fish that I have are 2 blue damsels and 2 yellow wrasses (for my previous flatworm problem that is now not a problem). My water chemistries are good (ph 7.8, CA 460, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 1.0 phosphate). I changed the all 3 cartridges in my RODI to try to lower the phosphate numbers.

Any thoughts, helps or others with a similar situation.

Thanks

Bruce

shag26272 · #2 03/04/2007, 11:03 PM

try this

http://www.saltyunderground.com/

GSMguy · #3 03/04/2007, 11:14 PM

7 peppermint shrimp in my tank and i have zero aptasia if you get the right kind they will take care of the population

RedEyeElf · #4 03/04/2007, 11:18 PM

my cleaner shrimp took care of my 3 peppermints after about 2 months of peace

Now I'm trying to find me some nudi's

chaseracing · #5 03/04/2007, 11:20 PM

Yah the peps are the way to go. Joes Juice works in a low flow tank. High flow tanks just do not have this as an option.

The peps may be hiding. If they are dead it is probably due to either high Nitrates or Salinity jumping around. These two things seem to mess with them the most.

Maybe pick up another pair of peps. I have 3 and they keep an entire 150 perfectly clean (sump is full of them. Display has Zero)

-=E=-

RedEyeElf · #6 03/04/2007, 11:25 PM

I caught the cleaner taking out 1 of them, so pretty sure it was a triple murder

i had no problem while I had them, but as soon as they were gone, it was back with a vengence. I want it to be GONE gone goNE!!!! Joes' works for abit, but you can only juice what you see

the nudi's can crawl damn near anywhere
I'll keep ya updated

bleavitt · #7 03/05/2007, 08:09 PM

Thanks for all your help. I will look for more peppermint shrimps and get som3 nudibranches from saltyunderground.

Bruce

c-horseman · #8 03/05/2007, 08:56 PM

yup and maybe get them from different places to improve your chances, as not all peps eat them. if they were caught from a natural habitat that did not have them, then they probably didn't learn to eat them

marinelife · #9 03/05/2007, 09:14 PM

My Emperor Angel eats them, maybe a small angel would work for you

msman825 · #10 03/05/2007, 10:17 PM

here's a Aptasia king, I only had a few, But i have loaned him to a couple freinds that it was taking over there tanks . He loves it

johnstires · #11 03/05/2007, 10:51 PM

Joes Juice and persistence has worked for me. Just keep at it.

littlefish72 · #12 03/06/2007, 05:53 AM

Use Joe's Juice for the big ones and the peppermints will take care of the small ones............unless it's majano.......if that's the case next time you take rock out to scrub, set fire to it

jaw969 · #13 03/06/2007, 08:55 PM

My copperband took out all of mine as well. The racoon butterfly also took out all of the aptasia in a tank I had as well, but he also nibbles on corals so be careful. (He will eat the aptasia first, atleast he did for me)

Good luck!

chrisqueenz · #14 03/06/2007, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GSMguy
7 peppermint shrimp in my tank and i have zero aptasia if you get the right kind they will take care of the population

Solved my problem too!

pkunk35 · #15 03/07/2007, 01:49 PM

I had a similar Aiptasia infestation in my own 90 gallon reef. I have used Joe's Juice, Copperbands, Berghia and finally peppermint shrimp. For the size of the tank and in terms of ease as well as cost, nothing worked better than the peppermint shrimp. I had avoided them at first b/c I hate the way they look, but hands down were the best. Within 4 months they had eaten all the aiptasia... and there was a LOT of aiptasia (I'm talking many hundreds...the rockwork was COVERED). Please keep in mind that I have no fish, only coral, and I believe that this allowed the shrimp free access to the entire tank. I believe that the more fish you have, the more you regulate your shrimp to a specific niche in your tank (resulting in slower aiptasia eradication, or perhaps hardly any at all).

Joe's Juice: Great for the big ones. Impractical otherwise.

Copperband: In my experience, not a hardy fish (i've read this too). Mine died after 3 months, but he did eat aiptasia.

Berghia: I loved these guys! Better suited for a small tank, IMO. In a <1 gallon jar I had them eating aiptasia and reproducing. I put them in the display to battle the aiptasia but never saw them again. They are very good at eating aiptaisia, despite their size. I would recommend them to advanced hobbyists.

Just my experience. Would welcome any comments on my post, positive or negative.

Ritten · #16 03/07/2007, 02:20 PM

Bruce, I just started getting them as well. I don't get it. I have not added a thing to my tank in years. I can't get peppermints because I have an orchid dottyback that kills them. Joe's juice is working for the ones I can get to, but I hate having my hands in the tank. I have a huge bristle worm in there that gives me the creeps.