Aptasia advice needed

**rprisock** · 09-22-2006, 12:07 PM

I have a 180 display tank and got a few aptasia in on some live rock. Now I have lots of aptasia

I've added 22 peppermint shrimp and I've used Joe's Juice. The problem is that many are now in the back of my rock work and not accessible to use Joe's Juice. So far, the peppermint shrimp haven't seemed very interested in the aptasia.

This weekend I am rearranging my rockwork. The rock with the most aptasia I intend to remove and try to clean the aptasia off. Maybe the shrimp and Joe's Juice can handle the rest.

Question: If I take the worst pieces of rock and place it in a bucket of fresh water, will the fresh water dip kill the aptasia? Any other suggestions?

TIA.

rprisock

***Rob*** · 09-22-2006, 01:23 PM

the FW dip should but you can add some vinegar to that to help, or you can bake the rock, or just let it dry out.

**JustDavidP** · 09-22-2006, 01:49 PM

Either way, FW dip, vinegar treatment or baking it, your live rock will end up having die off and would probably cause another mini-cycle of sorts. Also, if you move the rock around the aptasia will probably retreat into holes in the rock, making themselves hard to find and therefore eradicate.

I'm going to venture to guess that the lysmata shrimp you got are NOT true peppermint shrimp. This is a problem in the hobby right now. There are SOOOO many "look alikes" to the true peppermints shrimp. You want to ensure that you are getting shrimp from the western atlantic, carribean area to ensure that you are getting Lysmata wurdemanni. There are TONS of stories of people buying shrimp only to find that they were Lysmata rathbunae or Lysmata californica which DO NOT eat aptasia.

Dave

***Rob*** · 09-22-2006, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by JustDavidP

Either way, FW dip, vinegar treatment or baking it, your live rock will end up having die off and would probably cause another mini-cycle of sorts. Also, if you move the rock around the aptasia will probably retreat into holes in the rock, making themselves hard to find and therefore eradicate.

this is a great point.. however, in a 180 gallon system i dont think he needs to worry about this if only working with a few rocks..

**KPK** · 09-22-2006, 02:46 PM

Have you tried any berghia nudibranchs? They eat nothing but aptasia. Said to take care of them. I would get quite a few then sell them if they ever get done!!

**JustDavidP** · 09-22-2006, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by KPK

Have you tried any berghia nudibranchs?.... I would get quite a few then sell them if they ever get done!!

I'd get quite a few if I were going that route too. Most people report high mortality rates. They tend to like the thrill of the ride on powerheads and pumps.

Every nudi I've ever tried to own has decided it liked the overflow rollercoaster and ended up in the sump. Fine if it happens once or twice, but for the lettuce nudi, for instance, they didn't get enough light and perished.

Dave

**KPK** · 09-22-2006, 03:30 PM

Forgot to mention keeping your intakes, overflows etc safe, or they will get sucked in. Kinda like anemones and powerheads.

thanks David

**JR Aquatics** · 09-22-2006, 11:25 PM

You can also take the rock out and burn them with a long-stem lighter. This is effective as a means of keeping the numbers down without killing your rock.

**bubbletip** · 09-22-2006, 11:34 PM

Has anyone heard of the use of lemon juice injected into the Aptasia to kill them. I tried this a long time ago and it worked for me. The only thing is that you do not want to do to many at a time obviously adding a great deal of acid to the water(PH issues). You could maybe try this in a seperate container outside of the display tank. The Aptasia retract quickly so you need to jab them in the first attempt. If you miss, you may as well move on to the next one as it will not come out for a while after an attempt. It has been a long time since I did this and I beleive I read this in The Reef Aquarium either volume 1 or 2(Delbeek & Sprung).

***Rob*** · 09-22-2006, 11:55 PM

yep, lemon juice, kalk, or even vinegar.. its the high acid..

they will all kill Aptasia

**rprisock** · 09-23-2006, 09:34 AM

Thanks for all the advice. The war will begin shortly. I have a few large pieces of fiji rock that are covered. I'm thinking I will end up letting it re-cure outside of my tank to prevent a cycle. I don't want to stress my clam, corals, or fish. My thoughts are that I have plenty of other live rock in the tank so it shouldn't affect my filtration too much.

I'll keep you posted on the battle and the results.

**gwen_o_lyn** · 09-23-2006, 03:45 PM

to TR!

I was thinking the same thing David commented on.... Make sure you have the right peppermint shrimps. Are you 100% sure it's aiptasia?

I uploaded a pic of mine which is the kind the eats aiptasia.

**JustDavidP** · 09-25-2006, 08:58 AM

Peppermints will NOT eat Mojano anemone....

Dave

**Stevej72** · 09-25-2006, 06:51 PM

But Mojano Anemone will eat Peppermints /:

**CarmieJo** · 09-25-2006, 09:53 PM

I don't have anything to add to the discussion but I did want to say rprisock & KPK

to TR.

**wwest** · 09-25-2006, 09:53 PM

But Mojano Anemone will eat Peppermints /:

huh??

**JustDavidP** · 09-26-2006, 01:35 PM

Mojano anemone, if large enough, will eat WHATEVER it can.. but between "sprouting" and getting that large, will sting through all your corals etc. I remember when a LFS wasn't sure what they were and was selling them as "baby bubble tips"

Yeah.. that must have gone over well after the silly folks bought them, put them into their tanks, and then had to eventually tear the tank down because of the infestation.

They are actually quite pretty...in my nerdy, fishy way. When they do get larger, they tend to be more colorful than the turd brown they are when babies!

D

**Stevej72** · 09-26-2006, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by JustDavidP

Mojano anemone, if large enough, will eat WHATEVER it can.. but between "sprouting" and getting that large, will sting through all your corals etc. I remember when a LFS wasn't sure what they were and was selling them as "baby bubble tips"

Yeah.. that must have gone over well after the silly folks bought them, put them into their tanks, and then had to eventually tear the tank down because of the infestation.

They are actually quite pretty...in my nerdy, fishy way. When they do get larger, they tend to be more colorful than the turd brown they are when babies!

D

I agree when they are large they look great, I just dont want to look at them in my reef.
I lost close to $150. In shrimp and some small fish thanks to 3 large Mojanos that were hiding way under my LR

**JustDavidP** · 09-27-2006, 08:25 AM

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. I wonder if copperbands will eat them? My system is too small to try that possiblity.

**rprisock** · 09-27-2006, 10:50 AM

Ok, I promised a report on the Aptasia war so here's the latest.
On Saturday, I ended up removing approximately 50 lbs of live rock (mostly Fiji) as it was just covered with the pests and given all the crevices in the rock, I saw really no other alternative. I added 50 lbs of baserock and rearranged my rockwork which I wanted to do anyway.

I had a few pieces of live rock with SPS colonies attached that I used the Bic Lighter method of extermination. To my total surprise, some of the Aptasia actually served the flame thrower and I had to repeat the procedure on Sunday.

On Sunday, I still had some Aptasia in various locations so I went to my LFS and bought some Kalkwasser and mixed it up into a thick paste with some salt water. I used a syringe and turkey baster to coat most of the remaining Aptasia.

As of Wednesday morning, a few Aptasia remain so tonight I will hit them with kalkwasser paste again.

All in all, the first battle was a success I just have to wipe out the remaining few before they start multiplying again.

The one funny incident that happened during all this work on Saturday was coming under attack by my large female maroon clown. She apparently was quite angry at me having my arm in the water and touching rocks near her anenome.

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice. I think I ended up using most of the suggestions and my tank is looking much better.

**JustDavidP** · 09-27-2006, 11:19 AM

I have many MH lightbulb burns on my arms from "reactions" to being bitten by my clownfish. As small as they are, and as harmless as they are, it is still a shock to be bitten by them. It happens...I pull my arm back and *SIZZLE* hit my arm on the lightbulbs

Congrats you anemone eliminator!

D

**stokessc** · 09-28-2006, 07:38 PM

When I first started my 60 gal reef I was overwhelmed with Aptasia and tried most solutions including lemon juice hypos, peppermint shrimps, etc....

I didn't like the thought of buying the berghia nudibranchs because they die as soon as the aptasia is gone.

My LFS mentioned a copperband butterfly and I was very hesitant but I tried it because I didn't like the other options and....he was amazing!!

He's still one of my favorite fish in the tank and he's very happy with mysis shrimp to replace the 100's of aptasia that are no longer in the tank.

Try one..you'll like him.

Steve

**rprisock** · 09-28-2006, 08:58 PM

stokesssc,

The copperbanded butterfly is a beautiful fish. I wouldn't have considered it because most butterfly fishes are not recommended. My concern would be my open brain coral. Of course I could move it to my son's small fish only tank if the butterfly showed too much interest in the coral.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've just about exterminated all the aptasia this go around. However, if I've missed just one, before long I may be headed to my lfs looking for a copperbanded butterfly.