Removing an abundance of bubbletips

[blacknife]

Ive had the little buggers for years. They always split when they were the size of a toonie or so, now in this latest itteration of my tank they seem happy, many are hitting 4 or 5 inches. I have culled them in the past chipping off easy to get to ones and selling them cheap to locals, kind of sick of that effort though.

I have in the past cleaned some by spraying hydrogen peroxide on them and picking at them till they fall off, but that does not work as well on the bigger ones.

Thinking of tying in a tank temporarily and putting my cleaned rock in there but how to get them uninfested.

I am on a pretty tight budget right now too otherwise i would just cycle some fresh dry rock.

Aptasia zapper perhaps? Are those still a thing?

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[smokinreefer]

Strange dilemna.

Interesting that they have gotten larger in a different set up.
I had thought they were a different strain of colonials that were small due to genetics.

Unfortunately i have no suggestions for you... cant really think of a safe way to eradicate them aside from manual removal, as you have been doing.

New rock. Thats all.

[Bblinks]

Manual removal is probably the only way to get rid of all of them and for the little ones just use a syringe and kalk paste to inject into the center to kill them. Probably the cheapest way.

[mark]

hobby has come a long way since now treating bubbletips as pests.

[cvrle1]

If rock that they are on is easy to take out of the tank, you can most likely trade it in to place like J&L for fresh rock. I am sure they wouldnt mind trading you straight up.

[blacknife]

any natural predators that might be in someones FO setups?

[blacknife]

and thanks for you suggestions everyone.

[blacknife]

last reply, honest. i think they are getting bigger and happier as i have finaly got this tank stabalized, the last tank was smaller and had lots of changes regularly so if they not happy they move and split all the time. now some of them have their happy place and they can grow the way they want.

[cvrle1]

any natural predators that might be in someones FO setups?

There may be some, but issue is that those predators wont eat BTAs only. They will munch on other corals as well. And I just noticed that you are not in BC so you probably dont know what J&L is that I posted above. Basically, go into your LFS and see if they would want to trade you. I cant see any of them saying no to a straight up trade, as they would be getting coral that they can sell for more money than just rock. Maybe even see if you can find local reefers that would do the same. I know I would pick you up on the offer like that for sure.

[davej]

JL will only take bubble tips in as a donation and give you $0 for them.
They turn around and ask $60 for them, used to be $80.
Better off to sell them here at a nominal cost, or even donate them to a fellow hobbyist.

[cvrle1]

JL will only take bubble tips in as a donation and give you $0 for them.
They turn around and ask $60 for them, used to be $80.
Better off to sell them here at a nominal cost, or even donate them to a fellow hobbyist.

They wouldnt even swap you for same size piece of dry rock? If thats the case, eff that noise. OP isnt in BC, but good to know for locals in the future.

I know a lot of LFS's in US would at least trade you for some dry rock, and some of them would gladly give you store credit.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

You can also suspend the rock upside down is the tank or tub of SW with a powerhead for circulation. If in tank keep a big net underneath. The rbtas won't like hanging suspended and will let go after a couple of days. I've done this and it works. Just thought I'd use gravity to my advantage and the anemones popped off by themselves. Good luck,

Anthony

[blacknife]

yeah trading is probably my best bet, store or hobbyist. Might even have to try here on CanReef, Replant a local flag.

[blacknife]

You can also suspend the rock upside down is the tank or tub of SW with a powerhead for circulation. If in tank keep a big net underneath. The rbtas won't like hanging suspended and will let go after a couple of days. I've done this and it works. Just thought I'd use gravity to my advantage and the anemones popped off by themselves. Good luck,

Anthony

That seems easy, but even for the little buggers that are deeply seeded in very textured rock where they could right themselves and move around inside easily?

[blacknife]

you just gave me a reason to fire the "quarintine" tank up again, not attached to my system as I had planned. have not had it set up in a while as there has been NO new additions in quite some time and this tank is in easy mode.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

My last Rbta had its foot inside a lg giant barnacle but didn't like the flow and hanging upside down. Let go in 2 days.

[blacknife]

I went with a round of pickling lime(kalk). Took out as many baby's as I felt comfortable, let them sit for a bit, turned my pumps on and watched my ph jump. Whoops I'll do smaller rounds for future cleanup. I think this will be my go to for control going forward. Sell the odd bigger one and cull the rest.

[KNOWYOURTANK]

Try a Klein’s butterfly fish I have one cleared my tank of Aiptasia very fast and seems to leave the rest of the coral alone

[blacknife]

How bout mushrooms, my other plauge that i for some reason tollerate?

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[KNOWYOURTANK]

Just buy a few fish known to nip at coral and see which one likes it lol