At the End of My Rope

[Earthgirl]

I"m at the end of my rope folks!!!
The darn Aipstasia battle!
I've lemon juiced it
I've started Torching it last night
And the F*@#ing bastards keep coming back
The salt is fine
Everything is fine, I just can't kill them!!
I have a 55 gallon with the 2 peppermint shrimp and of course some hermits
Should I get more?
I have never been so frustrated in my life with a tank before and I did have before a 230 gallon with stingrays that I had trained to eat worms out of my hand!
Please
Please
Please help!
what do I do next?

[mr_alberta]

Any corals like zoanthids? If not then a Matted Filefish may be your best friend. Bergia Nudibranchs are great too if you can find some.

[Earthgirl]

Candy cane, sun coral, frogspawn, torch coral, and starting a montipora (reddish) piece, pulsing xenia
Can't seem to keep the darn zoos alive, though I really love them
Oh and I have a feather worm
I don't want to buy anything in case of the darn apistasia killing or harming it!
And who may have a matted filefish?
Ill buy one tomorrow!
I called about the nudibranchs, $24 a piece and they don't live long :confused:

[abcha0s]

Berghia Nudibranches work for some. They didn't work for me though.

http://www.saltyunderground.com/

As suggested, a matted filefish might also work.

Instead of 2 peppermint shrimp, you could try adding 10 more for a dozen or so total.

Whatever approach you take, it's a numbers game. You need more predators than prey, so to speak.

I solved my problem by throwing out all of my live rock (150 pounds) and starting with new base rock. So far, the strategy seems to have worked. Honestly, the financial loss was worth the end result of being aptasia free.

- Brad

[toxic111]

I have 2 peppermints in my 30 & haven't see one in ages. I had them going crazy in my 12gal JBJ, put a peppermint in, and then had a Bergia Nudibranch show up (friend borrowed one of my rocks to feed some he ordered). That one cleaned my tank clean in 3 days!

[Aquattro]

The first time I bought a filefish, as soon as I dropped it out of the bag it started eating the aptaisia. I had about 200-300 of them, and they were gone in about a month. These are now standard fish for all my tanks.

[reefermadness]

Berghia worked great for me.......

good to hear about the success with filefish though.

[Aquattro]

good to hear about the success with filefish though.

also, once they did their job, they just eat regular fish food (flakes, pellets, mysis) and have not toughed anything else. I have some zoos, purple clove polyps (which I wish they would eat) and frogspawn...all safe.

[Earthgirl]

Thanks for the info Brad!
I sent an email to salty underground to see what shipping is
I known for a while that I should maybe get more shrimp, this just maybe "encourages" me to do so!
Just so darn frustrated.
I don't think I'll be getting rid of the rock, too pricey...
THOUGHT of it though!
Love the ideas, thanks guys!

[Wingin It]

My Copper Banded Butterfly was awesome at eating Aptasia...I miss that fish :(

[emerald crab]

CBB did the job for me. It is a great fish that keeps my display aiptaisia free and featherduster free.

[Vitaminz]

I have a file fish that cleaned up my tank fully, willing to part with him for $20.

Jeff

[lt1fj40]

Does anyone know where to get a Nudibranch in Edmonton?

[cwatkins]

My peppermint shrimp cleaned up my problem (I assume).

Keep an eye on that Xenia though! I hate it worse than aptasia! It grows like an invasive species.

[chandigz]

If you have peppermint or cleaner shrimp and most wrasses they will often eat the bergia nudis. Not all peppermint shrimp will eat aptasia. Only certain species.

[Proteus]

my peppermints havent touched the aptasia

but what i found that works is nitric acid

i tried the lemon juice and sure it kept it at bay for a day or two but always to return

i use standard issue general hydroponics ph down it has a ph or 3 so its pretty stong apply the same as lemon juice

hasnt hurt anything yet i did have a large aptasia on one of my clams and the clam wasnt bothered when i shot the aptasia full of nitric acid

[Aquattro]

but what i found that works is nitric acid


I'm not sure what nitric acid dissociates as, but I'd guess not something you want in the tank. A better choice might be muriatic acid (diluted hydrochloric acid), as it dissociates as H and CL ions. Both harmless in the tank (within reason, don't use a pint of it :)) I've used a couple of small syringes at a time without affecting pH in a 155g tank.

edit: looked it up, N becomes NO3 in water....HNO3(aq) + H2O(l) --> H3O+(aq) + NO3-(aq)

[Proteus]

Nitric acid is none destructive to plant cells used in low doses. When I use it it's a ml at a time. I have used it for years in horticulture. But u are right it may upset chemisty in water. Though I think it 200 gallon 1 ml is minor. I shall look into it

[noirsphynx]

I threw 5 peppermints in my 20 gallon and within a week it's been cleaned up, not one aiptasia to be seen.

[dsaundry]

Peppermint's and Cbb non effective in my tank. Not severe but I will address it soon, Haven't tried nudi's but I think my wrasse's may take those out. Has anybody tries injecting them with "Joe's Juice"? Heard good + bad about it.

[Skimmerking]

also, once they did their job, they just eat regular fish food (flakes, pellets, mysis) and have not toughed anything else. I have some zoos, purple clove polyps (which I wish they would eat) and frogspawn...all safe.
So Brad with all my Frogspawns and Hammer's Acans Clams the file fish wont be a problem

[asylumdown]

Over a year I spent over 1200 dollars on Berghia nudibranch's when you consider shipping. I had a similar problem in a 90 gallon - the aiptasia had reached plague proportions and it seemed like everything I did was only making the problem worse.

My take on Berghia is that in a mature reef tank with all the types of mechanical filtration you probably have is that they're probably not going to be worth the exorbitant expense. They're easily the most expensive 'solution' to aiptasia, but in a tank your size, with the number of aiptasia you have, you will literally need hundreds of Berghia to make a dent. The companies that sell them claim they will breed in your tank, but my experience did not reflect that. There are about a dozen little critters that love to eat their eggs in any one mature reef tank, and I'm pretty sure that Berghia's go through a pelagic larval stage that means creating a self sustaining colony in a tank with a sump, skimmer, any sort of mechanical filtration, etc. is not possible. So unless you're willing to start your own little aiptasia farm in a smaller secondary tank and raise Berghia's in more conducive conditions, you're probably never going to be able to afford the number of nudibranch's you'd need to get ahead of the problem if it's as bad as mine was. Raising them on your own is of course an option, and there's lots of instructions on how to do it online. However, while it is in theory "easy" to raise berghia, I find it's "easy" on the same level that raising clown fish fry is "easy". The rarity and cost of each nudibranch really is a testament to how few people can or would bother.

Either way I feel your pain. My aiptasia problem was only solved by the breakdown of my tank, but if I had kept it, I would have gone either the Butterfly fish or filefish route. If you've got the kind of aiptasia that reproduce at the slightest irritation (and I'm convinced that there is a type that's more likely to do this), then chemical solutions won't work either (I tried them all).

Good luck!

[Mechaninano]

I've got 2 90 gallons so I boiled the rock for one of the tanks (it was INFESTED, no saving it). Now, I'm just waiting for it to leech out all of the bad by product and I'll be rolling again (except for the 1 hitch-hiker that managed to elude me on the bottom of my toadstool :doh:

[doch]

Steve at red coral claims to ONLY get peppermint shrimp that eat the buggers. I was a little skeptical, but trusted him, and they worked. Maybe call and ask if he has any in right now, and add a few. It wasn't an instant solution, but in time, I was free of the buggers.

For all the rock that I could remove, I also took a bic lighter to them... spead things up a little... And gives you satisfaction! Lol

[reefmaster12345]

hi i have a monster aptasia problem of my own i have tried everything takeing the rock out and useing kalkwaser and aptasia x and it worked but they just came back i was thinking nudibranch what do u guys thing pm me i need to figure something out i may just boil the rock soonn

[babyreef]

BLANK

[fishoholic]

So Brad with all my Frogspawns and Hammer's Acans Clams the file fish wont be a problem

My filefish ate the aptasia but also eats my LPS. Leaves my zoas and sps alone. However it seems the coral preference varies with these fish, but they all seem to eat aptasia.

[Gripenfelter]

I have a SWC zapper. Works great.

[Lampshade]

+1 on the zapper, I had already fixed my problem with lemon juice over a few months, then was down at OC one day and got to try the zapper. Not only does it kill the apasia, it made me giggle like a school girl while doing it.

[Diana]

Whoa, I am so ordering the zapper :mrgreen:

[brizzo]

I've grown used to my plague known as Aiptasia, as how they come and fight for their right to survive against other species in my tank ...

But I got kind of giddy about zapping them to death after reading the most recent post...

A quick google for the product, and the $80 price tag made the giddiness go away ... until I google'd "DIY Aiptasia Zapper" :mrgreen:

[reefmaster12345]

i am looking to get rid of these i am going to put a oder in for some nudibranch and pepermints and what not does any one want any coral frags or wat not we would just haft to split the shipping and what not spend me a pm i will see what i can do for u

[Marlin65]

Copper banded for me as well, but they have a poor survival rate. Mine is still alive after 8 months. I feed it lots everyday and have a 100 gal tank with only four fish so that might help to keep it alive.