problem with aptasia

tgoeujon · #1 01-23-2010, 04:54 PM

just wondering, since the peppermints arent doin there job. if i put a few berghias in will my fish or inverts eat them? also are they as efficient as they are rumoured to be. if they wont become snacks how many would i need for 110 with about 180 lbs of rock that is showing more aptasia daily?

FitoPharmer · #2 01-23-2010, 05:53 PM

I had them in my sump for a while, but my leopard wrasse eventually took them out, or kept their numbers smaller then what was required to deal with the anemones. they work very slowly. you usually set up a small breeding tank for them and put some badly infected LR in the tank to breed them, once you got a small herd going you introduce them into your main tank. if you have 20 or 30 in a 110 they will do the job in a few weeks if they can breed in your reef. i'm pretty sure they breed faster in a 10G if you only have a few.

workn2hard2day · #3 01-23-2010, 07:07 PM

Peppermint shrimp eat them for sure. They are warriors and do a really good job, before they are picked off.

monocus · #4 01-23-2010, 09:57 PM

burghias are nocturnal and they usualy hide under the rock during the day.acclimatize them in your sump then transfer them into a shot glass and sink them at night and they will crawl out on their own.fish don't like the taste of them so they should be safe.i have around 60-100 in my 220 and none of my fish bother them(wrasses,bannerfish,parrot etc)had a wipeout and had an explosion of aptasia-covered my whole tank and sump-it's taken about 5 months starting with 8 burghia to almost clean my tank.they also get in where the copperbands and peppermint shrimp can't get to

globaldesigns · #5 01-23-2010, 10:40 PM

I have found the best way is to do 2 things:
1.) Manually remove what you can. This can be hard to do, but ones on glass are quite easy to remove with hands or razor blade.
2.) Get some Tailored Aquatics Aptaisa Destroyer and mix some up and put in a syringe. Turn off all pumps and apply some to some of the critters, you can only do so many at a time, but this stuff works very well. I use it, as my peppermint shrimp dissappeared over time. So I gave up on them.

Good Luck!

rzadun · #6 01-24-2010, 01:01 AM

I have a copper band butterfly that has cleaned out my aptaisia, but he does not touch the majano anemone. Will Brghia eat majano anemone?

monocus · #7 01-24-2010, 03:30 AM

yes they eat the manjos-but they will eat the aptasia first-also the problem with manual removal of the aptasia is that the daughter cells are all around the base-realy good way to spread them -same goes for chemical-i use to mix my own kalkwasser mix but it would only kill the mother and not the daughter cells-another good way to spread aptasia

BlueTang<3 · #8 01-24-2010, 03:32 AM

used a brisstle filefish for us to eat it combined with a copperband

Crytone · #9 01-24-2010, 03:37 AM

Another trick I've read about is using lemon juice. You likely have some in your fridge. Put it in a syringe and inject the Aptasia(s). Some people also have said injecting them with boiling hot water works also.

Snaz · #10 01-24-2010, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crytone

Another trick I've read about is using lemon juice. You likely have some in your fridge. Put it in a syringe and inject the Aptasia(s). Some people also have said injecting them with boiling hot water works also.

Lemon juice just causes them to disintegrate and reappear later as MANY little aptasia. Joe's Juice and biological control seems to be the consensus here on how best to control aptasia.