Aptasia, is it going to be a problem?

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bobpiker

New member
Hello,
For a few months, I've been watching one aptasia grow in my tank. I thought it was kind of fun to see growing even though I've heard a lot of about how they can overtake a tank. I figured if I saw another or a 3rd I might do something about it. For several months, there was just the one next to a bunch of zoas and xenia. Now, I'm see 3 more (very small) nearby. Should I do something about them now and even get rid fo the 3 inch one? I think there are a lot of methods so what would be the best if I really need to remove them now. I've got 4 maxi carpets and a couple of rbtas so I'm not married to the idea of keeping even one aptasia. I just thought the one woudl be ok until now...being concerned.

Thanks, Bob
 
If its big enough get syringe and lemon juice. stab the sucker in the stem area (between the foot and tentacles.Dont stab in the mouth it could spit out the juice. right after you inject some juice you need to make sure you spray some above him so he don't release any "babies" in to the water. and in about 5 minutes he will easily remove the whole body.
 
Thanks for that idea, saltymight. The lemon juice won't affect anything else then? The big one will be easy to get to but the small ones may be more difficult as they'll retract if I touch 'em back into their holes. Should I just put the syringe right into their hole as best as possible and give it some juice? Is it true, now that I see 3 are they apt to start spreading such that I'll want to remove them now before they get carried away?
Thanks, Bob
 
When I go after little ones let them retract into their hole and then I fill the hole with pickling lime through a syringe.
 
get shut when I first started my reef 3 years ago I didn't realise what they were until I had about 10 (thought they were just coming out of the rocks as things settled down) Once I realised they were bad I began to hate them. I have long since given up any hope of completely eradicating them as despite being aiptasia free for weeks or even a couple of month they always come back.

Now I just see it as weeding the garden and kill them as soon as I see a small one appear with aiptasia x normally they stay away long enough for me to convince myself they have gone then one comes from nowhere and I have to kill it.

I even got some berghia they worked but then the aiptasia came back (persumably the berghia had starved) I had planned to give them away when the aiptasia had gone but once I put them in I never saw them again.
 
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Berghia

Berghia

Berghia have a way of reappearing when you thing that they are long gone, and to the rescue they come, I have kept some going a long time in a tank I used to quarantine and it developed quite a colony of the beasties but the berghia got the job done, I thought I'd lost them but a little one appeared so I went to LFS and got a couple little rocks loaded, they got them too, when I finally broke the tank down almost a year later found several in the live rocks.

It would be very interesting to find out just what all that they can live on besides aiptasia. I like the little guys.
 
jake levi said:
Berghia have a way of reappearing when you thing that they are long gone, and to the rescue they come, I have kept some going a long time in a tank I used to quarantine and it developed quite a colony of the beasties but the berghia got the job done, I thought I'd lost them but a little one appeared so I went to LFS and got a couple little rocks loaded, they got them too, when I finally broke the tank down almost a year later found several in the live rocks.

It would be very interesting to find out just what all that they can live on besides aiptasia. I like the little guys.
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Hmm that is intresting when the aiptasia started to appear again I assumed they were dead (had been aiptasia free for months)so started to kill the aiptasia with aiptasia x.

The question comes to me now do I continue with the aiptasia x or knowing how they spread try to find out if the berghia are still alive.
 
bobpiker said:
Thanks for that added info, everyone. I'm going to look into some berghia, too.

Bob
Click to expand...

They work they got rid of mine and they were at a uncontrollable level. Never saw any get eaten though. I would just get up on a morning and notice missing aiptasia. As I say I do see 1 appear now and then but assumed it was because the berghia had died as there had been none for so long.

I might have to test that out sometime but as I only have 1 appear every now and then it isn't any trouble to kill with aiptasia x

I got mine from here there was a short wait and I believe there still is but they bread them and are what they say they are.

http://www.berghia-uk.com/nudi-page.htm

EDIT just noticed the link is no good to you as you are in US but will leave it there anyway in case anyone from uk reads the thread

To be honest if you only got a few you could just use aiptasia x but don't leave any in the tank you need to kill them all one way or the other
 
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Another option for controlling aiptasia is peppermint shrimp. I had a big problem and tried berghia, which didn't work out at all. Then, I added 3 peppermint shrimp to my 185 gal and they went to town. I have never seen another aiptasia in the display portion of the tank.

There are some in the sump and the corner overflows, which I'm okay with since they filter the water... but NONE in the DT area with the peppermint shrimp. I got them very small and they've been in the tank nearly a year. An added bonus is that the shrimp constantly have eggs that hatch and feed all the corals.
 
Peppermint shrimp are hit and miss if you got some berghia and they didn't eat it you must have been sold the wrong nud as that is all they eat. Personally I wouldn't allow any aiptasia anywhere in the system but if you have had the DT free for ages the risk is probably minimal.
 
I had a copperbanded butterfly for over a year and never had aptasia
very cool fish never touched corals but if a snail fell over it did nip at them.
 
I got some Aptasia X and it worked like a charm on the few aptasia nems in my tank. I had a really big one about 4" and I put the X all over its mouth and you could tell a minute later that it was a goner. Hopefully, I won't see the stuff popping up everywhere else but so far not a hint of those little buggers. Easy to use and works like a charm.

Bob
 
i would use joes juice or aptasia x and kill it asap as it will spread quickly as 1 becomes 3 becomes 9 becomes 27 etc etc . then its really difficult to control .it will quickly get out of control and then you will have real problems . also CBB eat them up pretty well and there are a few other predators also .peppermint shrimp and a couple of different file fish that will gobble them up .
 
I saw another aptasia so got out the Aptasia X. Wasn't a problem the first time but after using it this time around all of my xenia has shrunk up. I'm hoping it comes back because I love that stuf. Now it appears that Aptasia X isn't as reef safe as they claim. I'm absolutely sure there's a correlation here between Aptasia X and my xenia.

Bob
 
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