Aptasia...again

mpderksen · 04/09/2016, 06:21 PM

Only 1, but you know that means nothing. I bought 4 peppermint shrimp and they cleaned up the last round, but one of my fish seems to like snacking on them, so they're gone. I've used AptasiaX successfully but unless you get than ALL it becomes a weekly thing. Not enough of them to keep a nudibrach alive.
Options?

Turbosreef · 04/09/2016, 06:30 PM

Copperband butterfly. Since I added mine I haven't seen apasita since.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Sonyardo · 04/09/2016, 06:31 PM

I had excellent results with boiling water thru a turkey baster. I was able to completely eliminate a reoccurring problem with a couple of treatments. I tried several other treatments over and over just to see them slowly repopulate. The boiling water trick wiped them out.

johnike · 04/09/2016, 06:37 PM

Aptasia, apasita.
You can't kill it until you can spell it correctly.

mpderksen · 04/09/2016, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnike

Aptasia, apasita.
You can't kill it until you can spell it correctly.

I'm in California, so we do everything a little different.
With the boiling water, how is that different from hitting a single polyp with ApasitaX? It's the ones I can't see that are likely spreading.
I love natural predators, and dream of a copperband, but in a 75g that's not an option.

snorvich · 04/09/2016, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpderksen

I love natural predators, and dream of a copperband, but in a 75g that's not an option.

There is no reef safe predator that always works. Racoon butterfly always works but is not reef safe.

mpderksen · 04/09/2016, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snorvich

There is no reef safe predator that always works. Racoon butterfly always works but is not reef safe.

Steve, I've learned enough from you that I would never add a butterfly to a 4' long tank! Maybe you'll give your advice when I upgrade and am ready for more options?

johnike · 04/10/2016, 05:26 AM

Get a carpet syringe and some pickling lime. Make a sludge, and cover it.

kmbyrnes · 04/10/2016, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnike

Get a carpet syringe and some pickling lime. Make a sludge, and cover it.

This.
I tried everything else - peppermint shrimp, CBB, berghia, lemon juice, aiptasia-x.
Should've gone to Wally World in the first place, spent the $3 and saved myself a year of listening to my wife complain about them.
I made a sludge that just barely flowed through the syringe from the Aiptasia-X bottle. Did about half my tank one day, the rest 2 days later.
That was 3 weeks ago. I am seeing some new babies now, but they will get the same treatment today.

DaveRaz · 04/10/2016, 07:38 AM

Kalk paste nuked the big ones and a small army of peppermint shrimp ate the small ones and keep the display aptasia free.

ClownnGoby · 04/10/2016, 07:53 AM

Careful with the peppermint shrimp had 2 in my tank to clean up some aptasia be once they were gone they turned their eye towards my acans . Got one out still working on the other one

Sonyardo · 04/10/2016, 01:27 PM

I'm not sure how it compares to aptasia x as that's one that i didn't try. I did lemon juice, kalk and kalk paste and it worked temporarily. There's something about a face full of boiling RO water that makes them loose their will to live

mpderksen · 04/10/2016, 02:58 PM

Today I got a stepladder to look down the overflow to see if it need a vacuum. Usually I just stick my hand in every week to get the screen on the siphon for cleaning. I was shocked to see a half dozen large Suckers in there. Mostly stuck to the teeth of the overflow. If I shut off the return, they'll be exposed. Since they are in easy reach, I think I'll try the boiling water thing. The flow in the area would make it impossible to try and cover them with paste.
Or, I can shut the gate to the siphon, THEN kill the flow and the water will stay at the level of the emergency drain in the Herbie. With no flow I can be sure of giving them the full treatment.

mpderksen · 04/10/2016, 03:54 PM

they are difficult to see. But they are now dead. I closed the gate valve and stopped the return. I blasted everyone I could see. Then, using a long handled scrubber, and went crazy over every spot. Then, I put a fresh sock on the bottom and pulled the standpipe to completely drain it. An extra gallon of fresh saltwater for a rinse.
Removed the sock and restarted the flow. Corals got mad and there is slime everywhere, but that's temporary. No way I got every last one, but I feel like I made progress.

jmm · 04/10/2016, 04:49 PM

I used a 75 gallon tank for a "staging tank" for after quarantine and before putting the fish in the display. I had a juvenile emperor angel (quarter size) and a juvenile harlequin tusk. I delayed and eventually didn't put them in the display. As they grew the tusk ate the cleaner shrimp, the hermit crabs and the snails. A couple of years went by and I never had aptaisia or mojanos. The emperor got to be about 5 inches and I finally got the nerve to "try" it in the display.

As soon as the emperor was removed I started getting aptaisia, lots of them. My guess is that the emperor was eating them for the last couple of years in the 75.

mpderksen · 04/10/2016, 05:18 PM

Cool idea, but since fish vary so much, I wonder if all would snack on them, or if you got lucky. Maybe killing a few here and there is just my curse at this point.
I have no problem getting a fish and re-homing it later. I had a baby Volitan lion fish for 9 months. He got big enough to eat my chromis so I traded him back before it happened. Very cool fish.
The obvious question is compatibility. I'm not overstocked, provided the tank mates let him live.
Maroon clown, 2 pj Cardinalfish, dwarf flame, yellow-eye Kole tang, carpenter wrasse, Bartletts Anthias, blue chromis, and a 1-spot Foxface. I'm heavy on grazers, but light on carnivores.
I read that they eat lps and softies. I do have a few rasta zoas, but a large torch and 2 big hammers that I would hate to lose. Pipe organ coral and 2 Florida ricordia gardens. The SPS isn't a concern from what I've read. Last, I have a Xenia garden that the maroon hosts.
Anything look obviously incompatible? (Gosh I miss Steve's thread.....)

CStrickland · 04/10/2016, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpderksen

they are difficult to see. But they are now dead. I closed the gate valve and stopped the return. I blasted everyone I could see. Then, using a long handled scrubber, and went crazy over every spot. Then, I put a fresh sock on the bottom and pulled the standpipe to completely drain it. An extra gallon of fresh saltwater for a rinse.
Removed the sock and restarted the flow. Corals got mad and there is slime everywhere, but that's temporary. No way I got every last one, but I feel like I made progress.

Hope it works, but they can spread by pedal laceration. So when you smash, cut, scrub, or scrape them you can make things much worse. The little foot left behind sometimes sprouts 2 more for the one that got scrubbed.

mpderksen · 04/10/2016, 06:48 PM

Yeah, been there. Never had dinos or majano, but this and GHA seem to be my particular curse.

mpderksen · 04/10/2016, 06:55 PM

Quick edit: ignore my Emperor Angelfish question. Not fair to the fish to be used as a predator. If she ended up stunted or worse I would be a very poor hobbyist.

04/09/2016, 06:21 PM	#1
mpderksen Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Manteca, CA Posts: 1,853	Aptasia...again Only 1, but you know that means nothing. I bought 4 peppermint shrimp and they cleaned up the last round, but one of my fish seems to like snacking on them, so they're gone. I've used AptasiaX successfully but unless you get than ALL it becomes a weekly thing. Not enough of them to keep a nudibrach alive. Options?

04/10/2016, 05:18 PM	#16
mpderksen Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Manteca, CA Posts: 1,853	Aptasia...again Cool idea, but since fish vary so much, I wonder if all would snack on them, or if you got lucky. Maybe killing a few here and there is just my curse at this point. I have no problem getting a fish and re-homing it later. I had a baby Volitan lion fish for 9 months. He got big enough to eat my chromis so I traded him back before it happened. Very cool fish. The obvious question is compatibility. I'm not overstocked, provided the tank mates let him live. Maroon clown, 2 pj Cardinalfish, dwarf flame, yellow-eye Kole tang, carpenter wrasse, Bartletts Anthias, blue chromis, and a 1-spot Foxface. I'm heavy on grazers, but light on carnivores. I read that they eat lps and softies. I do have a few rasta zoas, but a large torch and 2 big hammers that I would hate to lose. Pipe organ coral and 2 Florida ricordia gardens. The SPS isn't a concern from what I've read. Last, I have a Xenia garden that the maroon hosts. Anything look obviously incompatible? (Gosh I miss Steve's thread.....)

04/09/2016, 06:30 PM	#2
Turbosreef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 122	Copperband butterfly. Since I added mine I haven't seen apasita since. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

04/09/2016, 06:31 PM	#3
Sonyardo Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: OC California Posts: 522	I had excellent results with boiling water thru a turkey baster. I was able to completely eliminate a reoccurring problem with a couple of treatments. I tried several other treatments over and over just to see them slowly repopulate. The boiling water trick wiped them out.

04/09/2016, 06:37 PM	#4
johnike Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bureau County Illinois Posts: 5,406	Aptasia, apasita. You can't kill it until you can spell it correctly.

04/10/2016, 05:26 AM	#8
johnike Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bureau County Illinois Posts: 5,406	Get a carpet syringe and some pickling lime. Make a sludge, and cover it.

04/10/2016, 07:38 AM	#10
DaveRaz Reef Rookie Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Memphis Posts: 625	Kalk paste nuked the big ones and a small army of peppermint shrimp ate the small ones and keep the display aptasia free.

04/10/2016, 07:53 AM	#11
ClownnGoby Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 61	Careful with the peppermint shrimp had 2 in my tank to clean up some aptasia be once they were gone they turned their eye towards my acans . Got one out still working on the other one

04/10/2016, 01:27 PM	#12
Sonyardo Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: OC California Posts: 522	I'm not sure how it compares to aptasia x as that's one that i didn't try. I did lemon juice, kalk and kalk paste and it worked temporarily. There's something about a face full of boiling RO water that makes them loose their will to live

04/10/2016, 02:58 PM	#13
mpderksen Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Manteca, CA Posts: 1,853	Today I got a stepladder to look down the overflow to see if it need a vacuum. Usually I just stick my hand in every week to get the screen on the siphon for cleaning. I was shocked to see a half dozen large Suckers in there. Mostly stuck to the teeth of the overflow. If I shut off the return, they'll be exposed. Since they are in easy reach, I think I'll try the boiling water thing. The flow in the area would make it impossible to try and cover them with paste. Or, I can shut the gate to the siphon, THEN kill the flow and the water will stay at the level of the emergency drain in the Herbie. With no flow I can be sure of giving them the full treatment.

04/10/2016, 03:54 PM	#14
mpderksen Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Manteca, CA Posts: 1,853	they are difficult to see. But they are now dead. I closed the gate valve and stopped the return. I blasted everyone I could see. Then, using a long handled scrubber, and went crazy over every spot. Then, I put a fresh sock on the bottom and pulled the standpipe to completely drain it. An extra gallon of fresh saltwater for a rinse. Removed the sock and restarted the flow. Corals got mad and there is slime everywhere, but that's temporary. No way I got every last one, but I feel like I made progress.

04/10/2016, 04:49 PM	#15
jmm Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 569	I used a 75 gallon tank for a "staging tank" for after quarantine and before putting the fish in the display. I had a juvenile emperor angel (quarter size) and a juvenile harlequin tusk. I delayed and eventually didn't put them in the display. As they grew the tusk ate the cleaner shrimp, the hermit crabs and the snails. A couple of years went by and I never had aptaisia or mojanos. The emperor got to be about 5 inches and I finally got the nerve to "try" it in the display. As soon as the emperor was removed I started getting aptaisia, lots of them. My guess is that the emperor was eating them for the last couple of years in the 75.

04/10/2016, 06:48 PM	#18
mpderksen Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Manteca, CA Posts: 1,853	Yeah, been there. Never had dinos or majano, but this and GHA seem to be my particular curse.

04/10/2016, 06:55 PM	#19
mpderksen Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Manteca, CA Posts: 1,853	Quick edit: ignore my Emperor Angelfish question. Not fair to the fish to be used as a predator. If she ended up stunted or worse I would be a very poor hobbyist.