Aptasia Solutions?

Aaron-A2 · Feb 18, 2019

I've had my tank for over a year without aptasia -- I dip and watch all incoming coral, though I suppose it's never as good as a coral QT. This evening, I noticed this while taking top-down photos in the back.

It's pretty large, so it's been there without me noticing it on the back for some time. I looked all over and saw no other aptasia. Of course, there could be and probably are more, but I can't find any.

The tank is 72x24x27. Would the best option be berghia nudibranch? If so, how many for a tank of my size?

reacclimating 2 the hobby · Feb 18, 2019

I've had good luck with peppermint shrimp.

lapin · Feb 18, 2019

Your best option is to kill it with a shot of something acidic right down the throat and paste over it with kalk paste. Then watch for others.

wattson · Feb 18, 2019

take rock out of tank and do your surgery to get him off,,nip the rock and apatasia in one shot in a separate container,,hypo the rock after

Aaron-A2 · Feb 18, 2019

reacclimating 2 the hobby said:
I've had good luck with peppermint shrimp.

Do you see any issues with a peppermint + acans/zoas?

lapin said:
Your best option is to kill it with a shot of something acidic right down the throat and paste over it with kalk paste. Then watch for others.

I don't have any kalk on hand, but I can grab some (I use 2 part).

wattson said:
take rock out of tank and do your surgery to get him off,,nip the rock and apatasia in one shot in a separate container,,hypo the rock after

It's a base rock in a large rock structure. This is probably not going to happen >.<

Let me ask a generic question. Does aptasia reproduce like normal anemones in that it splits, or does it release spores when threatened/dies to spread?

kichimark · Feb 18, 2019

If it is in a crevice I would just superglue him in the crevice where he can't escape. If you do this, use the superglue GEL.

TheWalkman99 · Feb 18, 2019

I think a nudibranch would be overkill if you only have one.
I had great luck with a peppermint shrimp.

wattson · Feb 18, 2019

aptasia release spores/eggs ,,you tick him off ,,then you end up with many more..might be alot of trouble but if theres only one,,take the rock out of tank, no matter pain in the butt it might be.
I would only wish i just had one..an aptasia free tank/overflow would be a wet dream of mine..

lapin · Feb 18, 2019

Trying to remove one off the rock in 99% of the cases will result in a hundred more. To grow them, labs put them in a blender and presto they have a million pieces and each piece will turn into a whole one.
Nudis will prob die before they find it. They only eat aptaisa so will starve pretty fast.
Peppermints from the gulf will eat them and possibly other corals when the aptaisa are gone. They can be trapped and traded to the LFS for credit when they are done with the dirty job.

Aaron-A2 · Feb 18, 2019

lapin said:
Trying to remove one off the rock in 99% of the cases will result in a hundred more. To grow them, labs put them in a blender and presto they have a million pieces and each piece will turn into a whole one.
Nudis will prob die before they find it. They only eat aptaisa so will starve pretty fast.
Peppermints from the gulf will eat them and possibly other corals when the aptaisa are gone. They can be trapped and traded to the LFS for credit when they are done with the dirty job.

Do you have a suggested retailer for a peppermint of this type? I've read of different types of peppermints being sold as the correct one.

lapin · Feb 18, 2019

I think algae barn sells captive bred ones. Prob where I got mine.
Remember they will not eat full grown aptasia. You will have to nuke big ones with vinegar or something and the shrimp will clean up the leftovers.
I have 2 peppermints left in my 500g. out of 6 I bought. They have kept it free of the pests. However they do nip at my 30 head frogspawn. Since it is very large I dont think they do much damage. When I feed my sun coral at night I squirt the leftovers down the rock they live under, in hopes they get enough to eat without munching my coral.

Jay Z · Feb 19, 2019

Majano Wand From marine depot. Works great!

SeaDweller · Feb 20, 2019

Berghia nudis

Bob Weigant · Feb 20, 2019

peppermint shrimp did it for me

Loggerhead · Feb 20, 2019

Unfortunately anything that will eat them can turn to corals or other anemones next, with the exception of Berghais. With only one that you know of it is a waste of money. Peppermint shrimp is the cheapest and safest animal that may consume it but it is up to the individual shrimp. I have one wrasse and he killed the last 5 peppermints I tried overnight. Finally bought a matted file fish and it took care of the ones in the display. Unfortunately it also likes rock flower anemones.

OriginalUserName · Feb 20, 2019

I had an escalating problem with the boogers in my tank. In my small tank I always just zapped them with kalk or aiptasia X but the new one made that difficult. I wound up hitting the couple larger ones with AiptasiaX and the 2 berghias I picked up took care of the rest. It's possible my peppermint shrimp helped also. FWIW I haven't noticed them bothering my zoas.