aptasia

[Miken05]

Is removing a couple live rocks (10 years established) to eradicate aptasia a bad idea?
I'm concerned of destroying beneficial bacteria, organisms, and possibly berghia eggs.
But at the same time, the 2 rocks in question seem to be the hosts of Aptasia

Thanks

 

[Jeffcb]

How much rock do you have?

 

[PatW]

You could remove some of the rock. Stick it in an observation tank. When the aptasia pokes out nuke it with your favorite aptasia killer. Once one piece of rock is cleaned stick it back in. Or you could set up a little tank with Burgia nudibranchs and rotate the rock through.

 

[Screwgunner]

Find a file fish or someone who has one. They will eat them.

 

[FLReefer101]

I’ve used everything known to man for aiptasia removal. I redid my entire system because of them. I now have a quarantine/observation/frag tank. I started using the Faiptasia by franks aquarium and this stuff is Awsome!! If you only have a few try it out instead of removing your rocks.

 

[Miken05]

Thanks for the replies.

I started berghia about 6 months, 20 medium size (hoping/expecting they would breed)
I used to see them occasionally at night .
Added matte filefish about 6 weeks ago.
I prefer not to use product, but keep everything natural.
I failed to mention, I have approximately 150 pounds of live rock in 75 gallon DT, with 16 gal sump/refugium.
Each infested rock is probably 5 pounds (2 rocks 10 lbs. Total)

I'm going to try the quarantine process, and get more nudibranch.
Probably be more effective to reproduce nudibranch in a protected environment anyways.

Thanks again for the feedback, feel free to add more input.
And I'll keep you posted.

 

[Ed olson]

Laser.

 

[Double monti 61]

Hi I read in coral magazine about a small shrimp that like to devour aiptasia the common name is junda Lin’s peppermint shrimp Latin name lysmata jundalini they say they are distributed by biota aquariums but they only sell to retailers so maybe you can search for them on the net good luck.

 

[Turnage]

Laser.

 

[Ed olson]

yeeuup.

 

[vetteguy53081]

if there a few. . . . Using a syringe, you can inject Lemon juice or Kalkwasser power mixed with RO water and lemon juice in a paste the consistency of toothpase and inject into its center core and it will melt right before you.

If many- A bluehead (must be bluehead) Kleini butterfly will eat them like candy and not bother your coral. They are $30 and will eat all dry and frozen food once aptasia are gone, friendly and nice colors

 

[FLReefer101]

Thanks for the replies.

I started berghia about 6 months, 20 medium size (hoping/expecting they would breed)
I used to see them occasionally at night .
Added matte filefish about 6 weeks ago.
I prefer not to use product, but keep everything natural.
I failed to mention, I have approximately 150 pounds of live rock in 75 gallon DT, with 16 gal sump/refugium.
Each infested rock is probably 5 pounds (2 rocks 10 lbs. Total)

I'm going to try the quarantine process, and get more nudibranch.
Probably be more effective to reproduce nudibranch in a protected environment anyways.

Thanks again for the feedback, feel free to add more input.
And I'll keep you posted.

Berghias are great too. However I used them and they slowly died off before my infestation was far from over. They also die after their are none left to eat or are few to eat. If you only have a few it’s best to remove the rock or coral from your tank or use the faiptasia or kalk paste. If you leave them in your tank and disturb them they will spit their spores in your tank and they will spread rapidly. If you have an overflow that’s usually the first place they start to take up residence and goes down hill after that. These things are the devil and need to be eradicated as soon as possible in my book.

 

[Miken05]

Update:

I removed rocks.
bleached, dried, and currently curing.
I also added 5 peppermint shrimp 4 weeks ago.

Since my last post , aptasia has been reduced to near undetectable levels.
I don't know exactly which critter is most effective, so I reward all of them with their favorite treats

 

[Uncle99]

Seal them with epoxy.

 

[Screwgunner]

File fish will eradicate them .