Bubble Algae and Aptasia

[Ares]

2 wonderful issues to deal with

Helping a friend with her tank, she's got a bubble algae and aptasia issue and looking for any additional feedback from those of you who have battled them. At first, neither was a big issue so I told her to remove the bubble algae by hand/tool/siphon without popping them and blast the aptasia the various ways we all know how. She also got a couple emerald crabs and after a month nearly all of both were gone.

Well she slacked off and now both are an issue and I think it's beyond fixing right now. Dozens of colonies of super small bubble algae (what looks like 60-100 per colony...) and dozens of small aptasia scattered all over.

I don't want to move her corals or fish to my system and risk contaminating mine and don't want her to sell it all and leave the hobby.

It's a 75 gallon with a 55 sump.
I'm considering helping by setting up a 75 or a 90 tank that I have laying around to house all of her livestock (fish, crabs, snails, shrimp, anemones, lots of corals) and on the corals chunking the rocks so I'm putting as little as possible into the temporary tank.

Assuming we do that, should we go bare bottom and what about skimmer or should we just do frequent water changes? I'm guessing it'll need to house the livestock for at least 4-6 weeks and to monitor very close for algae and aptasia. Should we go with all freshly made saltwater or use water from the tank? My fear is spores in the tank water...but could be spores on any rock, coral, etc that get moved over...

With the original setup, how do we "disinfect" everything? Bake the rock? Freshwater bath for the entire system? Vinegar and freshwater through the whole system? If so how long? Take it all out, power wash the rock, let it dry outside in the sun, soak the rest of the system in vinegar and toss out the sand and replace?

She had a good thing going, some good colonies and I'd hate to have her give up or lose it all. Or worse....spend the time and effort to try and cleanse the system and end up with it all coming back again in a couple months.

What would you do? It's a mature system (3+ years) and the whole "I'm not going to quarantine anything it looks fine" bit her in the butt the hard way. I've dealt with small outbreaks of both but this has gotten out of hand and I'm not really sure what to have her do.

 

[Joeganja]

Very simple. Emerald crabs eat bubble algae. I say about 4-6 emerald crabs would suffice. I understand you said her emerald crabs were gone but they are I think the only known solution that isn't physically removing them yourself. The aipstasia I would recommend peppermint shrimp, and if not that then there chemicals like aipstasia x or something but whenever you have any problem let any addition of chemicals be your last resort. Don't tear down that tank. Just needs to find the right solution.

 

[Snoopeeyy]

I second the motion of peppermint shrimp although a good amount of them. I'm talking like around 6-8. I had a problem with aptasia at first but managed to rid it all with shrimp and aptasia-x for the large ones.

 

[Ares]

I personally never had luck with peppermint shrimp but it's worth a try. I think her serpent star may have eaten her shrimp actually so he will need to get relocated or find a new home. She got some cleaner shrimp and while back never saw them again after they went in.

Heavy dose of emerald crabs and peppermint shrimp though? I'll pass that suggestion along. As long as they really do eat them, that plus manual removal should make a dent I would think. Definitely worth trying rather than tear down and try to find homes and sanitize everything.

Is there a specific species of peppermint shrimp that are better than others or an online retailer that you've had better luck with? I have some peppermint shrimp in my tanks and they've never touched an aiptasia and the owner always told me it was real hit or miss.

 

[cincyreef]

Live aquaria says theirs eat them. I had good luck with some from a LFS. Threw 2 in my 29 biocube, and within 2 weeks the aiptasia were all gone. Good luck.