Debating on tearing down my DT :(

[pharazon]

I hadn’t thought all the way through to that part. If I do get to where the population has exhausted the aiptasia, I will probably try and sell them to other local reefers for the cost (or less) and hopefully help out others in my area.

Solid plan!

 

[becks]

Don’t do it, I contemplated it on the Dino thread and someone changed my mind.

Here’s what I’ve battled and I’m still going as I can’t imagine life without my marine tank.

Two out breaks of Dinoflagellates
Vermetid snail outbreak
Byropsis
Velvet causing me to go fallow
Now I’m going fallow again as something got past my QT procedure

 

[T Carey]

This is very possible. The other part I can't quite wrap my head around is how to get the nudis into the overflow without worrying about the larger aiptasia fighting back. I will NEVER again buy an AIO....not being able to properly clean the overflow sucks!

I have peppermint shrimp that keep the tank cleared. I found a bunch of the aptasia in my overflow. After trying a few different things that didn't work I shut off all water flow from the sump and tank and poured a quart of boiling water into the in tank portion of the over flow. I let that sit for 30 minutes and restarted the pumps. The tank didn't seem to notice. The overflow had nothing living in it.

That seemed to be the last refuge of the aptasia. I'll know for sure in a few months.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

So a quick little update. I got 10 medium nudis and 3 egg spirals last Thursday from ReefTown. I haven’t noticed anything yet, but it’s only been a week.

The FUN part, was the acclimation and release! The last time I bought nudis, I followed the recommendation of using the pipette to get them in rock. It was annoying because the pipette is really wide and it was hard to squeeze them out.

This time, while I was acclimating them, I dropped in a small piece of rock that had aiptasia into the jar. The nudis went CRAZY and swarmed it which was really neat to watch. After they were acclimated, I set the whole jar on the sand bed so they could come out at their own pace. Most of them exited into the rocks right away. A couple spent the night in the jar with the aiptasia rock and had to be kicked out in the morning. Crossing my fingers now to see some aiptasia disappear!

 

[pharazon]

So a quick little update. I got 10 medium nudis and 3 egg spirals last Thursday from ReefTown. I haven’t noticed anything yet, but it’s only been a week.

The FUN part, was the acclimation and release! The last time I bought nudis, I followed the recommendation of using the pipette to get them in rock. It was annoying because the pipette is really wide and it was hard to squeeze them out.

This time, while I was acclimating them, I dropped in a small piece of rock that had aiptasia into the jar. The nudis went CRAZY and swarmed it which was really neat to watch. After they were acclimated, I set the whole jar on the sand bed so they could come out at their own pace. Most of them exited into the rocks right away. A couple spent the night in the jar with the aiptasia rock and had to be kicked out in the morning. Crossing my fingers now to see some aiptasia disappear!

Now you’re cookin’! Can’t wait to see the results!

 

[pharazon]

How are the nudis doing so far?

 

[TheLadyCrash]

How are the nudis doing so far?

It’s hard to say for sure, but I think they are helping. I try and look for them once in a while when passing the tank at night, but I’ve only seen a nudi out and about once. I’ll try and get a picture tomorrow of some of the areas in my original post so we can all try and see if there’s a noticeable difference!

 

[pharazon]

It’s hard to say for sure, but I think they are helping. I try and look for them once in a while when passing the tank at night, but I’ve only seen a nudi out and about once. I’ll try and get a picture tomorrow of some of the areas in my original post so we can all try and see if there’s a noticeable difference!

Well, I’m sure they are hard at work. Besides, here you are, still in the hobby and a member of the community - I would say that’s a success so far!

If you happen to catch some nudis snacking, I would loooove a video!

 

[TheLadyCrash]

If you happen to catch some nudis snacking, I would loooove a video!

I will definitely! I wish I had taken video when I was acclimating/releasing them but I was just too darn excited.

 

[Pete Witteried]

It takes quite a while to see results because the nudis will be busy eating the aiptasia within your rock work first. Once those are exhausted they will start working on the visible parts of your tank. I started with 5 in a 55 gallon. Noticed no effect for 4 months. Then I started seeing nudis everywhere and they cleared the tank within another month. I fished out over 130 of them to trade for corals and sold some for cash. Made $500

 

[TheLadyCrash]

I fished out over 130 of them to trade for corals and sold some for cash. Made $500

I’m hoping to do something like this if the nudis do their job. I’d love to able to cover the investment into the nudis and hopefully help out some local reefers.

 

[pharazon]

Hello lady! Was reminded of your dilemma by another aiptasia post. How goes the battle?

 

[TheLadyCrash]

Hello lady! Was reminded of your dilemma by another aiptasia post. How goes the battle?

It’s been going really, really well. I’ll try and post an update pic tomorrow.

 

[pharazon]

It’s been going really, really well. I’ll try and post an update pic tomorrow.

Can’t wait!

 

[don_chuwish]

... I’ve only seen a nudi out and about once. I’ll try and get a picture tomorrow ...

Taken out of context, that's just funny.

 

[UncleSalty]

Can't wait to see the photos!

 

[jd371]

So a quick little update. I got 10 medium nudis and 3 egg spirals last Thursday from ReefTown. I haven’t noticed anything yet, but it’s only been a week.

The FUN part, was the acclimation and release! The last time I bought nudis, I followed the recommendation of using the pipette to get them in rock. It was annoying because the pipette is really wide and it was hard to squeeze them out.

This time, while I was acclimating them, I dropped in a small piece of rock that had aiptasia into the jar. The nudis went CRAZY and swarmed it which was really neat to watch. After they were acclimated, I set the whole jar on the sand bed so they could come out at their own pace. Most of them exited into the rocks right away. A couple spent the night in the jar with the aiptasia rock and had to be kicked out in the morning. Crossing my fingers now to see some aiptasia disappear!

I had the same problem with the pipette they would stay stuck to the side and make it hard to squeeze them out. If I plan on adding more Nudis I will just let them crawl out on their own next time.
I'm going through the same in my tank. Always stayed on top of them with Aptasia-X when I first noticed them, but I think this made it worse and they spread. Tried Peppermint but they didn't last with my Melanurus. I have a CBB that I think was eating them at first but has stopped now. I added 10 Nudis a few weeks ago and I'm hoping they do the job. I was worried about the Melanurus eating the Nudis, but I noticed he is buried in the sand way before the lights shut off and is the last fish out in the morning. Don't see much happening yet besides one Aptasia that I noticed isn't there anymore, now just 100 more to go. :mad:

 

[lactose]

It’s been going really, really well. I’ll try and post an update pic tomorrow.

That is great to hear! They are aptasia eating ninjas. Never saw them but the anenomes kept disappearing.

 

[CindyKz]

Looking forward to those pictures!

 

[TheLadyCrash]

Hello fellow reefers that have been following along, today is the big reveal! Things are going much better than I had even hoped and I am so incredibly happy and no longer at the point of tearing down my tank.

I introduced 10 medium nudis and 3 egg spirals just about 7 weeks ago. Side-by-side before and current picture:



The first 2 or 3 weeks, I didn't see a darn thing happening and only saw a nudibranch out once or twice at night. By the end of week 3, I had begun to fear they had all perished until I saw one out right after lights went on looking to be finishing up his dinner. By week 5, there was a very noticeable difference in the reduction of aiptasia in the tank, helping reassure me they were still alive. By week 6, I started noticing aiptasia that was growing in the sand had begun to disappear....meaning they were also venturing away from the rock at night - hopefully an indicator of a strong, large group of nudibranchs alive in the tank.

So, here we are at about 7 weeks post nudi release. I would estimate that 90% of the aiptasia I could see on the rocks is now gone which is AMAZING. There are still a few new ones popping up here and there but I'm confident the nudis will get to them. Once I start seeing them out on the rocks hunting for aiptasia, I will attempt to move a couple into the overflow area to try and clean it out so they don't get reintroduced into the tank.