Looking for something to KILL aptasia

firefightered · Jan 17, 2012

I'm looking for a nudibranch or what ever you call that little critter to eat my aptasia. I was going to try kalk blasting them but they are too close to my corals. I've been using super glue but seem to be loosing the battle. Any advise would help. Thanks to H@rry for some of the advise but the aptasia has gotten a little close to some of my corals.

H@rry · Jan 17, 2012

If you'll do it like I told you to and turn all the pumps off it won't hurt the corals. If you happen to dribble some on a coral blow it off with a turkey baster.

Don't try to make a hard thing out of it, its pretty simple.

pickupman66 · Jan 17, 2012

I agree. Don't make too much out of it. When I make Kalk paste I make it to tooth paste consistency so it flows thru the syringe but stays put. A little drop in their mouths and they are gonners. I also add red pepper and hot sauce to my paste.

H@rry · Jan 18, 2012

I mix mine to pancake batter consistency. This allows it to stay put on the aptasia or tulip but still flow through the long syringe extension I made. I only wish I could find something as easy to use on mushrooms.

emerald525 · Jan 18, 2012

Have you tried peppermint shrimp. Make sure they are peppermints and not the camel shrimp that looks similar except they have a little hump on the back. Some people have luck with one peppermint shrimp but I have found usually I have to buy at least 3 or 4 to have any success.
There was a guy on here that I got nudibranchs from that was breeding them but he lost his colony sadly. The nudibranchs work amazingly well. You can get them online too.

Tomoko Schum · Jan 18, 2012

You want to borrow my Julian's Thing?

You can see the device here in Marine Depot's video. There was a better demo by Julian himself which was videoed during Macna but I cannot remember the url for it.

H@rry · Jan 18, 2012

That thing looks kinda pricey. I couldn't afford one of those so I made my "H@rry's Thing". This consists of a 50ml syringe, 2 foot dowel, 2 feet of rubber airline tubing, and a few wraps of tape. I made it from stuff I had laying around and the syringe was less than $2. The natural curl from the tubing makes a little hook so you can turn it and direct it on whatever you want. Don't even have to get your hands wet.

Tomoko Schum · Jan 18, 2012

Good for you. I thought about doing the same but my daughter gave me Julian's thing for Christmas. I made a similar contraption for feeding my clam years ago. It worked well, but it got old, and I started dumping my live phyto in the tank along with rotifers. My clams seem to grow just fine without any assistance from me.

hlem · Jan 18, 2012

if you dont have big fish that will eat peppermint shrimps, then you should get some shrimps from reeftopia.com. I had 100% success on two different tanks with their shrimps. just order a bunch of them, 20 or so... i had 25. took care of everything in less than 2 weeks. at the end, it'll cost you the same or even cheaper if you can catch them and resell some.

firefightered · Jan 18, 2012

Thanks for all the replies... H@rry, thanks for the picture of H@rry's Thing. I know you explained it to me on the phone but now I see exactly how you did it. I have all the supplies at home accept Kalk ( I ran out the other day because i spilled it). Anyone have some Kalk for sale? Any who, I have had several pop up on me this past week. I guess I need to KILL maybe 5-10 every couple of days and watch my PH or what would ya'll suggest. If I could just find a couple Nudibranch locally I would throw them in and forget about it.....

firefightered · Jan 18, 2012

The last peppermint shrimps I had ate my snails. Don't know if I want to try that again. But they did kill the aptasia. I'll never buy another chunck of live rock again.....

hlem said:
if you dont have big fish that will eat peppermint shrimps, then you should get some shrimps from reeftopia.com. I had 100% success on two different tanks with their shrimps. just order a bunch of them, 20 or so... i had 25. took care of everything in less than 2 weeks. at the end, it'll cost you the same or even cheaper if you can catch them and resell some.

jason.tammy · Jan 18, 2012

we use a copperband butterfly.it has become a game for us to find something with them on it and just drop it in my tank,give him/her a few minutes and gone no more aptasias.

firefightered · Jan 18, 2012

I would love to have one but my tank is only a 46 BF for right now

jason.tammy said:
we use a copperband butterfly.it has become a game for us to find something with them on it and just drop it in my tank,give him/her a few minutes and gone no more aptasias.

H@rry · Jan 18, 2012

I've got some kalkwasser if you want to come by.

firefightered · Jan 18, 2012

H@rry.... YOU ARE DA-MAN!!!!!!!!!

H@rry said:
I've got some kalkwasser if you want to come by.

cee · Jan 18, 2012

Muratic acid here, injected with a vet syringe from the local COOP and they are history.

Tomoko Schum · Jan 18, 2012

Nudibranch is generally a bit iffy in a reef tank. Years ago I tried velvet blue nudibranch for red planaria and lettuce nudibranch for bryopsis a few times. Berghia nudibranch may be a little different. The only nudibranch and seahare that worked really well was Dolabera sea hare that ate all the golden dichtyota.

Most nudibranches have a great affinity toward powerheads. They will eat as long as they can get right on the prey. They sometimes miss one right next to them. It's like they cannot really see or smell their food very well. They will dissappear when they can not find ood. Then, their food comes back soon after the nudi disappears.

Peppermints are good aiptasia eaters in general.

Kalk paste will get them eventually if not the first time. You can get Kalkwasser substitute, such as Mrs. Wages pickling lime, at Walmart or some other places.

Good luck.

emerald525 · Jan 18, 2012

Nudibranchs actually work very well. You have to get about one per 10 gallons of water so I had 15 for a 150 gallon tank. I was worried because I have a Melanarus and Mystery wrasse that I thought would eat them but I put them in a tank with a pipette, turned the lights out and the powerheads until they settled and they ate every last one. They eventually will die as they have a short life span and can starve after they have decimated every last aiptasia.

firefightered · Jan 20, 2012

Thanks for the replies. And a special thanks to H@rry for giving me a little Ms. Wages. I dosed the little buggers last night. I'll be back home on monday to see how well it worked. Dose anyone know where I can get some Ms. Wages this time of year?