My reef hates me...

[Siberwulf]

I've been up and running for over a year now, and things have seem to stabilized. Stable enough to where I'm knee-deep in pest city and I can't seem to get out of it.

Aiptasia. Is. Everywhere. In my sump. on my rocks, on my powerheads, in my coral, under my coral, floating through the water looking for crap to stick to.

I've tried so many different things to nuke it, but it's incredibly persistent:

• I have four peppermint shrimp in there right now. They seem to want to pick at corals and eat stuff out of the sand. They have no interest in
• I bought a dozen nudibrancs. They acclimated just fine, crawled out of the jar, and have never been seen again. Would the clownfish have eaten them? I have no clue. They were medium size (1/4" - 1/2") and seemed quite happy. Yes, I've looked at night in the dark. And no I can't ever find one.
• I've used some F Aiptasia. Works like a champ, but really, really makes my corals near the Aiptasia grumpy. If I covered every one I had in the tank, the entire thing would be straight up White Christmas.
• I just got a Filefish to try to eat some of the tiny ones before they get too bit, but he seems perfectly contnet is just eating the pods off the glass.

I'm curious what others have done to fix this and if I'm missing anything obvious. The goal is not to rip down my entire aquascape and bleach the rock work out, especially since I have some fish in here already.

SECOND! Bubble Algae. I've got this spreading everywhere, too. Phosphates are high, and I know I need to get them under control. Plan is to start some GFO

I've also tried some emerald crabs, but they're happy just nipping at random coral or algae spots. They don't seem to be too worried about the bubble algae....

Trying not to get frustrated here, but clearly I'm not in control of anything going on right now

 

[Bucs20fan]

your nudibranchs were wiped out as fast as possible by the peppermints, You can use one or the other for aiptasia but not both. Otherwise they would have done the job very well.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Go slow. Treat every single one you can see by hand with aiptasia x. It will take time but you will over come it. Its time to have to do the not fun part. You sound like you are in the scale of manual removal only, no fish will do it for you. Except for nudis, and you cant have those because of the peppermints.

 

[Goaway]

Cbb? Mine loves aiptasia. Bubble algae, my scopa / purple tangs have always enjoyed every algae I never wanted to grow. I know everyone is a hit and miss. Speak with your lfs abd see if they will offer returns should fish not work out.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I’m in the same boat. We didn’t get here overnight….it took a long time to get here, and it’s going to take a long time to get out. If you can hit ten a day with f Aiptasia, you’ll eventually get there. Kalk paste works good as well and ends up being much cheaper when you have a lot to deal with. For instant gratification you’ll have to nuke the tank. I did well with manual treatment, but then I lost most my vision and started having bad tremors. My tank has been completely overrun with Aiptasia since as I can’t do it anymore. Berghia don’t like high flow, their eggs get eaten by some types of common pods and bristle worms. Peppermints, file fish, some dottybacks, butterfly’s, will eat them as well. What ever you do, best of luck.

 

[Goaway]

I’m in the same boat. We didn’t get here overnight….it took a long time to get here, and it’s going to take a long time to get out. If you can hit ten a day with f Aiptasia, you’ll eventually get there. Kalk paste works good as well and ends up being much cheaper when you have a lot to deal with. For instant gratification you’ll have to nuke the tank. I did well with manual treatment, but then I lost most my vision and started having bad tremors. My tank has been completely overrun with Aiptasia since as I can’t do it anymore. Berghia don’t like high flow, their eggs get eaten by some types of common pods and bristle worms. Peppermints, file fish, some dottybacks, butterfly’s, will eat them as well. What ever you do, best of luck.

The thing about kalk paste. You want the aiptasia to digest it more than just smothering. It's far more effective this way. That way it killed from the inside as well.

 

[Siberwulf]

Cbb? Mine loves aiptasia. Bubble algae, my scopa / purple tangs have always enjoyed every algae I never wanted to grow. I know everyone is a hit and miss. Speak with your lfs abd see if they will offer returns should fish not work out.

I'm not even close to the skill level to get a CBB. I love the look but I'm 90% sure it would end up dead.... Tangs are a possibility, but I don't have a good QT process so I'm at the mercy of the folks like Dr. Reef (great services, just not instant) to get them.

 

[Goaway]

I absolutely understand. Just throwing options out here.

I'm not even close to the skill level to get a CBB. I love the look but I'm 90% sure it would end up dead.... Tangs are a possibility, but I don't have a good QT process so I'm at the mercy of the folks like Dr. Reef (great services, just not instant) to get them.

You're already heavy invested. Kalk and manual removal of bubble algae.

If you are interested in fish options. Pyramid butterfly is also reef safe. Probably more so than the cbb. Also, more hardy. They eat aips as well.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I'm not even close to the skill level to get a CBB. I love the look but I'm 90% sure it would end up dead.... Tangs are a possibility, but I don't have a good QT process so I'm at the mercy of the folks like Dr. Reef (great services, just not instant) to get them.

I hear ya. It’s not just skill level. Most are caught using cyanide which leads to a lot of unnecessary deaths and unhealthy fish….. in my opinion. They say Australian varieties have a much higher success rate as they do not use cyanide. Even the most experienced fish keepers have lost copperbands. There is some luck involved. Personally, I wish they stopped selling them. No one offers captive bred copperbands as far as I know…..

 

[Siberwulf]

I absolutely understand. Just throwing options out here.

You're already heavy invested. Kalk and manual removal of bubble algae.

If you are interested in fish options. Pyramid butterfly is also reef safe. Probably more so than the cbb. Also, more hardy. They eat aips as well.

Does manual removal include popping them? I hear this is highly debated...that's how emeralds would do it, is there a risk for spreading it MORE if you do it on your own? Does it actually slow it down?

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Does manual removal include popping them? I hear this is highly debated...that's how emeralds would do it, is there a risk for spreading it MORE if you do it on your own? Does it actually slow it down?

Popping bubble algae will spread them. Try to pull them out without breaking them.

 

[CoralB]

My tank was half riddled with bubble at one time and the addition of a fox face cleaned it up to where I didn’t see any in 5-6 days . I didn’t feed the tank the day I put him in the tank to get him to focus but I have to say the foxface constantly trolls the tank for algae even with feeding twice a day now . As far as aptasia I had tried just about everything that I could even peppermint shrimp or what the sold me as peppermint shrimp . Look up the true peppermint shrimp and see if that’s what you have and if it is try to capture them into a acclimating box or a seperate small tank and only feed them pieces of aptasia for about a week then re-release them back into the main tank . Try to feed the other inhabitants light for a few days so the peppermint shrimp don’t fall back into old habits . Mine after they wiped out a large tank of aptasia will eat other foods now but I haven’t seen a aptasia in that tank since so I have to believe if small ones arise they are still eating them . Hope this helps , good luck

 

[Lavey29]

Cbb? Mine loves aiptasia. Bubble algae, my scopa / purple tangs have always enjoyed every algae I never wanted to grow. I know everyone is a hit and miss. Speak with your lfs abd see if they will offer returns should fish not work out.

Your CBB eats bubble algae? Hmm I have a few tiny spots maybe I'll leave it alone and see what he does to it.

 

[Lavey29]

Popping bubble algae will spread them. Try to pull them out without breaking them.

I've heard not the small ones just larger more mature bubble algae have the spores inside.

 

[Goaway]

Your CBB eats bubble algae? Hmm I have a few tiny spots maybe I'll leave it alone and see what he does to it.

Not the cbb, she eats the aiptasia. My scopas eats the bubble algae. I have red bubble algae growing in my sump I feed her as I can.

 

[Lavey29]

OP get a laser pointer and a 6 pack....good times

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

My tank was half riddled with bubble at one time and the addition of a fox face cleaned it up to where I didn’t see any in 5-6 days . I didn’t feed the tank the day I put him in the tank to get him to focus but I have to say the foxface constantly trolls the tank for algae even with feeding twice a day now . As far as aptasia I had tried just about everything that I could even peppermint shrimp or what the sold me as peppermint shrimp . Look up the true peppermint shrimp and see if that’s what you have and if it is try to capture them into a acclimating box or a seperate small tank and only feed them pieces of aptasia for about a week then re-release them back into the main tank . Try to feed the other inhabitants light for a few days so the peppermint shrimp don’t fall back into old habits . Mine after they wiped out a large tank of aptasia will eat other foods now but I haven’t seen a aptasia in that tank since so I have to believe if small ones arise they are still eating them . Hope this helps , good luck

This is true. Two drawbacks are that we are left to believe the seller of the shrimp as to wether they’re the right one and if you have a high flow sps tank, they will find a ledge or crevice and hide out doing a little dance, not venturing very far.

 

[Goaway]

Does manual removal include popping them? I hear this is highly debated...that's how emeralds would do it, is there a risk for spreading it MORE if you do it on your own? Does it actually slow it down?

There are mixed stories and ideals on this. I can't prove either or. To seed my sump with red bubble algae, I bought a frag plug covered in the stuff. Broke every bubble. So, probably will cause it to spread.

 

[Lavey29]

This is true. Two drawbacks are that we are left to believe the seller of the shrimp as to wether they’re the right one and if you have a high flow sps tank, they will find a ledge or crevice and hide out doing a little dance, not venturing very far.

They only have one dance move to like me

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

They only have one dance move to like me