Apthasia Problem

[Donewiththisplace]

A friend of mine is battleing a rather substantial apthasia problem in his 28 gal nano cube. He is going through a bottle of Apthasia X a week and making no progress. Peppermint shrimp also have had no effect.

He is considering breaking down and starting over with new rock and sand.

I researched it and recommended trying Berghia Nudibranch....anyone have any experience with them???

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Lenny718]

Where the Peppermint Shrimp from the caribbean? There are several types of peppermint shrimp but only the ones from Florida and Haiti eat aiptasia. Also some shady LFS will sell camel shrimp as peppermints.

 

[Jzhou]

how big are the aptasia, pp shrimps sometimes dont eat the ones that are larger that 1in.

 

[Mattl22]

My peppermints I have 2 in a 75gal eat them u can't find 1 in my tank I saw a new one pop up yesterday gone today my overflow has proablly 100 of them

 

[reefs4life]

Try a filefish, I heard they work really well

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

copperfish worked great for me, in 4 weeks nothing :inlove:
at first it took time then one day gone

 

[daisy]

Hey- sorry about the aptasai problem, but I would not go the nudibranch route. Sometimes peppermints work - depends on the peppermints. I have had ones that ate all the aptasia, and I have had ones that would not touch them. The only solution I've ever had that really worked was copperband butterfly fish, but even they are hit or miss, because sometimes you get one that won't eat anything but aptasia, and then they starve after eating all of them, and sometimes you get one that won't touch them (and either eats food and you're fine, or refuses to eat and dies in your tank)... And the thing is that that tank is a bit small for a copperband butterfly.


One thing I did that worked on the really large ones is to inject them with a solution of really hot concentrated kalkwasser. The problem is that you can't get them all this way.

I'd say peppermints are the best way to go considering the size of the tank - get a bunch of them and underfeed the tank as much as possible so that they are forced to graze on aptasia instead of relying on the food the fish are eating.

Good luck!

 

[kris]

Had a plague in one of my tanks. Filefish just wiped them out. Get One!

 

[guarda]

I got two berghia from a group buy here on MR and they cleared my tank in about 2 weeks. After I saw the last aiptasia gone, I planned on catching the berghias to pass on to my friend but I couldn't find them. Haven't seen them again.

 

[acromike]

Pepermint shrimp worked for me but like lenny718 said you have to watch out for camel shrimp who look very simular.

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

I had a couple aiptasia pop up in my tank. I tried using a file fish, The moment I dropped him in, he went straight for my sps .

 

[jcono]

I had a few pop up- nuked them with some kalk paste from a syringe. I have extra kalk you can have if you'd like to try this.
I am in Englewood Cliffs,
LMK

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Thanks everyone for the imput. I have heard about the filefish and copperband butterfly...and Im gonna recommend them to him. He is kind of limited because of the size of the tank though to make them permanent residents.

And I think he is fed up with trying to inject them...he's been doing that for about 2 months now and cant reach most of them anyway.

 

[createdlight]

anyone ever heard of zapping them with electricty?
i don't know what the rules are for linking, so i wont link.
but i just read this cool article on this diy door bell ballast setup,
seems cool

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Yeah i tend to think that might eliminate more then just the apthasia....

 

[vangoghfish]

Yes, copperband, will eat them all, they thrive on that.

 

[loneracer05]

Go with a file fish....mine took about a month then boom gone over night

 

[coralnut99]

A 28G is way too small for a copperband. You also have to get the right filefish species. Either will be hit or miss, will limit what corals you can have, and will be a bear to get out of the tank. Also if they croak in a 28G behind a pile of rocks, you'll see a nutrient spike. In my experience the key to getting true peppermints to eat them is to underfeed the tank for a short period. An exposion in aptasia sometimes goes hand in hand with a well-fed tank. If the shrimp find excess pellets, etc. they will go for that first.

 

[NL146]

anyone ever heard of zapping them with electricty?
i don't know what the rules are for linking, so i wont link.
but i just read this cool article on this diy door bell ballast setup,
seems cool

A member here, "Paul B", has a patented device that does just that. You can find some info on this thread http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/77482-aiptasia-killer-yeah-okay-16.html

 

[jerl77]

copperband for me worked like a charm and still not eatting corals so i am happy