aptasia gone wild!

[daisy]

Hi, everyone. I've been gone for years. Kind of got sidetracked with graduate school and little kids. And when I was not looking, my tank grew and grew. It was mostly wonderful, but then there was an explosion of aptasia and bubble algae.
And then the tank broke... suffice to say that right now, there is a new tank waiting and in the mean time, my fish, corals and some live rock are thriving in a 20 gal and the rest of my live rock is in a 40 gal tub with lights.
Problem is this -- the 40 gal tub with lights is OVERRUN with aptasia. I'm not sure what to do about this. I want to use all that live rock when I transfer everything into the new tank, but not if the aptasia problem will transfer with it! So... can I do anything about the aptasia that won't hurt the rock or all the wonderful micro and macro flora and fauna that also inhabit that rock?
Thanks!

 

[daisy]

oh - and about the aptasia - they've been growing for months, so there are thousands of them, and they're all sizes -- I am afraid it is too much for shrimp and it is DEFINITELY too much for human intervention with a syringe. Will the peppermints eat full-size aptasia?

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by daisy
oh - and about the aptasia - they've been growing for months, so there are thousands of them, and they're all sizes -- I am afraid it is too much for shrimp and it is DEFINITELY too much for human intervention with a syringe. Will the peppermints eat full-size aptasia?
mine did

 

[joebob7]

AAHH!! sounds like a fulll out war
take it out with the joes juice

 

[natclanwy]

I have been using Blue life aptasia control on my tank I have had an explosion of aptasia also. It really hasn't been too bad treating each one individually I probably won't be able to get all of the tiny ones but I am hoping once I get it knocked down that far the Peppermints will be able take over. I have some before and after pics if you want to see.

 

[daisy]

I can't imagine hitting every single aptasia with juice - there must be thousands of them! It would take me weeks and weeks. On the other hand, it might be fun... for those of us suffering from OCD...

 

[wanabebell]

or you can buy a couple of burgia nudibranches just when they finish killing them all give them to a friend that has them its all they eat guarenteed to work

 

[psusocr1]

honestly get a racoon butterfly or a arugia butterfly and put him in there alone with the aptaisa since you could and all your aptasia will be gone within a month..
when i say i had more aptasia than you can imagine i was ready to take all my liverock out of my tank and let it dry then put it back in to kill it all off, thats how much i did and it wouldnt work..
i got a little tiny 3 inch racoon butterfly and i figured it would take him FOREVER to eat ll of this stuff and most of them were the size of my fist.. they looked liek full grown long tentacle anenomes..
anyway i added him a little under 3 weeks ago and theres not one single piece of aptasia in my tank anymore!

 

[natclanwy]

Originally Posted by daisy
I can't imagine hitting every single aptasia with juice - there must be thousands of them! It would take me weeks and weeks. On the other hand, it might be fun... for those of us suffering from OCD...
Now that you mention it it was kinda fun kind of like killing ants with a magnifying glass when I was a kid.
It doesn't take nearly as long as you would think I thought the same thing about my tank I had two rocks that were completely covered couldn't see the rock anymore and now I can probably count the aiptasia left on the rocks and that was just 4 applications over two days I was very impressed with how well it worked and how easy it was to apply.

 

[daisy]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
honestly get a racoon butterfly or a arugia butterfly and put him in there alone with the aptaisa since you could and all your aptasia will be gone within a month..
when i say i had more aptasia than you can imagine i was ready to take all my liverock out of my tank and let it dry then put it back in to kill it all off, thats how much i did and it wouldnt work..
i got a little tiny 3 inch racoon butterfly and i figured it would take him FOREVER to eat ll of this stuff and most of them were the size of my fist.. they looked liek full grown long tentacle anenomes..
anyway i added him a little under 3 weeks ago and theres not one single piece of aptasia in my tank anymore!

Okay, but once the aptasia is all gone, will this animal survive without it? Does it take other food? Will it be okay with my other animals? (soft corals, inverts, maroon clown, yellow tang, royal gramma and red lip blenny)

 

[fishgeek01]

the butterfly will be questionable with your other corals and poylps. You may want to buy it, use it, then trade it in for some peppermint shrimp, that way if it did miss any little ones you have the shrimp to take care of them, that is my suggestion. I dont really see another way, without drying all of the rock and starting over from scratch.

 

[psusocr1]

yes i wouldnt put a butterfly in with other corals, but as said maybe you can trade him or something,,although all my aptasia is gone know he still picks off the rocks!