Who has really had success ridding aptasias?

[groupergenius]

I see suggestions all the time about this and that for getting rid of the pests and I have tried a few with no real success.
Copperband butterfly-never touched the aptasias but ate mysis for 2 weeks till it passed on to fish heaven.
Joe's Juice-makes them look dead for a few days, but they allways come back.
Boiling water-killed maybe 2 this way.
Peppermint shrimp (5)-lasted all of 3 days till my Coral Bandeds caught them all.
Now I'm looking into Berghia nudis. I have a rock thats like a baseball cut in half that has alot of tubs blue zoas on it. But it has probably 20-25 aptasias as well. I'm afraid of the constant bombardment with Joe's Juice harming my zoas.

 

[bronco300]

if you can put that rock in a container or something to make sure the berghia stay on the rock it'll work, i've used them before and in a container they work great...when i threw the one just in my tank...now i have no idea where he is or if he is even alive still

I've also used a mixture of kalk and water to shoot at them like boiling water...it works as well, but if you cant get them all it seems pointless because theyll just come back again....this is my problem right now...i can kill alot of them, but i cant reach all of them, so they grow right back

 

[trippkid]

I'm in the same boat as you, tried just about everything, looking at getting some nudi's to do the job as well, I don't have a bunch but you know how that is. The "juice" seems to act like a fertilizer for them, at least for me. I've pasted them, I mean pasted and they still come back in the same spot, usually more of them. I don't feed a lot and nutrients are pretty low so they haven't gotten out of hand so I've just been leaving them alone for the time being. Sorry I didn't contribute anything, just letting you know you are not the only one with the same issues.
Matt

 

[jtrzerocool]

i bought a rock full of palys that had 1 aiptasia on it...but before it even touched my tank water i pulled out my pocket knife and drilled a hole in the rock where the aiptasia was...needless to say...no mas aiptasia...i know that you cant do this in your case but i thought i would tell you that i have rid 1 from my tank...i would say that i have been lucky and have stayed aiptasia free for about 2 years now...

 

[groupergenius]

Originally Posted by Bronco300
if you can put that rock in a container or something to make sure the berghia stay on the rock it'll work, i've used them before and in a container they work great...when i threw the one just in my tank...now i have no idea where he is or if he is even alive still

I've also used a mixture of kalk and water to shoot at them like boiling water...it works as well, but if you cant get them all it seems pointless because theyll just come back again....this is my problem right now...i can kill alot of them, but i cant reach all of them, so they grow right back

Sounds like a game plan. I have a 10 gallon tank I can throw a 96wPC light on and a HOB filter. I'll use water from a water change so it's allready cycled and go bare bottom. Do you think about 6 berghias? Once they are done eating, I'll put them in my DT and get the last few remainders in there. Then th 10 gallon might become a berghia propogation tank.

 

[peef]

When I first started my tank I had aptasia EVERYWHERE. I dropped in 3 pep shrimp and within 2 weeks they were ALL gone. I havn't seen hide nor hair of one since.

 

[bronco300]

Originally Posted by GrouperGenius
Sounds like a game plan. I have a 10 gallon tank I can throw a 96wPC light on and a HOB filter. I'll use water from a water change so it's allready cycled and go bare bottom. Do you think about 6 berghias? Once they are done eating, I'll put them in my DT and get the last few remainders in there. Then th 10 gallon might become a berghia propogation tank.

6 i'm sure would be mroe than plenty...i had two that did a very good job on rocks i put in, giant aips would be gone within a couple days....just remember they are very small,i got mine at maybe of 1/4" and they grew to around 1/2"...but you have zoos and mushrooms in your tank there is a lot to hide under, let alone in the rock...so it might be hard to find once in the DT.

 

[kat74]

The 225 gallon FOWLR tank in our lobby was almost taken over with aiptasia. Our maintenance company put a raccoon butterfly fish in there two weeks ago and within 3 days, every single bit of aiptasia was gone. Absolutely amazing and what a lovely little addition he is to our tank!

 

[mcbdz]

I have had luck with boiling water. I'd shoot them then suck them up in the syring. When I got many small ones I couldn't reach I bought 1 pep. shrimp and haven't seen any since.

 

[travis89]

I used to have a big aptasia problem in my 46, I tried Joe's juice, boiling water, and peppermint shrimp but none of them did a good job. I then bought 3 berghia nudibranchs and haven't saw one in my tank for almost a year.

 

[itom37]

I had one rock that a few sprang up on. I don't think I ever killed it, but everytime I saw it I would pump it full of lemon juice. I would see it again the next month, so I repeated. It didn't die, but it certainly kept it from reproducing/growing.

 

[groupergenius]

Awsome..Thanks folks. These are more like been there, done that responses versus hearsay.
I called my favorite LFS guy about Berghia's and he concurred that they do the job, but he doesn't sell them.

Understandable because they are usually very small and require a specialized diet. So it looks like it's time to take my chances on the internet slot machine.

 

[al mc]

Google the words 'underground' and 'salty 'and a good site may come up. You might even try reversing the order of your google search.

Mine came in good shape and have done a nice job.

 

[travis89]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
Google the words 'underground' and 'salty 'and a good site may come up. You might even try reversing the order of your google search.

Mine came in good shape and have done a nice job.
yup, thats where I got mine.

 

[myzislow]

I kill my aptasia by injecting them one by one with Calcium using a hypodermic syringe. Kills them instantly and by doing it this way u can make sure u kill every single one.

 

[morval]

whatever method u try make sure u chek out ur filter/sump,etc. aptasia can live in those places too. i only had a few on my rocks and the juice took care of them then a few days later there were little ones in different spots, killed those and few days later there was more. then while i was doing so matinance i found a bunch in my filter!

so make sure u check everywhere ur water goes

 

[earlybird]

I'm really a fan of peppermint shrimp. They have done the job on 3 occassions.
First in my QT that I cycled with some LR. I watched for 3 weeks as one aptasia turned into 4. I added one peppermint shrimp before my fish and within 2 days they were gone. I had a few in my DT when he went into it and again less than a week. He ended up dying and recently I noticed a small aptasia on my rock near my zoas (I did not dip and it probably came in with them). I got a peppermint shrimp and it took him a while but he did the job.

 

[juice_1080]

I have been successful w/ Joe's Juice. You just have to persistent with it. Its not that it doesn't kill them its that there are more that haven't grow into sight yet. If you check every other day and hit them every time you see one you are guaranteed to get rid of them. Every time I get any rock/corals from my dad I have to watch really closely for about a month. When I started my setup I used some of his LR and had about 1-200 Aiptasia on my rock and now I have 1-2 because I just got a coral from him but before I got that coral I didn't have a single one.
Just hit them a tad heavy w/ Joe's Juice and blow the rest off the rocks. It won't kill anything else if it mixes with the water. Just watch blasting your corals with it, I don't know if that has an effect on them.

 

[travis89]

Originally Posted by juice_1080
Just hit them a tad heavy w/ Joe's Juice and blow the rest off the rocks. It won't kill anything else if it mixes with the water. Just watch blasting your corals with it, I don't know if that has an effect on them.
Yes it does, it can kill them if you get too much on them.

 

[hefner413]

copperband was my solution