Aptasia Infested Tank

[bodiam]

I have a Solana that has been functioning well for six years and then got an Aptasia infestation that I simply couldn't beat. No matter what I did they kept spreading and I finally gave in yesterday and pulled all the rock out, put it in a bucket with salt water and have it in the garage covered up. Is it worth trying to salvage this rock and if so, how long should I let it sit in the cold, dark garage. Not sure if Aptasia is like cockroaches and will survive even a nuclear holocaust. Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks.

[ndrobey]

Aiptasia will outsurvive cockroaches. Try putting super glue over any aiptasia areas. Try berghias. Try peppermint shrimp. Try replacing the rock. Try getting a syringe and squirting boiling hot water on the aiptasia areas.

[-muse-]

just get some peppermint shrimp. I had 8-9 aiptasia and 2 shrimp chowed down on them. Within a week there was no more and i havent had any since

[Mariaface]

When I notice aiptasia, a peppermint shrimp temporarily goes into the tank.

 

I do still feed the shrimp during the day, but they snack on aiptasia during the night and then I don't have any issues with them until the next time something gets introduced to the tank.

[Newstead]

I had the same issue in my old biocube 14. No matter what I did the freaking aiptasia just kept spreading and ended uo killing all but my frogspawn (even killed my xenia !). I finally did what you did - pulled all the live rock and turned it into dead rock by bleaching it, drying in the sun, rinsing, rinsing, rinsing. Then piled it in a fluval spec5 and cycled it. I HATE AIPTASIA.

[bodiam]

Yeah, I'm torn between tossing the rock and just buying new. Either way I'm starting all over. I'm thinking of leaving the rock out in the garage for a month, then pulling out one piece and seeing if any aptasia returns. If it does, the the rock gets tossed.

I tried peppermint shrimps. If they munched on any aptasia it wasn't noticeable. Crap just kept spreading. Then I went nuts with Aptasia-X and killed off corals and a couple of my favorite fish.

[Simulated Fish]

Yeah, I'm torn between tossing the rock and just buying new. Either way I'm starting all over. I'm thinking of leaving the rock out in the garage for a month, then pulling out one piece and seeing if any aptasia returns. If it does, the the rock gets tossed.

Sounds good but seriously don't push aside a pepperment shrimp. I had a few aiptasia poping up so I got some shrimp that night. My LFS has some that only feed on aiptasia that they rent out for a week at a time. Within 2 days they were gone and I haven't seen any since. Plus I ended up keeping them cause they are awesome CUC for uneated food!

[-muse-]

hmmm. that sucks about your shrimp. I dropped two in my tank and they immediately started eating the aiptasia. maybe i just got lucky.

 

if youre thinking about starting over i'd say you already have your solution

Sounds good but seriously don't push aside a pepperment shrimp. I had a few aiptasia poping up so I got some shrimp that night. My LFS has some that only feed on aiptasia that they rent out for a week at a time. Within 2 days they were gone and I haven't seen any since. Plus I ended up keeping them cause they are awesome CUC for uneated food!

same here! ill always run peppermints now.

[Newstead]

Sounds like a peppermint should be in my new tank. Do they do better in pairs or singly?

[Hammerstone]

Sounds like a peppermint should be in my new tank. Do they do better in pairs or singly?

they like friends ?

[jack1978]

I have a Solana that has been functioning well for six years and then got an Aptasia infestation that I simply couldn't beat. No matter what I did they kept spreading and I finally gave in yesterday and pulled all the rock out, put it in a bucket with salt water and have it in the garage covered up. Is it worth trying to salvage this rock and if so, how long should I let it sit in the cold, dark garage. Not sure if Aptasia is like cockroaches and will survive even a nuclear holocaust. Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks.

I had a 40 that was over run with aiptasia.....hundreds of them. My turbo snails had them growing on their shells. You can see the progress in my thread towards the front. Anyway, berghias work. Never had any aiptasia come back.

Peppermint shrimp are hit and miss....and may start eating your corals when the aiptasia are gone. It can be a huge pain to catch them depending on your rockwork.

 

Either way, sounds like you decided to start over.

Good luck.

[Sk8n Reefer]

I had a 40 that was over run with aiptasia.....hundreds of them. My turbo snails had them growing on their shells. You can see the progress in my thread towards the front. Anyway, berghias work. Never had any aiptasia come back.

Peppermint shrimp are hit and miss....and may start eating your corals when the aiptasia are gone. It can be a huge pain to catch them depending on your rockwork.

Either way, sounds like you decided to start over.

Good luck.

I am having issues with aiptasia too. Couple questions- I am thinking about going with berghias. How bad was your infestation? How many berghias did you get? How long did it take them to clean up? Will they eat large ones too?

[metrokat]

Filefish. If you have an infestation, this is your guy.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562

[jack1978]

I am having issues with aiptasia too. Couple questions- I am thinking about going with berghias. How bad was your infestation? How many berghias did you get? How long did it take them to clean up? Will they eat large ones too?

Go to page 1 in my 40B thread...berghias start towards the bottom of page 1.....continues for 3 or 4 pages...maybe more.

 

I had hundreds if not 1,000...no joke. Snails had them growing on there shells. Started with a dozen. First 3 weeks I thought they were dead.....then, day by day I started noticing bare patches on my rocks and coral .....a couple weeks later 5th week or so, zero aiptasia and the berghias were now over an inch long and numbers were easily over 100. Go to ReefTown and follow their guidelines....can't speak enough good about them.

[Hammerstone]

I read about them and it was all good and they are cute. They only eat aiptasia and eat whatever aiptasia is under the rocks first so you may not see them for weeks but then you'll see them in the top surface of rocks. They (reef 2 reef) said that after the aiptasia is gone they will die as that is their only food source. It was a good read.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Go to page 1 in my 40B thread...berghias start towards the bottom of page 1.....continues for 3 or 4 pages...maybe more.

I had hundreds if not 1,000...no joke. Snails had them growing on there shells. Started with a dozen. First 3 weeks I thought they were dead.....then, day by day I started noticing bare patches on my rocks and coral .....a couple weeks later 5th week or so, zero aiptasia and the berghias were now over an inch long and numbers were easily over 100. Go to ReefTown and follow their guidelines....can't speak enough good about them.

Excellent- thanks for the info. I will check out your thread tonight?

[jack1978]

Excellent- thanks for the info. I will check out your thread tonight

When the berghias are done, just suck them up with a large turkey baster and sell them for big cash, pass them along, trade to the LFS or other reefers......you'll find them a home easily.

[bodiam]

Thanks for all the replies. I should have posted on here earlier and tried the berghias or filefish. Never heard of either of them until now. I've taken down the display and am starting over with new sand and dry rock. Lesson learned.