Bighoho Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) So I got a beautiful new Derasa clam today... covered in a few pests. Aptaisa, vermited... and some friendly isopods and such. Couple of things about our cleaning regiment: We QT everything regardless of what it is... We clean all livestock as advised... scrub, razor blade, glue whatever needs to be done to get the job done.. etc. I always wear gloves... been stung too many times by bristleworms So what's the problem? After cleaning off the two small aptasia I used the gloves to wipe off the blade, aptasia guts remaining on the glove. So the clam is still acclimating, I decided to go check on the DT... and what do I do I stick the glove with the guts on it into the sump not thinking about what I just did. So the big question is: Did I just contaminate my DT with aptaisa? It's bugging the crap out of me and I'm having a mini meltdown over it... Need some community support, thoughts. I will mention that I preemptively ordered some peppermint shrimp and am thinking of ordering some apt eating nudi's just in case. Thanks all for your support/advice in advance! #stupidreefermistakes #aptasia4free #mindlessreefing Edited September 8, 2020 by Bighoho missing words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Ah bummer, sorry to hear that! Honestly, you might be ok. I tried to purposely grow aptasia to raise nudibranchs, it can be tough at times quite surprisingly. We failed multiple times, and ended up scrapping the project. The rule of aptasia is, if you see it, kill it immediately. So just keep your eyes out. Congrats on the clam! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bler Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I've had good luck with peppermint shrimp keeping the aptasia at bay in the DT, though I'm sure mileage will vary. Also there are manual removal possibilities (F-aptasia, Aptasia-X, kalk, etc.) I'd personally say at this point, it is what it is and to just keep an eye out and your doing everything possible. At least your tank wasn't contaminated by say bleach 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Xanax might work for what you have. 3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I think you're good. You'll never know until you see one pop up. Even then aptasia can be eradicated if caught early. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 You stuck your hands in your sump. That maximizes your paranoia response opportunities. Add a Aiptasia Eating Filefish to your sump. They're more consistent than peppermint shrimp at consuming them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 For what it is worth, I have done a fair amount of reading about the best way to get rid of them when you see them (besides biological control) is to get them to retract and then encase them in super glue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bighoho Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 Thank you all for the support! My wife told me it was bound to happen... I hate that statement, we should be trying to annihilate these pests from the hobby. I just never imagined it would be an inside job that introduced them LOL. Peppermint shrimp are in... I'll be keep watch for any "new" nems in the tank. Does anyone know if Valentini puffers have a taste for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 59 minutes ago, Bighoho said: Peppermint shrimp are in... I'll be keep watch for any "new" nems in the tank. Does anyone know if Valentini puffers have a taste for them? Don't Puffers have a taste for Shrimp? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bighoho Posted September 10, 2020 Author Share Posted September 10, 2020 23 hours ago, obrien.david.j said: Don't Puffers have a taste for Shrimp? They love them... so we'll see how that goes. For now to keep the shrimp safe I've put them in the sump for protection... it's where I dipped my hand as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadAShark Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 On 9/8/2020 at 4:45 PM, Bighoho said: So I got a beautiful new Derasa clam today... covered in a few pests. Aptaisa, vermited... and some friendly isopods and such. Couple of things about our cleaning regiment: We QT everything regardless of what it is... We clean all livestock as advised... scrub, razor blade, glue whatever needs to be done to get the job done.. etc. I always wear gloves... been stung too many times by bristleworms So what's the problem? After cleaning off the two small aptasia I used the gloves to wipe off the blade, aptasia guts remaining on the glove. So the clam is still acclimating, I decided to go check on the DT... and what do I do I stick the glove with the guts on it into the sump not thinking about what I just did. So the big question is: Did I just contaminate my DT with aptaisa? It's bugging the crap out of me and I'm having a mini meltdown over it... Need some community support, thoughts. I will mention that I preemptively ordered some peppermint shrimp and am thinking of ordering some apt eating nudi's just in case. Thanks all for your support/advice in advance! #stupidreefermistakes #aptasia4free #mindlessreefing Don’t worry. Even though there’s a solid chance you did contaminate your tank with aiptasia, I am in the process of breeding some berghia nudibranches. Already have significant batches of eggs. If I can scale it a bit more I think I can supply the local community with a cheap source of berghia. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bighoho Posted September 10, 2020 Author Share Posted September 10, 2020 Thanks for the support @LadAShark let me know when the nudies are ready, I'll come snag a few from you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadAShark Posted September 11, 2020 Share Posted September 11, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, Bighoho said: Thanks for the support @LadAShark let me know when the nudies are ready, I'll come snag a few from you Yeah no worries. The eggs were laid at least a week and a half ago; based on what I have read I could expect to visibly see young nudis as soon as in 2 weeks, but only time will tell. In the meanwhile you should be fine with regards to aiptasia for a while. It takes them a long while to start showing when the contamination isn’t huge. Considering how voracious these guys are for aiptasia I’d imagine if you added any now they would quite simply starve. I’ll let you know when I have some visible nudi young. Hopefully that will be soon. Edited September 11, 2020 by LadAShark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb123 Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 LadAShark, you would likely be doing a great service to the community if you had a supply of berghia nudi's. I know I would be interested in buying some. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bighoho Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 On 9/11/2020 at 12:33 PM, LadAShark said: Yeah no worries. The eggs were laid at least a week and a half ago; based on what I have read I could expect to visibly see young nudis as soon as in 2 weeks, but only time will tell. In the meanwhile you should be fine with regards to aiptasia for a while. It takes them a long while to start showing when the contamination isn’t huge. Considering how voracious these guys are for aiptasia I’d imagine if you added any now they would quite simply starve. I’ll let you know when I have some visible nudi young. Hopefully that will be soon. I'm keeping an eye out for them, probably to soon to find any visible ones. So many hidden angles in the tank it's hard to tell. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadAShark Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 On 9/12/2020 at 2:40 PM, rsb123 said: LadAShark, you would likely be doing a great service to the community if you had a supply of berghia nudi's. I know I would be interested in buying some. It’s a work in progress, but I have plenty of eggs laid so hopefully it will turn out well. I’m still fine tuning how I should exactly go about this, as I’m thinking the adults may be outeating the invisibly-small larvae that hatch (yes they also eat aiptasia). I also somehow need a lot more aiptasia. I have a ton in my tank but none I can easily reach. But yeah, that’s the idea. I think having a local provider of berghia would be a huge help to the community, so I thought I might as well step in and see if I could fill that gap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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