obrien.david.j Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 (edited) My Aptasia have gotten out of hand. I've applied added Filefish (2), a copper banded butterfly, and Berghia. Even added couple of peppermint shrimp... never to be seen again. (I suspect wrasses got them.) Filefish and CB butterfly aren't seeming to make a dent. In this case, I suspect my efforts to fight dinos (feeding the tank heavily to keep NO3/PO4 up) is countering efforts to reduce Aptasia. (keeping the fish fed, so they dont need to eat aptasia. AND keeping aptasia fed, and they reproduce faster). So I'm trying a different approach... Aptasia Death, by peppermint shrimp -- In an isolated tank Take couple dozen peppermint shrimp Put them in one of my frag tanks, connected to the main system, but empty Don't feed this tank, except... Move an Aptasia infested rock into this tank Death by hungry Peppermint Shrimp! I'll bring you along for the ride with regular pictures. UPDATE: If you want to jump to the conclusion - here's a direct link Shrimp Arrival (and some misc) Freshly Added Rock (Tues PM) - Looks pretty ugly First Morning (Weds AM) Second Morning (Thurs AM) Edited March 12, 2022 by obrien.david.j adding conclusion 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonGrownReef Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 Following along. This could be interesting. You could market and charge for your apitasia destroying services if it works. I'll be your first customer. My only concern is they won't work fast enough and the aiptasia will continue to spread through plumbing, but maybe with that many it won't matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 I added 8 peppermints to my grow out tank. They devoured all the aptasia..then starved. Aptasia came back. If you can train a file fish to eat them they get after it! I have a file that ate every single aptasia in my 550 display in two weeks. I am currently starving a new file fish in the grow out. If you can take rocks out... take them out and put in water with copper in it for a day or two. All aptasia dead. Rinse, put back in tank. Shouldn't harm the bacteria at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 17 minutes ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: If you can take rocks out... take them out and put in water with copper in it for a day or two. All aptasia dead. Rinse, put back in tank. Shouldn't harm the bacteria at all. This is the first I've heard of the idea. Rocks in a copper bath, rinse (or soak) for a day?, and then back into the display tank. shouldn't I be afraid of copper attaching to the rock and releasing later, into main tank water? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 13, 2022 Author Share Posted January 13, 2022 59 minutes ago, OregonGrownReef said: Following along. This could be interesting. You could market and charge for your apitasia destroying services if it works. I'll be your first customer. My only concern is they won't work fast enough and the aiptasia will continue to spread through plumbing, but maybe with that many it won't matter. Aptasia can go into my overflow plumbing, that is easy to deal with. I have filter socks before they enter the sump, and when plumbing needs to get sterilized, Its removable and can go into acid->bleach outside. Take the plumbing down for 4hrs, and Bingo - no Aptasia there any more. This includes each frag tank. Quick disconnect, tank into the driveway, sterilize/rinse/return. Done in a few times already. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OregonGrownReef Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 16 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said: Aptasia can go into my overflow plumbing, that is easy to deal with. I have filter socks before they enter the sump, and when plumbing needs to get sterilized, Its removable and can go into acid->bleach outside. Take the plumbing down for 4hrs, and Bingo - no Aptasia there any more. This includes each frag tank. Quick disconnect, tank into the driveway, sterilize/rinse/return. Done in a few times already. Smart! Excited to see the results! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 I have my doubts about copper binding to rocks and then magically unbinding. This seems to be along the same lines as the "once you use copper in a tank you can never put corals in it again. I can't imagine that any appreciable amount of copper would bind to your live rock over night. Plus Jay herndal says " Copper doesn't seek out plastic to absorb onto, not like it does with calcium based sand and rocks." Simply running carbon on your tank would get rid of any free carbon in your water. I am not certain on the copper kill aptasia but I was raising aptasia in a 20 gallon and topped off the tank with maybe 2 gallon of water at proper copper level... poof. every single aptasia gone. They are just anenomes after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saltfishlover Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Yup. I discovered this when mine first ate a rock flower, then went to town on the pest anemones. System is now clear of any signs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 14, 2022 Author Share Posted January 14, 2022 Third Morning (Fri AM) Looks like Aptasia are reducing It's funny. I think the shrimp can see the Red LED's. I use them to try and not disturb AM photos, get them in action. But they move off the rock as soon as I turn them on. And get skittish. BTW, they don't seem to pick Aptasia during daylight - So this frag tank lighting is OFF all day. (except photo times) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 If you can find a Klein’s Butterfly they work really really good as well. Just watch out they like to nip at corals of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 14, 2022 Author Share Posted January 14, 2022 15 minutes ago, Flash21 said: If you can find a Klein’s Butterfly they work really really good as well. Just watch out they like to nip at corals of course. Do you think there's something special about Klein's Butterfly eating aptasia, or ~Any Hungry butterfly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash21 Posted January 14, 2022 Share Posted January 14, 2022 Everyone I got from Jeff ate the scheisse out them…I don’t recall what Larry was eating in my tank as far as corals but I always after about a week tossed him in the sump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigg Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 My peppermints wiped out my aiptasia. Whatever you do don’t use copper, you will never get it out of the rocks! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 15, 2022 Author Share Posted January 15, 2022 Fourth Morning (Sat AM) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markv Posted January 15, 2022 Share Posted January 15, 2022 I agree with the no copper. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 17, 2022 Author Share Posted January 17, 2022 Sixth Morning (Mon AM) I'm claiming Success! Yes, I'm sure there are aptasia spores still on the rock - but I've got a lot more rocks that need their big aptasia removed first. So today this rock gets cycled out for a new one from the tank (In case you're wondering what happened to Fifth morning...) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 13 hours ago, obrien.david.j said: Sixth Morning (Mon AM) I'm claiming Success! Yes, I'm sure there are aptasia spores still on the rock - but I've got a lot more rocks that need their big aptasia removed first. So today this rock gets cycled out for a new one from the tank And this is what the rock looked like as I took it out tonight. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 And the next Victim has arrived. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 18, 2022 Author Share Posted January 18, 2022 Victim 2, First Morning (Tues AM) Notice the emerald crab. Right side, above pink epoxy, above snail. There are a few touches of Valonia here too. Might as well go for all killers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 Victim 2, Second Morning (Weds AM) Yesterday, middle of the picture had an Aptasia. Today, all I see is a hungry shrimp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumby Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 I had hundreds of aiptasia in my main tank. I got a pearlscale. It took out everyone but would eat anything with tentacles like acans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Gumby said: I had hundreds of aiptasia in my main tank. I got a pearlscale. It took out everyone but would eat anything with tentacles like acans. Good Input Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 Victim 2, third Morning (Thurs AM) Left side, do you see any aptasia remaining? Right side, do you see any aptasia remaining? it's too early to call it. I'll leave it for another day, but soon it may be time for Victim #3! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 Setup a camera last night to watch the activity. Here is 6 hours of shrimp, in 15 seconds. Watching this video, look at the left side of the screen, top corner of the rock. I see a large aptasia pop up, shrink down, pop up, shrink down. I don't think it's gone yet. This video ends, just before I took this mornings photo. (previous post) In the photo it must be down. Only soon to pop back up... and be eaten! 6 hours of shrimp in 15 seconds.mp4 In case you want to see the setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted January 21, 2022 Author Share Posted January 21, 2022 Victim 2, Fourth Morning (Friday AM) -- And a Surprise Overall picture of the rock looks good! (red) But, based on the video and seeing an aptasia inflate/deflate/etc - I cracked out a flashlight and tops down viewing box... And Surprise! Two big aptasia pieces are still there. I'm thinking another two days at minimum. What I can see needs to be gone, plus a buffer timeframe. Also going to rotate the rock, in case any Aptasia are sitting on the tank bottom. What isn't visible from a distance, IS visible on close up inspection. This rock ISN'T DONE! (Stringy stuff is an Aptasia in pict 1. And you can see a shrunk Aptasia in pict 2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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