Aptasia help

[donniea1800]

Hello all. Now that my tank is getting better I need to help my mom with hers. She has a 65 gallon SCA tank. She has had algae issues since setting this thing up about two years ago. Nitrate shows 10 and phosphate 0.03 but I know nutrients have to be an issue for the algae to be growing. The main issue is her tank has been infested with aptasia. I don't know how she let it get this bad but it's bad. Added peppermint shrimp and berghia but still infested. Been using aptasia x some each day to try to knock some back. She doesn't enjoy her tank anymore it's so bad. Anyone have any ideas for a large scale aptasia infestation? I almost an thinking about replacing all the rocks but all the bacteria is in the rocks. Trying to avoid breaking down the tank and starting over. Ideas?

 

[bhodges82]

You could add an aptasia eating file fish, but they are known to nip at some corals.

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[FutureInterest]

Copperband butterfly are amazing at it. Just have to find one that is eating frozen like a pig at the stores...

 

[popsbjd]

Copperband butterfly are amazing at it. Just have to find one that is eating frozen like a pig at the stores...

+1 on the copperband. They can be a bit sensitive though.

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[donniea1800]

I will look into it. Would it be ok in the 65 gallon?

 

[popsbjd]

I'd say you're at minimum tank size (maybe a little small although a 4' 55 probably would be fine). It also depends on the rest of the stock list.

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[FutureInterest]

Copperband would be fine in a 65 I think. They don't get big enough such that there is a police squad dedicated to them like with tangs.

 

[FutureInterest]

Cheapest is peppermint shrimp though. The trick there is to make sure you're getting Caribbean peppermint shrimp. They are sourced from the pacific as well and look identical but the pacific ones don't eat aptasia.

 

[snowmansnow]

get 7-10 peppermint shrimp and it will solve the issue

 

[Mom2Many]

I have used peppermint shrimp in the past with great success but they also ate my rockflower nems.

 

[theyeg84]

I always had good luck with controlling the water parameters, killing the big ones with a kalk solution and then having peppermint shirmp clean up the small ones.

 

[Adam]

The nudi's are not a quick fix but they do work. If you added about 10 of them and placed them close to each other they'll do their job.

For the 1st month to 6 weeks you won't notice much of a change. Then one day an area will be cleaned and by 4 months or so 99% of the aiptasia will be gone.

I tried AiptasiaX too. While it did kill a few, the ones it didn't multiplied in force. I wouldn't recommend using it.

 

[jcook54]

I would second the peppermint shrimp. They've been hit or miss but for $5, it's pretty easy to get a few and see if one or two of them will do a good job. I've never seen them eating an aptasia but when I have a peppermint shrimp in the tank, the aptasia just seem to slowly disappear...

 

[Mattlu636]

I just had new hammer frag get eaten, I assume, by my Peppermint Shrimp and they (2) stopped eating the little Apstasia.

 

[jcook54]

They can be hit and miss. I had one that ate all of my hydroids as well as aptasia. For some reason, they left everything else alone. Now I've got one that will eat aptasia but leaves the hydroids alone. At least it leaves my rock flower alone too. I haven't seen the thing in months but since I haven't seen any aptasia in that period of time, I'm assuming it's still around doing it things. The only way I know they die is by the sudden appearance of baby aptasia.

 

[donniea1800]

Thanks everyone. Will take a multi prong approach. How about filefish?

 

[ichthyoid]

Peppermints, kalk or this high tech zapper all work -

‘https://www.marinedepot.com/Majano_...MI1JDwytLz4QIVkYqzCh1-yA-pEAkYASABEgJptvD_BwE


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