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Pinkskunk
11/04/2013, 08:48 AM
Hi

i have about 100lbs of rock removed from someone who tear down her tank, the rock has alot of aptasias.

should i dry the rocks out in the sun or should i get some kind of nudies to eat them? will the nudies guaranteed to devour the aptasia?

how many nudies for about 100lbs of rock?

AFK1911
11/04/2013, 10:57 AM
I would give it an acid bath and start over. I have never battled aptasia, but from what I have read, I don't want to. Especially on a large scale.

SNAKEMANVET
11/04/2013, 11:07 AM
If you don't want to completely kill the live rock,I would drop the salinity down to 1.008.It will kill the aptasia and leave some beneificial bacteria.I did this on my dt when I did hyposalinity to rid my tank of ick.Leave it at that salinity for about a week.

RCKY
11/04/2013, 12:35 PM
I went the Berghia Nudibranch route on a 29 gallon to remove a major Aiptasia population. I am sure I had no less than 200 visible, no clue how many more in the nooks and crannies.
I bought three nudibranches about 8 weeks ago and am now able to find only about 10 small aiptasia. I know there is still at least one nudibranch still alive because I saw him this morning on one of the small aiptasia.
I am not 100% sure whether any aiptasia will come back after all the visible ones are eaten but I am extremely happy with how well the nudibranches did at reducing the aiptasia to the current level.
I will post in a few weeks or so whether the aiptasia re-appears after the nudibranches have finished.
Please post what method you use and how well it succeeds.

vitz
11/04/2013, 12:36 PM
aiptasia are pretty easy to starve out of any system-takes some time, patience, and an absolutely ruthlessly strict approach to feeding and nutrient management-especially when they can uptake their required nutrients directly from the water column. every aiptasia ever introduced into any of my past tanks simply withered away eventually-never been able to understand why it's so difficult for so many, apparently, to wipe them out.

to answer your nudi q:

you need to both have enough of them, and to place them in fairly close proximity to the aips, so they won't starve while looking for food. they do indeed work, but MAY not be able to negotiate very large adult aips. they are an obligate aip predator. another concern is whether or not the system itself is nudi friendly, as far as intakes and strainers go ;)

Pinkskunk
11/04/2013, 01:03 PM
or i can just put them out in the cold New England nights and let the sun bake them during the day but then i will lose all the coralline algea along with other beneficial bacteria that i need from the live rock ......

oscarinw
11/04/2013, 01:51 PM
Coralline and bacteria will come back... Save a scraping or 2 of coralline. The peace of mind that comes with knowing there's nothing on the rock is priceless.

BeanMachine
11/04/2013, 04:57 PM
I would put the rocks into a brute trash can, a heater, power head, and 5 or more peppermint shrimp and they'll be gone in no time. That way you don't have to kill the live rock and other beneficial critters.

ca1ore
11/04/2013, 05:01 PM
cockroaches of the reef tank! They're never gone :)

micaheli
11/04/2013, 05:01 PM
I just got a really really hungry peppermint shrimp and put it in my fuge. I went from aiptasia coated tank walls and all over inside the chaeto to almost no aip's anywhere only a couple days later. A few days after that, I'm having a hard time finding any. Gonna give him a couple more days then transfer him into the main tank to finish the job. Keep adding peppermint shrimp until you score a piggy. :)

Chevrefils
11/04/2013, 05:21 PM
3 pepps did the job for me. Didn't feed the tank so they targeted the aips.

micaheli
11/29/2013, 12:20 AM
I like bean machines solution except for large set ups, it could be tiresome and still not eradicate them. You're better off controlling them by controlling your water parameters. Peppermint shrimp if you don't have any invert eaters. :)

Tszat
11/29/2013, 10:43 PM
We use a Manjo wand and have had great success with it. We also use it to control other coral migrations such as xenia and some flower polyps.

Good_GReef
11/29/2013, 11:05 PM
Filefish and peppermint shrimp from different vendors (to ensure atleast some would be from the right region to have a taste for aps). Wiped out every single aptasia in a couple weeks. This was established rock from someone who had also let their tank go, 120 pounds just infested, like one every couple inches and some motherships. It's an ongoing process, so it's likely you will never get them from all nooks and crannies but you can pretty much wipe out all that you see with a cleanup crew like this and you will still have all the good organisms.

ReeferKimberly
11/29/2013, 11:24 PM
Here is what I have done:

Manuel removal via products, burning etc: Too much work, can never get them all.

Peppermint shrimp: They ate them all....but now I have an eel who would eat the shrimp.

Matted Filefish: Also ate them all....but then ate my duncans and a few other corals.

High powered laser: kills them but is a lot of work considering the batteries have to be re-charged on a regular basis and also you have to only kill one at a time, as the laser must be turned off often to prevent overheating. Like manual removal, it is also hard to get them all.

Berghia nudis: They are awesome...but as soon as you run out of aips they will all starve.

All in all, if I did not have my eel I would get peps. I have nudis and they are amazing....but I am low on aiptasia and I see them all beginning to starve in a month or less. If I could twitch my nose I would move my eel to another tank....but since I also have about 100 pounds of rock that is not happening. If I were you and I had no eel to wrasse or whatever else to eat the shrimp I would 1000000% get pep shrimp. Sure, apparently not all will eat them (this is from other people saying it, they always did for me)...anyways sure I guess not all will eat them but if you get several and make sure they are the right species you WILL find 1 that will take them out.

Just my own opinion and preference, I would never destroy live rock. I enjoy the diversity too much and chances are if you start introducing frags you will just end up with aiptasia again anyways.

Go with Peps. My two cents.