how to get rid of aptasia(?)
 

Hey all, I am looking to purchase Berghia Nudibranch if anyone can let me know where in Calgary sells. Found out could get rid of my Astapsia ( or however u spell it, let alone say it) with these neat little guys. Not only will they get rid of my pests, they look cool too.
BTW really liken this site all:biggrin:
cheers

none LFS in calgary that i kno of sells them. red coral carries them but NFS yet. how much aptasia do u have? what i do is I take the rock out and take a lighter and burn it. there are other means to solve this problem but i found best is just to burn them before they get any bigger.

wouldn't burning them kill everything else on rock?:sad:

Red coral had them in a little while ago. Might be some left

like i just said, red coral has them but its not for sale, hes trying to breed them and grow them. just take ur rock out, dont burn the whole thing lol just torch the area with aptasia

Red Coral
 

does any one know the email i can talk to the guy at red coral i have millons and millons of aptasia i just want it gone or trade the rock let me know i have coral for sale as well and fish want everything gone i will sell everything in my tank for 1000

Filefish do the job and will eat real food once it's done with the aptasia.

file fish will eat all your lps coral before they will even go near the aptasia the best bet is to talk to the guy at red coral he may take the rock and trade u

no, mine doesn't touch anything. It ate all the aptasia, now it eats pellets and mysis. Doesn't touch the LPS, zoos or mushrooms. Not sure I've heard of them eating corals at all..

edit: I have one in each of my tanks, and I've had a few that I lost. All of them behaved the same, so I didn't just get lucky.

ive had 2 file fish, the older one one never touched anything at all and not only did he clear my tank out of plaque proportions he ate frozen and was always swimming around being friendly.the younger one i had was in a tank full of zoanthids and lps and he nipped a bit but caused no real harm, he cleaned out the tank of aiptasia in no time no more risk than adding an angel to a reef some will nip some wont. nudis are a expensive and slow process the nudis themselves are expensive and 2 dont do anything for you especially in a bigtank so you need to buy lots or breed them...strength in numbers... and that takes more time.ive done both raised nudis and had the filefish and ill have a filefish in every tank from now on just cause i find them to be fast and reliable and less maintanance.

I have 4+ adults nearly 1" long in a tank with plenty of aptasia. I am hoping they start to breed as I can no longer afford to bring these guys in. I would though consider a prepaid group order for them. My # at the shop is 403 338-1880.
Kevin

What type of file fish is the most effective in term of getting rid of the aptasia?

Matted Filefish, Acreichthys tomentosus

well kevin let me know if u need aptasia or if u would like to swap rock some of the rock has got lots of gsp on it if not i may just boil the rock as this is to much i have wasted about a grand in coral

aptasia
 

banner fish also clean up aptasia-breeding berghia right now-will have 20-30 by next month ready to go

lol i had filefish in both my tanks full of zoas too now i have 2 tanks and i think i still have a single zoa head left, both filefish eat like pigs but everytime i turn around they hit the zoa gardens. i moved a small green tip from one tank to the other and looked back an hour later...... file fish with HUGE white lips and little bubble tip gone. my next tank will not have a filefish id rather take my chances with an angel

I rember seeing this little electric zapper to fry the little bastards, just can't rember what site it was on. Really easy to make. I will see if I can find it for u. From what I seen it worked pretty good and it didn't bother the fish.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=78657

This is the one not sure how to send a bookmark. So this is what ya get. If all else fails it in the DIY section under aptasia zapper. Look like fun.

Although I never support the buying of Copper banded butterflies, perhaps if you have nothing con specific like a tang in your tank, you could have success keeping one in your tank. apparently they really like aipasia (their beeks poke into rocks well), Dont be too dissapointed though if it dies on you or goes on a hunger strike those can be an absolute nightmare of a fish to make happy and keep. I will never support the capturing of those for our hobby because of how hard they are too keep good luck removing the aiptasia.

I finally got my aiptasia problem licked in my display tank. I have a Copperband, but he just wasn't going after them, probably feeding too well on other food. But I also have a couple of Pearlscale Butterfly fish in the tank, and they finally took a liking to the aiptasia. Didn't happen for many months (also too well fed), but then one started nipping at them, and before long the others joined in. Then the war was on.

And what's really great, my Copperband also got it into the act, and with his long beak, can get the ones deep in their holes better than the Pearlscales.

I used to have 100's of these ugly things all over in my tank, and now, can't see any. There are still a few hiding out here and there, I'm sure, as the butterflys continue to hunt and peck at the rocks. But at least they are not over running my tank like before.

What would be interesting is if I removed the Pearlscales, whether my Copperband would continue to keep the aiptasia in check.

I know many are concerned about butterflys nipping at corals. My Copperband doesn't touch them, just the aiptasia. The only corals that my Pearlscales touch are my palys, but not enough to stop them from growing (yet). I suspect zoas wouldn't last with them though. Stuff like leathers, colt, bubble coral, frogspawn, are all safe, though.

raccoon butterfly worked great for me but once the tank was clean he started eating corals

Berghia Nudibranches

I am starting to see more BN's in my Aptasia tank so they are successfully breeding. As they grow I will put them up for sale. I am willing to purchase small aptasia covered rocks.
Kevin

hey kevin i could sell u all my rock in my tank heres a video let me know name a price any one i need everything gone in my tank i am looking for 1100 for everything in the tank i will part out to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riZ3VV5WOKM

Hey guys,

Just wanna chime in here about aptasia and what I believe is the best way to handle it. To keep large populations at bay I simply use an insulin needle and a concentrated solution of pH up/down (doesn't matter) The insulin needle, which can be purchased at any drug store for cheap, is a good way to give each anemone a pinpointed dose of pH up/down. What this does is immediately change the water parameters drastically but only in the little space you shot. The anemone shrivles away instantly. The pH shot quickly gets saturated in the water and is nowhere near enough to affect a good tank's buffering system. With that being said I still use caution and only do so many at a time. Obviously this is more of a prevention to an outbreak as you can zap them as you see them; trying to rid an entire tank of aptasia this way is painful and time consuming. I use peppermint shrimp to do the bulk of the work and the pH shots as a helper. There are two different types of peppermint shrimp, although I believe they look identical. The ones I use are called Lysmata Wurdemanni. I will tell you that they eat aptasia as a fact.. not as an aquarist who has had general good luck with them. But only if you get the right kind. The ones I order are listed as the name I mentioned. Most LFS may not know the difference or what type they have.

Peppermint shrimp got rid of all my aiptasia in under 2 hours.

I bought two of these (maybe not the right ones?) but they disappeared under my rockwork never to be seen again with the lights on. I did spot at least one under the rocks one night with a flashlight but after that nothing.

Currently back to the epoxy technique with varying degrees of success. Tempted to try a matted filefish but I'm too scared they'll eat my corals.

Mine doesn't touch any corals. I just removed a colony of pocci, and had a huge aptasia under it. Within a minute, the filefish was chowing down, removed the whole thing in an hour..