Aptasia outbreak

AngieRN

Member
I have an UGLY aptasia outbreak!!! It started with just a few & they weren't spreading, so I left them alone. Bad mistake!!! It seems like in a matter of 2 weeks, they have taken over my tank; I mean, there's hundreds of them! :'( I bought 2 peppermint shrimp, but I haven't seen them since I put them in. I just ordered joes juice, but is there anything else I can do? I'm worried about the safety go my corals at this point!
 

goma

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
+1 ^^ If you have the correct peppermints, they'll take care of the situation in short order. If they are the right ones, they are probably feeding on aiptasia down in the rocks where you can't see. I rarely see mine but they tore up the aiptaisa!
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
I've heard Joe's juice works well, but I haven't used it. I used AiptasiaX. I would use it on your largest aips first, that way you allow the peps to go for the little ones. You may also consider targeting the ones nearest your corals first as well. Be careful not to get it on the corals, if you can. And allow several weeks to get rid of the aips, don't try to eradicate all at once. Many folks freak out about aips, but it isn't the end of the world or your tank. Slowly target the ones you need to now.
 

Steve L

Member
Same here for the peppermint shrimp. You may need to get a few until you get that one who just can't get enough to eat, then the pests will vanish quickly.
 

AngieRN

Member
I was wondering if I should try to treat all at once or not, so I'm glad you said to spread it out over a few weeks! I wasn't sure what it would do to my aquarium. Thanks for the advice :) @ nanoreefingforfun, that's the kind I ordered, thank goodness!
 
Buy some of those cool nudis that'll take care of that stuff haha. I don't think they're that expensive either. Check that out though, they live off of that stuff. After your finished with him, i'm sure there's others here on the forum that you could whore him off to :p one of them being me haha
Here is one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Live-Berghi...76?pt=Coral_and_Live_Rock&hash=item19eb14c7fc
You have to be very careful with them I heard. Just your Circulation pumps can blow them everywhere. I've never had any experience with them but I always wanted to try one out one day. I came up with an interesting trick anyone could use if they do plan on having one though. I used this with my anemone when he was getting settled in and all I did was cut out a weed barrier used in alot of gardens that i got from the dollar store to fit around my filter input and circulation pumps and it actually worked very well. Just a thought ^^
Another thing many do is shoot them up one by one with that aiptasia x stuff ^^
 

ziggy

Active Member
If you're going to use joe's juice or any other killer... go slow over time.
The decomposing aips will overwhelm the bacteria count and might give you a spike if you do too many at once.
 

Stephane Cote

Active Member
I had the same problem in my tank, i used a combination of Aptasia X and peppermint shrimp. I 'treated' the big ones i could find in short bursts (10-20 a t a time over a few days) and let shrimps take care of the ones i could not get. after 2 weeks or i had nothing left. You won't really see the shrimp. peppermints tend to be nocturnal and only 'show' themselves at night. I used a flashlight to try and spot them but they move out of the light fairly quickly. ;)

Steph
 
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