High Tide Aquatics

I found four Aiptasia in my 90 :(

Qckslvr

Qckslvr

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2 in my chaeto, 1 on the glass in the refugium, and one on a small rock in the display tank.

The two in the chaeto were easy... I gently removed the chaeto from the the sump, and carefully removed a clump that it was attached too. The one on the glass I syphoned out with a hose and razor. The one on the rock... Well that rock also has a rock nem on one side, so I am going to put some F-Aptasia on it. It is really tiny still.

My wife and I scan the tank like hawks, my wife more so. I am hoping to get his nipped before it becomes a problem :(

A co-worker of mine has a full on infestation, and that scares me. He wants to try Berghia, but can seem to find any..... are there rental slugs out there? I understand that they eat aiptasia only, and will die if there is none to munch on.
 
spuri87 said:
Give them to @Chrism1330 :cool:

On a serious note, I buried 2 that I saw in my tank under holdfast epoxy/putty and didn’t see one ever again.. also added filefish to the tank, so that maybe the reason as well.. CBB maybe challenging to keep, but they can help too OR get peppermint shrimp
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do you have corals in your tank? A file fish would be kind of nice to have in the tank, but the wife wants corals. Hammers, torches, duncan, etc.
 
Qckslvr said:
do you have corals in your tank? A file fish would be kind of nice to have in the tank, but the wife wants corals. Hammers, torches, duncan, etc.
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I have a few, not too many corals atm.. but usually filefish stays away from corals, plus they eat everything - flakes, pellets, nori.. so I guess if you feed them well, they will stay away.. they are listed as "Reef Safe with Caution" on various websites, but yeah a bad one can put its entire community to shame :) You can also look into getting an Australian Stripey (little more expensive than a filefish, but better looking) which are also known for the same as a filefish and eats everything unlike Nudi's that wont survive once there is no more Aiptasia..
 
I had a filefish for 18 hrs. He did wonders on the aiptasia. Then it went for the zoas..

Peppermint shrimp work too and Molly miller blennies (but if they are really small might take a while).
 
When I first got aptasia, it was only on one rock at a specific location. I kept killing it but it would eventually reappear off and one for 3-4 months. Eventually the aptasia spread all over the rockwork. I tried peppermint shrimp and my Hawkfish ate them. I bought Bergia and my wrasse had a pricey snack. I eventually got a Copperband who promptly ate all the spaghetti worms in the sand and brought the aptasia population under control.
 
Slingfox said:
When I first got aptasia, it was only on one rock at a specific location. I kept killing it but it would eventually reappear off and one for 3-4 months. Eventually the aptasia spread all over the rockwork. I tried peppermint shrimp and my Hawkfish ate them. I bought Bergia and my wrasse had a pricey snack. I eventually got a Copperband who promptly ate all the spaghetti worms in the sand and brought the aptasia population under control.
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Once it's in your tank, it becomes a maintenance item. You can never really be sure it's gone and even though it looks like it is, one day it'll pop back up to haunt you. After breeding Berghia nudibranchs and growing aiptasia to feed them, I saw how amazingly teeny, tiny aiptasia can be and how it can hide and live just about anywhere.

Turkeysammich said:
The gift that keeps on giving. lol.
You can not avoid adptasia or vermited snails.
Learn to accept them and figure out how to reduce them but you’ll never eradicate them.
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You can avoid aiptasia. Just takes meticulous effort when bringing in new frags. Don't scare the newbies. ;)
 
RandyC said:
You can avoid aiptasia. Just takes meticulous effort when bringing in new frags. Don't scare the newbies. ;)
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Not scarring anyone. Just the hard truths about reef keeping. I remember way back in the day. I was so heartbroken when I seem my first pest. I wanted to break my aquarium apart and quit. I tried so hard back then. Just to fail. In reality. It wasn’t the end. It was the beginning of many lessons.
 
So last night I scanned my tank for a hour.... Making sure the one baby aptasia I saw was the only one at the moment. It was about the size of an eraser at best. I covered it with F-Aptasia, and let it be. I actually covered a patch of the rock just to be sure.

I showed my wife the File Fish and first thing she said "that's ugly," and shortly after, "but kinda cool looking." I did see the CBB which are beautiful, but seem to be fragile, and coral snackers as well?

Right now the 90 has no torches in it, but like I mentioned the wife loves torches. I did put some zoas from my 30 in the 90, and we have some GSP in the 90 as well... Odly the GSP is growing like an effing weed in the 90, yet struggles in our 30, and the water parameters are very close to each other. I am rambling.... food for another topic..
 
I have updated my tank journal with a list of fish that are currently in the tank.

seeing as my tank is literally 45 days old.... I would need to wait for a CBB? and would it work with my current inhabitants. Or would a Filefish be best.

and I my wife just texted me that another has been spotted.
 
Seeing you added cheato and have so many it's likely the source for them to spread so quickly all over the tank. Cheato from tanks with aptasia can have tons of them. Have it tumbling in sump it realses spores or peices and spreads throughout your tank via your return pump. My best guess going by how new your tank is.

If it was like 1-2 on a coral you added you most likey wouldn't see this many this quickly (only 45 days minus the days you spent cycling tank prob under a month ? Before adding coral and cheato etc). Check ur cheato and if u see any maybe toss it. All easy to replace in the club.
 
Qckslvr said:
So last night I scanned my tank for a hour.... Making sure the one baby aptasia I saw was the only one at the moment. It was about the size of an eraser at best. I covered it with F-Aptasia, and let it be. I actually covered a patch of the rock just to be sure.

I showed my wife the File Fish and first thing she said "that's ugly," and shortly after, "but kinda cool looking." I did see the CBB which are beautiful, but seem to be fragile, and coral snackers as well?

Right now the 90 has no torches in it, but like I mentioned the wife loves torches. I did put some zoas from my 30 in the 90, and we have some GSP in the 90 as well... Odly the GSP is growing like an effing weed in the 90, yet struggles in our 30, and the water parameters are very close to each other. I am rambling.... food for another topic..
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For that size tank the File Fish is a better bet since it can do well in smaller tanks. A 90g is probably the smallest I would go for a CBB. Even with my 5 ft tank I put in a clam a week to make sure my CBB gets enough to eat. He eats from the water column like my other fish but it can be hard to compete against the wrasse, tangs, and damsels who swarm any food they see.
 
Copperbands are for experienced aquarist. Don’t get one if you’re a beginner. It will break your heart over and over again. It’s an extremely difficult fish to get it eating if you don’t know what you’re doing or stocking list. It’s all matter if you’re successful or unsuccessful. Or if you have deep pockets then get one from Kenny @HTA. It’s gonna cost ya but you can’t go wrong with Kenny.
 
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