Rachell3210 July 2, 2015 Share July 2, 2015 Ok so about 6 months ago I noticed a few heads of aptasia in the first chamber of my bc29. Never saw any in my display. Well I got a second bc about a month ago and moved all fish to that tank for the time being. Around the same time, the power supply for my leds blew, and due to a few issues that came up in ordering a new one, I just got my lights up and running. I was running a 75watt cfl bulb for 5 or so hours a day on the tank, to keep the gsp and montis that grow on my back wall alive. Well today after I got lights up and running I notice my tank now has 20+ baby aptasia all over it, rocks sand, glass... Everywhere. I plan on getting some peppermint shrimp to handle these as they are all still real small. My main problem is how to get rid of the 5 or six huge ones in the back that the shrimps can't eat? I can hardly fit my hand back there as it is and I surely wouldn't be able to see to inject them. Do I risk it and try to scrape them off and let the shrimp deal with the repercussions? Help!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmerek2 July 2, 2015 Share July 2, 2015 one of my pep shrimps ended up down in the overflows which helped with that side. With the other side yes I would scrape them and try to remove. They grow back sometimes but a lot of the time you never see them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech July 2, 2015 Share July 2, 2015 Aiptasia can be a fact of life with a reef tank. My luck with peppermint shrimp has been mixed. They tend to go after them when you first get them till they get fat and lazy on fish food and then they quit doing their job. For the big ones in the back, I'd hit them with some aiptasia-x. It does a pretty good job of killing them. But, they will probably come back at some point at which time you treat them again and just keep them in check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhead85 July 2, 2015 Share July 2, 2015 I was lucky and my shrimp took care of mine in the tank but the 1st camber I have 3 that I can see and I haven't bothered to touch them nore have I worried about them and haven't seen one in the main tank for 6 months..leave em be if not u might wind up Spreading more and more in my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhead85 July 2, 2015 Share July 2, 2015 I was lucky and my shrimp took care of mine in the tank but the 1st camber I have 3 that I can see and I haven't bothered to touch them nore have I worried about them and haven't seen one in the main tank for 6 months..leave em be if not u might wind up Spreading more and more in my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite July 3, 2015 Share July 3, 2015 What if you put those back sections offline and dry them out for a couple days? Just put your heaters in the tank and use an hob skimmer temporarily. I sometimes put my sump or the refugium section offline for maintenance purposes (that's a 75g tank with a 40g sump/fuge). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachell3210 July 3, 2015 Author Share July 3, 2015 I cant take the back off line due to the way the intake is designed, the tank basically has to be empty. My plan of attack is going to be to transfer the corals in that tank to my 2nd tank and empty the tank. Then empty the first chamber all the way out. Then i will spray it down with a vinegar, let it sit for 15 mins of so, then rinse while draining at the same time so none of the nasties get into the display. Then for good measure, spray it again, but with hydrogen peroxide, let sit and rinse really well. this should take under an hour, so my gsp on the back wall should survive, especially if i lay a wet paper towel on it so it doesn't dry out, After lookin back there again last night, there are about 10 huge ones, and hundreds of small ones, so I think that would be my best option. Then let the peppermint shrimp keep the ones in the display in check. Thanks for all the advice guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech July 4, 2015 Share July 4, 2015 That sounds like way overkill for a couple aptasia. You are more apt to trigger a cycle and kill everything. Try treating just the aptasia first and see if you can keep them in check that way before going extreme on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite July 4, 2015 Share July 4, 2015 I guess I'm just not familiar with that type of tank setup. I agree with hypertech. Find some easier way to do it, or just leave them there. Can't you just darken that one chamber? I don't think they can live without light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob A July 4, 2015 Share July 4, 2015 If you can stop the flow and then squirt them with a Kalk paste or the aphasia x you might get rid of them. Based on your water volume Kalk might boost you pH too much though if you use a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2nhle July 5, 2015 Share July 5, 2015 If you can stop the flow and then squirt them with a Kalk paste or the aphasia x you might get rid of them. Based on your water volume Kalk might boost you pH too much though if you use a lot. I have been using kalk paste for several years with no luck. the aphaisa keeps coming back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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