Need advice on Tank Pests - experience needed

[Instar]

Strongly advise against adding livestock until pests have been eliminated.

At least you have to catch those sharp clawed crabs. They can kill anything if they get it at night.

There are some things that can weather aiptasia colonies. A healthy copperband is one of them.

I could use some aiptasia if I can get it off the rocks. I have a way that seems to work to get them off rocks unless they are buried deep into a tiny hole. We could make a day of aiptasia getting and crab hunting if you like.

[captexas]

I'd catch the crabs first. It would be a pain to try and find them after you have added more rock and corals. Not sure if they would go after any livestock either.

PS - I'll hold on to your clams for you! :-)

[Chris]

I have a mantis that would get rid of those crabs for you. :twisted:

[::pete::]

Well ... starting a tank is starting a tank, patience :D

Is the aptasia to much for JoesJuice ? I saw one on RC that was full of aptasia and I mean full ... he used JoesJuice.

As for the crabs you will eventually catch them. Once you start adding its hard to stop and then you might wish you hadnt and waited.

[::pete::]

Here is the thread. (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=315276&highlight=joes+j uice)
Now thats aptasia and the poster child for Joes Juice.

[Instar]

Ask Matt. I believe he tried Joes Juice and the anemones came back with a vengence.

[matt]

I tried the Joe's juice, and it did get rid of aiptasias I could see. But, they always come back; you'll never get ALL of them, even if you remove every rock and go over it with a magnifying glass. A healthy copperband is the best solution I've found yet. This way, as the aiptasias come back, the fish keeps eating them.

Josh, I'd suggest some very specific livestock, like the copperband, or maybe some of Larry's ninja berghias when they're ready for action. Your best bet to catch the crabs is removing rocks. Not fun, but you'll get 'em. I'd also stock heavily with bristleworms and sand bed fauna, and refrain from adding any fish that will predate on that stuff.

[OrionN]

I have a friend who has a tank full of aptasias. He put in a dwarf moray eel and got about 100 peppermint shrimps from Galveston (they are easy to catch). The shrimps eat the aptasias and the moray eats the shrimp. He ended up with a dwarf moray in his tank, very nice pet, and an aptasias free tank.
Minh

[MikeP]

Want to borrow my tuskfish for a week or two - he is a master crustacean hunter.

For the crabs I'd wait till they are out before adding any more livestock. A smooth, tall glass jar with some heavy bait at the bottom will do the trick. Just lean it close to where they hide and wait - you can spy on the progress with a red flashlight after lights out. Alternately if you aren't going to keep them alive you can just mash them with a steel skewer - I'd save em personally and throw them in your sump or heck if they are interesting looking I might take em.

[Instar]

Ok, I made a trip to collect those shrimp once. Just where and how do you catch them?

[prof]

My experience with Joe's Juice is that it works very well but for every large aptasia that I kill 2-3 small one start expanding in the same place. I think the small ones were there all along and are able to come out when the big one is out of the way.

I try to stay on top of them and kill them when they get big enough to be a nuisance. It is hard to get the small ones.

I would like to try a copperband and some peppermint shrimp some time but my stocking does not allow for more livestock.

[z28pwr]

I like Minh's Idea but I would probably

NUKE IT

:)

I know I'll probably get flamed for that, but if there is so much Aiptasia, why not pull all the critters out NUKE the rock then put it back in with some good rock that can seed it and wait for it to cycle again. You do have your 75 gallon to temporary hold your stuff.

[MikeP]

I'm thinking of taking a weekday on spring break in a week or two to go down and catch some shrimp at Port Aransas - I may be a month or two early for peppermints but if I get a few I'm more than happy to share.

[rocketeer]

A little off topic but, Larry, sorry I got hung up before the last Mtg. and couldn't bring any aiptasia. I tried briefly to suck a few up with a turkey baster but had no luck. I finally got to the meeting real late.

Just a thought... You could start a nudibranch rental service.

[matt]

I probably would not put a battalion of peppermint shrimp in a reef tank; they'll eat a lot of beneficial critters before they resort to the aiptasias. Now, you could do what I tried to, which was put the infest rocks in a separate tank, put the shrimp in there, and wait. I waited for about a month, at which point all the shrimp except one had died (probably of starvation) and the aiptasias were blooming like the first day of spring. Not a totally successful experience.

[OrionN]

Ok, I made a trip to collect those shrimp once. Just where and how do you catch them?Give them a little food and they swarm all over you.
Minh

[OrionN]

I probably would not put a battalion of peppermint shrimp in a reef tank; they'll eat a lot of beneficial critters before they resort to the aiptasias. Now, you could do what I tried to, which was put the infest rocks in a separate tank, put the shrimp in there, and wait. I waited for about a month, at which point all the shrimp except one had died (probably of starvation) and the aiptasias were blooming like the first day of spring. Not a totally successful experience.
Matt,
It really depends on where these shrimps come from. The pepermints shrimps at Port Arransas and at Galveston are guarrantee to eat Aptasia very quickly. I guess it depends on there locla food source.
In my 450 g when I first started, I got maybe a dozen Aptasia at first from the sand and liverock. I added 12 peoermints shrimp and these aptasias were history overnight. I then traped these shrimp out and bring them to LFS over the next few weeks. Everybody who collects these shrimps from here will tell you that they will make short work of the Aptasias in your tank.

[StephenA]

Joe's Juice works on my Med to Large one's and the Peppermints take care of the small ones.

[Ram_Puppy]

hey joshua, is this the crab species haunting your tank?

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Arthropoda/CrustaceanPIX/SWCrabs/unknown_crab_id.jpg

[GaryP]

Looks like a stone crab. I had one for a while but I never noticed it caused any problems.

Gary

[Instar]

Had stone crabs split oysters and clams wide open and eat them. Your doing the right thing to catch them.

Rocketter... thats ok, I got hung up as I was leaving and didn't even make it to the meeting at all. I found that you can tease the aiptasia off the rock, so long as you can get to the foot of it, using a sharp pointed set of forceps. They don't seem to like being poked with that and will peel off pretty easy with the forceps after a little poking. If there are hundreds and they are not in holes, it will take a while doing it, thats for sure.

Nudibranch rental - thought about that. Actually these things will be really great for a nano-reef and other smaller tanks. No impact to pH like the juice does and maybe the person would get to see them now and then to retrieve them. In a large system, probably never see them again. And if someone tried peppermint shrimp but didn't get them all out, these nudibranches could be lunch on a dark night.

[ebayes11]

when is peppermint shrimp season in port a?

[StephenA]

Are there any nice hotels there?