Aptasia

[::pete::]

Well most of us have had it or have it in our tank(s). 2 weeks ago I added a healthy, eating CopperBand from Alamo Aquatics and I can say with a :D I dont have Aptasia !! I dont have feather dusters either, but definitely the most cost effective way to get rid of the pest!

[gjuarez]

Lately I have had the same problem on my nano. I added a pepermint and hopefully he will take care of the problem. Hey Pete, so what are you going to feed your copperbnand now?

[::pete::]

It eats frozen food!

[gjuarez]

Do you have any info on those Berghias? I know Larry breeds them. What I want to know is if I get one will it starve to death once it finishes all the aptasia?

[::pete::]

Look on Larry's site there is plenty of information there. http://www.berghia.net/

[gjuarez]

once again, thanks pete

[bigdscobra]

Is Larry intown?

[::pete::]

Just outside San Antonio in Floresville.

[JeffCo]

He's expecting another crop in september sometime.

Pete, did the copperband come eating frozen food, or did you have to train him?

[::pete::]

He ate at the store as I watched and that is the reason I took it home.

[bigdscobra]

Will the berghia eat anything else?? like Xena or other softies.....

[::pete::]

Not as far as I know ...

[NaCl_H2O]

Well, I just picked up a CBB at Alamo ... we shall see if my results are the same as Pete's :unsure

[gjuarez]

Good Luck, too bad I can have one of those in my nano.

[GaryP]

Berghia will only eat Aiptasia, nothing else.

Keep a close eye on the peppermint, they will eat a lot of things you don't want it to including other anemones and soft corals.

Remember that nothing will totally wipe out aiptasia but when they come back they will eat the small growing aiptasia. All it takes is one surviving cell back in a hole in the LR for them to regenerate.

I just spent the day with Instar picking up some tanks in Bulverde to grow more Aiptasia. The words Berghia and Aiptasia as ringing in my ears.

[::pete::]

What peppermint?

[jaded]

its a shame catching them would make trading a CBB around the community impossible, it would be great to have one for a week or so

[GaryP]

CBB don't handle the stress of relocation very well.

[gjuarez]

LOL Gary, that is the way I felt when I went to the meeting as Stephens house. The whole way back up I was thinking aptasia and berghia. I did add a peppermint and it died over the weekend. I think my my coral banded might have killed it. SOrry Pete, I will start a different thread on peppermints so I wont steal yours.

[jim1000]

I keep my CBB hapy, have three tanks and just move a rock from one tank to the tank with CBB and just keep rotating.
he is very fat.

jim

[GaryP]

You should see some of the tanks that Larry uses to grow aiptasia for his berghia. Its like a reefer nightmare. There are aiptasia on every surface. He's getting ready to set up about 16 more tanks to start growing aiptasia in to increase his berghia production to keep up with demand.

[NaCl_H2O]

Its like a reefer nightmare. There are aiptasia on every surface.

Hum, is Larry selling liverock too maybe :unsure Kinda like the theory that computer viruses are written by a subsidiary of Symantec :ph34r

[Thunderkat]

Good luck with those CBB, mine didn't fare so well, lived about 2 or 3 months. It still makes me sad, everything in the tank is doing wonderfully, even my shrimp are reproducing (and the corals too). The only thing not faring so well are my aiptasia. They came back a few days after the CBB died. Now I just get the rock they are on and bury it in my deep deep sand bed and after about 2 or 3 days the aiptaisia are on the sand in all their glory (they love the light and crawl back through the sand and get right on top), at that point I just scoop up a little bit of the sand they are on and throw them away. Then place the rock back on the sand aiptasia free ^_^

[gjuarez]

hmm interesting! I didnt know aptasia would do that. That would be a good way to get rid of mine. Oh but wait, I have a barebottom tank. Man, I swear I am the most unluckiest guys in the world.

[NaCl_H2O]

Neat trick ... but I think I need a "little" more sand first :lol

[mathias]

my copperband also ate all my aiptasia and eats everything else..... he is a big fat happy pig....



but my sump and overflow have small clear aiptasia now....


he also hasn't touched any of my feather dusters or clams... he has been a good boy... or girl

[GaryP]

he also hasn't touched any of my feather dusters or clams... he has been a good boy... or girl

I found out the hard way that the only time there is a problem with them eating clams is when you put a new one in the tank. The clams put out a stress pheromone that is like a feeding trigger to a CBB when they are moved. However, I did just put in two very large clams to my tanks and they never even gave them a second thought. The only time I had a problem was a small clam and it may have died on its own and the CBB just scavenged the remains.

[bigdscobra]

What else eats aptasia any starfish?

[GaryP]

What else eats aptasia any starfish?

Copper Band Butterfly
Perppermint Shrimp - Along with a lot of other stuff, such as soft corals.
Berghia Nudibranch - The only thing they eat.

Go to www.berghia.net to read up on it.

[bigdscobra]

Yeah I was wondering because he has a pic of the micro stars on the right.

[gjuarez]

I found out that my peppermint didnt die after all, it was under my rockwork. It ate all the aptasia in my in my my ten gallon nano. WIll he bother ricordeas? They are the only soft coral that I have in there. I dont want to lose those?

[hobogato]

i used joe's juice on mine, and they have not come back. also works great on majano's. we killed conservatively 150 over the last 6 weeks, and we are down to 2 to 3 a week now - almost gone.

[GaryP]

i used joe's juice on mine, and they have not come back. also works great on majano's. we killed conservatively 150 over the last 6 weeks, and we are down to 2 to 3 a week now - almost gone.

Wanna bet whether they will come back? :) I'll give odds.

[hobogato]

the aptasia have been gone for 5 months now. the majano's still pop up every once in a while - we had a lot more of them to begin with.

[gjuarez]

Where can I find Joe's juice? SHould I just stick with my peppermint?

[::pete::]

Joes Juice doesnt work ... its just kalk with some more additives.

SteveR
How the CopperBand doing?