aptasia control

[TroyPham]

i've got aptasia bad... at least i think it is aptasia. spreads fast but doesn't look like aptasia. i'm wondering if InStar's nudi's would work on them. i'll take a pic and post it later tonight. O' is InStar still on the forum?

( i think it was InStar that had the burgia nudibranchs)

[Ross]

yeah Instar is still on the forum.

www.berghia.net is his site.

[hobogato]

may be mejano anemone. they look like aptasia, but the tenticles are rounded on the end and they get bigger.

[TroyPham]

maybe. what kills the **** things??

[don-n-sa]

I had about four Mejanos in my tank last year...I used joe's juice on them and never saw another one since... ;)

[TroyPham]

found this http://www.wetwebmedia.com/otherpstanemfaqs.htm

[hobogato]

i had a couple hundred in my 125, and lots of joe's juice killed them off well, almost. i kill two or three a month now in the new tank.

[astrong]

That link looks like a "swimming anemone." If you agitate them they jump off and swim away. Kinda cool actually, but just as much a nuisance.

I doubt the the berghia would eat them bc they are such specific predators, but Larry would know best. Butterflies don't seem too interested in them either. Joes Juice is probably the best solution.

[TroyPham]

ok.. i've got about 100+ of these guys.. gonna spend a lot of time with joe's juice. guess i'll order some.

[brewercm]

Before ordering Joes Juice at $10 for a 1oz. bottle try lemon juice. Does the same thing at a fraction of the cost. Just plain old realemon brand is fine through a syringe and into the little bugger. I sometimes chase them into their hole if they back in and just shoot them and watch em melt away.

[TroyPham]

Before ordering Joes Juice at $10 for a 1oz. bottle try lemon juice. Does the same thing at a fraction of the cost. Just plain old realemon brand is fine through a syringe and into the little bugger. I sometimes chase them into their hole if they back in and just shoot them and watch em melt away.


i was thinking of trying that. but was a worried about droping the pH... i guess i can just try a few and if it works kill about 20 or so a day for a few weeks

[GaryP]

If they are majanos, a Racoon butterfly will chow down on them. That's all I know that will work on them.

[hobogato]

tried the raccoon bfly - not too effective.

[Bug_Power]

Well I have the exact same stuff as him... I picked up a CBB today. We'll see how that avenue works. When reading up on the Mejanos, it seems that they florese under the lights. These don't under 470 blues. just a purple color. So I'm not sure it's Mejanos. I have a few FOR SURE aptaisia as well.

[Thunderkat]

In my experience fire/heat has worked best for me at getting rid of stuff like aiptasia (it will even work on majanos!). Luckily I found two aiptasia in my tank when I was switching over, now I know where they are coming from and I can finally finish them off. I can't wait for some time off, muhahaha fire burn!

[hobogato]

it seems that they florese under the lights. These don't under 470 blues. just a purple color. So I'm not sure it's Mejanos.

some of the mejanos i had would flouresce green and some did not.

copperbands usually dont eat mejanos, so you may have to find a way to suppliment its food when it finishes off the aptasia that you have. i know some people that grow aptasia in their overflow just to feed their copperbands.

the raccoon bfly that i tried did eat the mejanos, but couldnt keep up with them, and one day just died for no apparent reason - i have read that they can be problematic because of internal parasites.

[ReefOne]

Check it out troy, I think i found them. They look just like the ones that Melev had except they dont have a green tint, or at least they didnt when I saw them. He identified them as Majano pest anemones.He used boiling water and a syringe to get rid of them.

http://melevsreef.com/id/majano.jpg

[miked78231]

whats so bad about these guys? i think they look kinda cool myself.

[TroyPham]

mike.... you want some??? you can have all you want for FREEE... haha i've known people to try the boiling water and it didn't work. i'm gonna try the lemon juice this weekend before a water change and see if it kill's these things.

[hobogato]

they move around, multiply like crazy and sting anything they touch and they always win.

[miked78231]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[TroyPham]

come on Mike.. your first ones free.... it'll be goooood... you'lll love it. i promise you won't get addicted

[Bug_Power]

Don't go for it mike. I've got 100's now!

[brewercm]

I just found my first Majano that I've ever had, also finally started seeing several aptasia popping up here and there. I tried like crazy to get the cleanest rock I could find but you just can't beat them. I guess I need to go anename hunting this weekend.

[Bug_Power]

Well the CBB is doing great in my tank. He's eyeballed a few of the anemonies, but I really thinkI should have thrown him in the sump with nothing but mejano's for a week or so to see if he would have taken to them. Either way he's doing a good job of spreading my feather dusters around the tank.! What about Saddlebacks Butterflys? They typically go after aptasia as well, look nice and are cheap!

[TroyPham]

found this over at marshreef.

do you know what these are larry??

http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=9839&post days=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[scuba_steveo]

I just found my old post from another thread:

My solution was a trip to Port A. I heard cons of doing this but I was not going to lose the battle. I went to the coast with Don-n-sa and we cought about 100 peppermint shrimp in about an hour. These guys demolished all my aiptasia in my tank and have not touched anything else. The only tank in my system that has aiptasia is the area of the fuge with the lion and frog fish because obviously there are no peppermint shrimp there.

[scuba_steveo]

*****Update******

The frog fish fuge had become infested with aptasia. And not your everyday aptasia but the great big daddy aptasia that laugh at all the treatments. So I pulled the frog fish out to another compartment and put two peppermints from Port A in the infested fuge. In just one month all aptasia are gone. I cannot believe how quick those guys work. No more aptasia for me!

[scuba_steveo]

The other thread FYI:

http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=16913&hig hlight=

[Ram_Puppy]

wait, cant you sell these on ebay? :) jk

[Instar]

There is no question about mature peppermint shrimp eating aiptasia. They do that, and they will clear a tank out once they get going, but, they are not a target predator and that means they are not desirable for people who enjoy adding a lot of biodiversity to their reefs. In many reefs living in too close quarters can mean some people will loose their favorite LPS, tunicates, cucumbers or anemones and other things to their peppermints. They work well for some people who have highly specialized reefs or complex structures but not for everyone. They also work pretty well in a clearing tank just for cleaning rocks of aiptasia so the shrimp are kept out of the reef this way. Another exception though, 9 times out of 10 with the more porous rock, once the peppermints are gone, the aiptasia are back in places that make life difficult. Like everything in this hobby, both up and down side.

[ratboy]

I also saw a few aptasia explode into hundreds in my 380. I attacked some of them with joes juice, kalk paste, lemon juice, etc and while it often worked (or appears to) I would often see tiny ones in the area days later. I bought peppermint shrimp but they never seemed to make an impact. My next to last resort was to try some of instar's berghia. It cost me almost 200$ after shipping for 12 - it stung a bit but I ordered them anyways. They go to my house and OH MY GOD! They were tiny!! After aclimation I counted all 12 and carefully placed each animal onto a rock with several juicy aptasias. After 2 hours of patiently waiting for them to walk off of the plastic spoon onto the rocks I had them all in my tank and they vanished thinking "I hope this works....".
I didnt notice any changes for the first week but by week 2 I noticed some of my biggest aptasias were missing from a zo rock and the zos were opening up again for the first time in a long time. Last night before the lights went out I noticed an aptasia didnt look so good (when do you ever see that??) and careful inspection showed 2 or 3 FAT berghia munching on him. By this morning that aptasia was gone and Im noticing fewer and fewer aptasia on the rocks where I released my colonies.
I highly reccomend instars berghia they were flexible with my entire order bagging a specific number in each bag, provided quick communication and most importantly the animals were all in excellent shape and appear to be doing their job!

--Erik

[TroyPham]

Erik.. no doubt Larry is a great guy.... he just needs to find something that will eat mejano and he will be the greatest guy... haha

[GaryP]

Erik.. no doubt Larry is a great guy.... he just needs to find something that will eat mejano and he will be the greatest guy... haha
Racoon Butterfly. Yes, Larry taught me that.

[Bug_Power]

lol MAAST needs to have everyone pitch in and get some natural pest control items, then just swap them around :)

[Bug_Power]

Ok just an update. I picked up a Raccoon butterfly yesterday. I usually feed 3x a week, but held of Monday's to see if I could get him started on Mejanos. Well I got an email today from my mom saying that she saw him eating "the bad brown things" All looks good. Now how do I keep him on the chosen path? I usually feed 1 cube of brine 3x a week for my fish.

[GaryP]

Great, I'm glad to see you are having success!

Butterfly usually need to eat a couple of times a day. I would rethink your feeding strategy if you want to keep him long term. I'm not sure if a steady diet of majanos will keep him alive. Most butterfly eat a pretty wide variety of things. The wild caught CBB I have had took a long time before I could get them to eat frozen food. I've never had a Racoon though, so I am not sure what problems you may have there. From what I know about them, they are not that different in their feeding habits then a CBB. When all else fails, PM Instar. I would go ahead and try to feed him frozen to see if he will eat. Here is some more info.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=299

[Bug_Power]

The CBB has been eating brine, and my feather dusters. I have probably 1000's of them now. The CBB has never even taken a second look at the Aptasia or Mejano's. However has been feeding pretty well on brine and the dusters. ;)