My War on Aptasia: Help from Filefish

[SKNR]

So, I am tired of trying to get rid of Aptasia with no success. I thought I got rid of it and then I turn around and a few day later they are all back. I have tried Aptasia-X, lemon juice and neither has worked long term, so with that being said I have a purchased a Filefish to help me. I also have 4 peppermint shrimp , but they have not reduced the amount of aptasia. (I think I feed my tank too much)

I have move most of my corals into a QT that I have set up as I have heard Filefish will eat soft coral. I don't have much other than zoas, duncans, a torch, and Hybrid Euphillia. I will be leaving some orange zoas and some dragon eyes as they are on a large rock. Hopefully once it gets a taste for Aptasia I will put them back in slowly.

So my tank is 150 gallons, 30 gallon sump and 10 gallon fuge.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii97/SKNR74/1268970546.jpg

It does not look too bad from the FTS but here is what I am dealing with, :cry_smile:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii97/SKNR74/1268969108.jpg

Here is the little guy, he is about 1.5"
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii97/SKNR74/1268968811.jpg
(poor quality pics are from cell phone)

To help I will be cutting down on the amount I feed the tank, also I have not done any testing of my water for some time, (ok since I set up the tank almost two years ago but everything seemed fine) I recently purchased an entire line of test kits so that I know where I am am today, in doing so all tank parameters were in line except one Nitrates, there were 100ppm. Water changes were not so frequent after my son arrived.

I have done a 20gallon water change and plan on doing another one tomorrow then will retest. This is also the reason for me lowering the amount that I feed. Usually feed 4-5 cubes of frozen at night and flakes in the morning.

I know this fish will not take care of my problem on his own I am also planning on cleaning my sump of aptasia, cleaning the two overflows. Also hope my peppermints will start looking for aptasia since they will have to look for food.

Just wanted to get something out there so I can see the progress of me keeping up with tank maintenance and the addition of the Filefish in my never ending war on aptasia.

Comments are always welcomed.

My maintenance plan has fallen to the waste side with the addition to my family, even considered tearing down the tank at one point (especially with the aptasia), but when my son is upset or just plan bored the power of the ocean is a far greater force then any stuffed animal he has.

In case you were wondering here are the test I did:
Ammonia <0.25
Nitrite .5
Nitrate 100
Calcium 500
KH/Alkalinity 7.7/2.74
Magnesium 1330
Phosphate 1

[greatwhite@AlamoAquatics]

glad to see hes doing good , hopefully he does the job....

[ErikH]

Get a clean tooth brush and scrub them off. Rotate your rock daily to ensure you got them all....

[HoppyBunny]

We have a group buy going on Berghia nudibranchs, not sure if it is anything you are interested in trying (or have tried before). http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58439

[Gseclipse02]

good luck rich its almost the season for peppermints at the coast ... they did well last season on my tank i had 40+ in my tank but my wrAsse ate at least one daily lol

let us know how they do .... i have some kalk if u want to try that

[Mr Cob]

You sure that's aiptasia???

:hypnotyized:
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii97/SKNR74/1268969108.jpg


I'd go with the previous recommendation of Berghia nudibranches.

[rabadanmarco]

Get a clean tooth brush and scrub them off. Rotate your rock daily to ensure you got them all....



wouldnt this spread them even more because it would spread their particles everywhere...

id go with pepermint shrimp...your outbreak looks alot like mine...and 4 pep shrimp cleared it in 2 days

[StevenSeas]

as u said u need to bump up your maintance, nitrites should be 0 and w/ your nitrates your just fueling the fire and helping the aipasia spread faster... I dont think scrubbing them w/ a toothbrush is a good idea either. your plan of upping maintence and cutting back on the feedings forcing your fish and shrimps to scavange for it sounds good to me. If the filefish doesnt work and you want a natural cure that will eat then try the nudis they cant hurt or a copperband if u have the room in your tank. just need to get those params under control first

[Regric25]

What about pulling the rock out and getting a torch and burning those little devils! :D Thats how i feel some times. They will probably still survive. Goodluck on your battle dude!

[alienspacepirate]

I boil mine out. I still have some in annoying places behind rocks.. but it killed the major ones. Maybe if you just hit the visible ones and then let your fish and shrimp take care of the rest?

[alienspacepirate]

I am still wondering if 'cooking' the live rock would kill aiptasia or just make it go nuts. When summer comes on full force I may give it a try with my rocks.

[ErikH]

scrub then add peps. :)

[profntbtr]

no i wholeheartedly endorse the blowtorch method. it works awesomely with no recurrence if you do it right. and it smells like oysterbake

[Regric25]

no i wholeheartedly endorse the blowtorch method. it works awesomely with no recurrence if you do it right. and it smells like oysterbake

LMAO! I didnt think you could really do that!

[robalv]

It does work and it turns your rock black if you leave the torch in one place a little too long..
You could get a MAPP GAS torch from a plumbing warehouse or something.. I have a Acetylene and Oxygen set up ... burn you little B@$!@&^^#....lol

[SKNR]

Thanks for all the advice:

Just an update, stayed up too late on thursday thinking of my tank and what has gone wrong with it, but in doing so I was able to look at my tank with the lights off. I dont have 4 peps I have 6 large peps that I think have been eating too many leftovers from the fish. Last night and tonight I more or less hand fed or turkey baster feed the fish. It was more of a squirt let them eat, once food was gone gave them a little more, instead of letting the food thaw then throwing in the tank.

Did not do a water change but will do it tomorrow.

I like the torch Idea but some of the rocks are way too big to pull out of the tank. Thinking of doing a scrub with a toothbrush and then use the torch to get anything that was left behind.

No change in the way the tank looks :(
One aptasia killing at a time

JT might take you up on the Kalk offer, I looked at two Walmarts and Targets looking for pickling lime but could not find any, anyone know where to get some in SA?

[Mike]

Is the file fish helping? I know when we had some larger ones, the peppermints we had wouldn't eat them. I think they were afraid of getting eaten themselves. Our copperband cleaned them out of the FOWLR (before it started leaking :() He is in our temp holding tank until I know what to do. I have heard mixed reviews of keeping the in coral tanks. Good luck