Out of control Aptasia

To say I have Aptasia is the understatement of the century.And where I got them is pretty much moot as well at this point.They have overrun my 125 gal in about 6 months and now number in the 100's if not 1000's. I mean they cover just about every square of everything!!When I first noticed them I started trying different remedies to get rid of them.Now I have tried every method conceivable to no avail.So before I shut the whole thing down and start over I have a couple of questions.
I put 15 berghia nudibranch in the tank about 2 1/2 months ago.I was told that it takes up to 4 months for these to make a difference.However I would think that by now there would be at least SOME reduction in numbers.But I really don't see it.Anyone have any experience with these nudibranchs? I would like to hear your results and the time it took to get them?
Thanks to all in advance for any advise

 

when i first started off and read about apitasia i wanted to get some nubis too, they i thought they looked cool and did a good job. when i found out they die once the main food source is gone i quickly decided to turn to other solutions. i tried fighting them one by one with lemon juice, this worked on the smaller ones but not the big ones. finally i got myself a couple peppermints and though i have never seen one eat an apitasia (they are nocturnal shrimps) they have removed the all the apitasia i had. furthermore they are good part of your CUC and will eat leftover food if they cant find any apitasia. this said some people have reported they bought peppermints but have not had as a good result. be sure you know what alysmata wundermani looks like before you buy anything.

 

These are the natural predators that i can think of off the top of my head:
peppermint shrimp
berghia nudi's
copperband
matted filefish

Unnatural:
Boiling water
Kalk Paste
Lemon Juice
Aiptasia-X, Joe's Juice, Zap-Tasia
Electrocution
Even Lasers

Natural eradicates, unnatural controls.

 

It sounds like you have some bigger aptasia's releasing spores keeping your population up. Is this a reef or FOWLR? That really makes a difference in what you can do to control them.

 

Killing off that many could cause a major spike in your balance.

Check your water conditions. Aptasia thive best in higher free protein, phosphate and nitrate. Which both should be near 0 for phosophate and between 5 and 10 for nitrate IMO.

If you don't have a protein skimmer get one now.

Do not tare or pry off aptasia, any tissue left behind will regrow a new one or more.

Any that are just in the sand or gravel you can touch with ice and then remove. This prevents them from releasing planula.

Rocks that have nothing on them you wish to save can be removed and boiled (drastic measure I like my LR and wouldn't ever do this).

Rocks that you wish to keep unharmed my favorite method is remove from tank and place in bucket of saltwater. Using a diabetic hyperdermic syringe inject very small amount of lemon juice into each one, not thru the mouth. Let rocks set in bucket for a few days (you may add a circulation pump). They will die and fall off. Return rocks to tank. The vast majority of corals can survive this process of being transfered, and without lights for a few days. But if you don't have to expose your corals to the process the better.

Kalkwasser and Aptasia-X are not suggested when you have this many. As your calcium levels will get far too high for anything to survive.

Berghia Nudibranch - It takes 3 adult nudi's 20 minutes to eat one aptasia thats got a 1/4 wide stem. They then will take a break for several days before eating again. If you have a population explosion they just munch a bit and then move on. Never completely killing their lunch. Kinda like vampire bats and cows. This can actually cause your population to grow instead of shrink. Because when aptasia are stressed or threatened they release planula.

 

1000's in a 125...dang it man..that stinks...I have heard of people actually doing one rock at a time, cutting the coral off and placing it on a new rock and so on..slow and expensive solution...but even with the aptasia wand, as referenced in this link, 1000's would be a big big job....but you gotta do something....and as Sticksmith asked...if ya got no (other) corals..eradication methods are much different.
Good luck.:-/
http://www.3reef.com/forums/general...out-box-update-mortality-page-7-a-132392.html

 

If you want, you could boil one rock at a time, but depending on how much LR you have, this could take to long and it sounds like the aptasia's would just repopulate themselves on the rock anyways.