I can’t keep aptasia alive

[LxHowler]

This is probably going to sound abit odd to some people, but I’ve been breeding berghina nudibranchs for about a year now. As such I have a small tank that I use to grow aptasia on live rock to feed to them. The tank is 30l, full of live rock, has a cheap Chinese light and filter on it and gets a water change when I remember
This has been working great so far, I take a piece of rock covered in aptasia out and give it to the nudibranchs and replace it with the piece they have just finished in an endless cycle.
The issue is that the have just randomly started dying in that tank, I’ve been feeding them occasionally with some fish pellets and stress some of them occasionally to get more to grow.
Any ideas what could cause a random die off, I know that’s a dream for most people but not when you need them for an actual use.
did a water test, temp 25c, salinity 1.26, nitrates 5 ammonia and nitrite both 0. Didn’t do any more as I didn’t think they be relevant to aiptasia
any help would be much appreciated

 

[Shawaiz_106]

Did anything change in the tank recently, even something small and insignificant ??, Did your pump start spitting out air bubbles etc ?

 

[sixty_reefer]

This is probably going to sound abit odd to some people, but I’ve been breeding berghina nudibranchs for about a year now. As such I have a small tank that I use to grow aptasia on live rock to feed to them. The tank is 30l, full of live rock, has a cheap Chinese light and filter on it and gets a water change when I remember
This has been working great so far, I take a piece of rock covered in aptasia out and give it to the nudibranchs and replace it with the piece they have just finished in an endless cycle.
The issue is that the have just randomly started dying in that tank, I’ve been feeding them occasionally with some fish pellets and stress some of them occasionally to get more to grow.
Any ideas what could cause a random die off, I know that’s a dream for most people but not when you need them for an actual use.
did a water test, temp 25c, salinity 1.26, nitrates 5 ammonia and nitrite both 0. Didn’t do any more as I didn’t think they be relevant to aiptasia
any help would be much appreciated

What’s the phosphates in the Aipatasia farm?

 

[Miami Reef]

Does this article help?

How to Propagate Aiptasia...

A uncommon subject from an uncommon reefer, you may wonder why do we want to culture aiptasia wend this is one of the primary pests in our hobby since the very beginning . The answer is fairly easy. By understanding aiptasia propagation we can a)...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[gbroadbridge]

This is probably going to sound abit odd to some people, but I’ve been breeding berghina nudibranchs for about a year now. As such I have a small tank that I use to grow aptasia on live rock to feed to them. The tank is 30l, full of live rock, has a cheap Chinese light and filter on it and gets a water change when I remember
This has been working great so far, I take a piece of rock covered in aptasia out and give it to the nudibranchs and replace it with the piece they have just finished in an endless cycle.
The issue is that the have just randomly started dying in that tank, I’ve been feeding them occasionally with some fish pellets and stress some of them occasionally to get more to grow.
Any ideas what could cause a random die off, I know that’s a dream for most people but not when you need them for an actual use.
did a water test, temp 25c, salinity 1.26, nitrates 5 ammonia and nitrite both 0. Didn’t do any more as I didn’t think they be relevant to aiptasia
any help would be much appreciated

Try hitting them with Aiptaisa X and and dipping the rock in peroxide.

Works every time to spread them

 

[fish farmer]

Feed more particulate foods... like reef roids. That "helped" me grow them.

 

[Garf]

I imagine you've introduced some babies into the Aiptasia grow out bit.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

need to agitate them so they spread the good in them, maybe even snip some with scissors

 

[LxHowler]

Did anything change in the tank recently, even something small and insignificant ??, Did your pump start spitting out air bubbles etc ?

Only thing to change is a small water change about a week and half ago. I guess this could have introduced something into the tank they don’t like.
the filter is buried at the bottom so I doubt that would have pulled air in.

 

[LxHowler]

need to agitate them so they spread the good in them, maybe even snip some with scissors

This is what i have been doing. Worked a dream so far until the last couple of weeks

 

[LxHowler]

I imagine you've introduced some babies into the Aiptasia grow out bit.

I did think this was possible but it’s not like they’re disappearing, it’s like they are wilting down. Normally when they’re eaten they completely disappear

also I dip the clean rock in fresh water for abit to try and avoid anything transferring from one tank to the other. I know that won’t be completely effective though

 

[LxHowler]

Try hitting them with Aiptaisa X and and dipping the rock in peroxide.

Works every time to spread them

As funny as it sounds that how I ended up with the nudibranchs to start with. Had an issue with aiptasia and every time I used aiptasia x I seemed to end up with more than I killed

 

[gbroadbridge]

As funny as it sounds that how I ended up with the nudibranchs to start with. Had an issue with aiptasia and every time I used aiptasia x I seemed to end up with more than I killed

Maybe you should bottle your grow out tank water and sell it?
And patent it.

You could be an overnight millionaire with your aiptasia killer.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Maybe you should bottle your grow out tank water and sell it?
And patent it.

You could be an overnight millionaire with your aiptasia killer.

It wouldn’t make no difference, most Aipatasia breeders often fail due to not understanding the difference between a coral surviving and a coral thriving. Aipatasia to thrive need just as many nutrients as any other coral. You wouldn’t run a frag tank without fish ( as all Aipatasia systems do) without adding an external source of nutrition and ensuring all parameters are in check. Aipatasia is not just a filter feeder they also need many nutrients to be able to heal and reproduce

 

[Jmp998]

It wouldn’t make no difference, most Aipatasia breeders often fail due to not understanding the difference between a coral surviving and a coral thriving. Aipatasia to thrive need just as many nutrients as any other coral. You wouldn’t run a frag tank without fish ( as all Aipatasia systems do) without adding an external source of nutrition and ensuring all parameters are in check. Aipatasia is not just a filter feeder they also need many nutrients to be able to heal and reproduce

Absolutely. There is a huge difference between trying to successfully farm a high-density, economically viable Aiptasia culture vs. having them slowly overrun your pristine display tank supported by thousands of dollars of lighting, filtration, daily supplements, etc.

I have had individual Aiptasia cultures fail several times, usually after 3-6 months and reaching a high density. Typically the first change is that the Aiptasia don't feed as well (live baby brine shrimp), then over a few days tentacle extension decreases and then the tentacles just get smaller until they are tiny nubs. Then the Aiptasia slowly shrink down. I'm not sure why. Aggressive water changes don't seem to prevent it. I think maybe activated carbon helps to delay it, but also does not prevent it from happening. Admittedly I am not pampering the Aiptasia (cheap lights, no filtration other than carbon and water changes), but it is not practical to maintain Aiptasia cultures the same way you would maintain a display tank. It is really frustrating to watch a tub of thousands of Aiptasia wither away when you have hungry Berghia to feed.

LxHowler-I would suggest selecting a few of the most robust looking Aiptasia to set up a new culture as a backup in case your main culture continues to decline. I have not yet been successful in reversing this other than by setting up a new batch of Aiptasia.

 

[LxHowler]

Absolutely. There is a huge difference between trying to successfully farm a high-density, economically viable Aiptasia culture vs. having them slowly overrun your pristine display tank supported by thousands of dollars of lighting, filtration, daily supplements, etc.

I have had individual Aiptasia cultures fail several times, usually after 3-6 months and reaching a high density. Typically the first change is that the Aiptasia don't feed as well (live baby brine shrimp), then over a few days tentacle extension decreases and then the tentacles just get smaller until they are tiny nubs. Then the Aiptasia slowly shrink down. I'm not sure why. Aggressive water changes don't seem to prevent it. I think maybe activated carbon helps to delay it, but also does not prevent it from happening. Admittedly I am not pampering the Aiptasia (cheap lights, no filtration other than carbon and water changes), but it is not practical to maintain Aiptasia cultures the same way you would maintain a display tank. It is really frustrating to watch a tub of thousands of Aiptasia wither away when you have hungry Berghia to feed.

LxHowler-I would suggest selecting a few of the most robust looking Aiptasia to set up a new culture as a backup in case your main culture continues to decline. I have not yet been successful in reversing this other than by setting up a new batch of Aiptasia.

That’s a fair idea. I have an old tank in the shed I can clean up and try setting up another colony in a slight larger tank

will give it a try. What’s the worst that could happen

 

[paragrouper]

I’ve a couple hiding in my AIO—in case you run out.