Aiptasia Advice

[Hunter90 HD]

I didn't realize so many people had filefish that won't eat aiptasia yet went for the corals.i wonder if mine ate it because I put aiptasia in the quarentine tank for him to chew down on before putting him in the main tank I have him over a year might be 2 yrs can't remember and he doesn't mess with my corals. But when I have my hand in the tank cleaning he likes to nip my hand once in a while. Dame his teeth hurt.. guess it luck of the draw..

I recon that probably helped but accustoming the file fish to eat Aiptasia, i like the idea of this method, however i dont have a quarantine tank at the moment looking to buy one in the future as they are really handy and especially introducing any new corals, something i have learnt as i gained more experience in this hobby and 100% it is pot luck

 

[Hunter90 HD]

Iv never had a problem if you buy more they will get everything. I don’t see how they starve if there are still aiptasia left over. 1 won’t do it you need more. On this site they are only going to $12 each. You guys have had problems with nudis not eating everything?

I have not heard of people having problems with the Nudibranches, i know they recommend a minimum of 3 and then something like 1 per 50 litres or something like that, i love how they only eat Aiptasia and will not touch your corals unlike shrimp, filefish and any other invertebrate / fish which is always hit and miss and the risk of even the possibility of them touching our precious corals is a big no no for me, would only be a last resort for me if the paste, Nudibranchs would not work but i cant see that happening

 

[Hunter90 HD]

This one is 8 for $103 with shipping. The key is to put more. I put 8 in 2 separate times and cleared everything in a 75 gallon. The second time I got them back I should have taken out the frag plug that had it on it. I won’t make that mistake again. Quarantining frags is necessary but that means 2 separate tanks plus 1 for fish qt so that’s 3 tanks for 0 problems

Quarantine tank is definitely the way to go before introducing any new corals to your main display, and if you can quarantine any problem fish etc but it can get a bit expensive lol.. I have made that mistake which i will never do again introducing a coral with these Aiptasia i didn't know what they was to start off with it was only as i learnt more from this hobby that how much of a pain these can be

 

[Hunter90 HD]

They also change color to whatever they are near.its pretty cool. He looks like a live rock then he goes down to the crush coral and blends in to that color. Some people have not had luck with them as I was reading post ask your fish supplier if he has seen the fish eat aptasia. What i did was quarentine mine for a few weeks with a rock that has aptasia on it so he will eat it then when he gets in your main tank he will look for it. Mine never ate any of my coral in the last few years but I saw post of people saying their filefish did so just keep an eye on him.

I think quarantine and accustoming the file fish to eat Aiptasia increases your success rate here @austibella seen a few posts suggesting this

 

[Hunter90 HD]

@davidcalgary29 @Tamberav @austibella @Wyvern @AnemoneFan @josephxsxn @Venomike

Thank you everyone for you helpful input, i have took all this information in and i have come to the following conclusion when dealing with these suckers..

I believe if you have a small Aiptasia problem and are easily accessible then i would catch them in the morning when they are somewhat closed up then paste the suckers in their hole in the rock, that was there is no chance they can realise any eggs in the water they wouldn't know what hit 'em.

If they are on the glass then catch them in the morning when they are closed up then get a siphon ready with a glass blade then start the Siphon then scrap the sucker off and suck it up with the Siphon then disregard the water as it could have eggs in.

If the Aiptasia is a bigger problem and they are in inaccessible areas within your Reef tank then Nudibranches are the best way forward but have enough in your tank to get them all then when they are finished pass them on to your lfs or a fellow reefer who has an Aiptasia problem so they dont die.

Me personally would steer clear of any invertebrate / fish approach to tackle an Aiptasia problem as it is hit and miss they will resolve your problem and may even cause you bigger problems as they can attack your corals which nobody wants - Only thing i have found which can increase the chance of Filefish eating Aiptasia and not your corals is to place them in the quarantine tank with Aiptasia in so they get accustomed to only eating Aiptasia nothing else for a month or two then when you introduce them to your display, they will then hunt for Aiptasia - Only concern here would be once they are all gone they may start to target your corals at this point but then you could pass them onto your lfs or fellow reefers.

I would also steer clear from using Aiptasia chemical solution like Red Sea Aiptasia as you run the risk of them releasing eggs and causing a bigger problem.

Although not everyone would agree, this would be my personal approach to when dealing with Aiptasia.

To conclude, i (hopefully) resolved my Aiptasia issue as they was easy to get to with paste and scraped the one off from my Glass and sucked immeditatley out with a Siphon.

I will monitor over the next few weeks to see if any other Aiptasia's pop up, but fingers crossed!.

Thanks for all your help!

I hope this post my help other fellow reefers out there to tackle Aiptasia!

Lee