aiptasia are the devil!

Dr. Peter Venkman · Apr 22, 2023

Ok everyone. I have an outbreak... I've always used Red Sea to kill them in the past, but this time it did nothing and they came back stronger. What should I do?

Saltyreef · Apr 22, 2023

Dr. Peter Venkman said:
Ok everyone. I have an outbreak... I've always used Red Sea to kill them in the past, but this time it did nothing and they came back stronger. What should I do?

Throw the red sea aiptasia breeding juice in the trash and get your self a bottle of franks F aiptasia. And go F*** them up!

sunken3 · Apr 22, 2023

BRS has commented several times on F Aiptasia as their only go too chemical solution. I have had success with some peppermint shrimp... never with any of the "fish" that eat it... when all else fails Berghia are amazing, but expensive and finicky to keep alive

Saltyreef · Apr 22, 2023

sunken3 said:
BRS has commented several times on F Aiptasia as their only go too chemical solution. I have had success with some peppermint shrimp... never with any of the "fish" that eat it... when all else fails Berghia are amazing, but expensive and finicky to keep alive

Works on my Majanos too.

j.falk · Apr 22, 2023

Frank's F Aiptasia did nothing for my tank...other than kill my coralline. I would use it on the aiptasia, they would retract for about a week and come right back. It never killed any of them. The only thing that worked were Berghia nudibranchs. They cleaned out my tank within a month of adding them. Not a single aiptasia left alive.

zheka757 · Apr 22, 2023

copperband butterfly works every time for me. if you buy small fish like 2'' or so, it will take them a while to get a taste for aiptasia, but eventually it will, hard part is getting healthy/ fat fish that eats in the first place.

Saltyreef · Apr 22, 2023

j.falk said:
Frank's F Aiptasia did nothing for my tank...other than kill my coralline. I would use it on the aiptasia, they would retract for about a week and come right back. It never killed any of them. The only thing that worked were Berghia nudibranchs. They cleaned out my tank within a month of adding them. Not a single aiptasia left alive.

Ive never had that issue. It hardens into a shell with no flow and will stay there as long as you dont disturb it. Within 24 hours when i remove the shell, theres just mush left over.
It makes majanos release from the rocks after 2 hours of them being covered and then easily siphonable.
Works like a dream.

j.falk · Apr 22, 2023

Saltyreef said:
Ive never had that issue. It hardens into a shell with no flow and will stay there as long as you dont disturb it. Within 24 hours when i remove the shell, theres just mush left over.
It makes majanos release from the rocks after 2 hours of them being covered and then easily siphonable.
Works like a dream.

Maybe I had a bad batch then? It never hardened when I used it (and I did it with all pumps/filters turned off). It would merely form a glob over the aiptasia and then crumble off (almost like a powdery chalky substance) and fall to the bottom of the tank within 24 hours.

Saltyreef · Apr 22, 2023

j.falk said:
Maybe I had a bad batch then? It never hardened when I used it (and I did it with all pumps/filters turned off). It would merely form a glob over the aiptasia and then crumble off (almost like a powdery chalky substance) and fall to the bottom of the tank within 24 hours.

Maybe. You gotta mix it really good then shake it. Theres little BBs in the bottle.

I just used some that was dried out and all i did was add a little water to reform the paste. I was kinda iffy about using it but that stuff is still covering the majanos 2 weeks later and my mp10 is on 60% reef crest in a 20L.

edd59 · Apr 22, 2023

j.falk said:
Frank's F Aiptasia did nothing for my tank...other than kill my coralline. I would use it on the aiptasia, they would retract for about a week and come right back. It never killed any of them. The only thing that worked were Berghia nudibranchs. They cleaned out my tank within a month of adding them. Not a single aiptasia left alive.

i had an aptasia farm over 100. got 10 nudis. was slow moving but cleaned it all up in a few months. had some in back of rock the size of a quater, ate them too. when they were done i trade them, over 20 and a lot went down the over flow.

Saltyreef · Apr 22, 2023

I wish nudis and CBBs ate majanos.

Someone said once that some filefish will but mine never did.

kian.aeineh · Apr 22, 2023

Hello . I also had your problem. But the peppermint shrimp saved me. My tank was full of aptasia, but I don't see a single aptasia anymore.

j.falk · Apr 22, 2023

Saltyreef said:
Maybe. You gotta mix it really good then shake it. Theres little BBs in the bottle.

I just used some that was dried out and all i did was add a little water to reform the paste. I was kinda iffy about using it but that stuff is still covering the majanos 2 weeks later and my mp10 is on 60% reef crest in a 20L.

Mine didn't have any bbs in the bottle. It was an off-white paste with some liquid in a little clear plastic bottle that you stirred with a wooden stick (that was supplied in the kit) to mix the stuff together and then you had to use a plastic syringe (also supplied) to inject it into the water covering over the aiptasia...while all pumps/filters were turned off.

Granted things might have changed...it was 4 years ago when I tried it. It didn't work for me after 4 attempts so I tossed it in the garbage.

Saltyreef · Apr 22, 2023

j.falk said:
Mine didn't have any bbs in the bottle. It was an off-white paste with some liquid in a little plastic container that you stirred with a wooden stick (that was supplied in the kit) to mix the stuff together and then you had to use a plastic syringe (also supplied) to inject it into the water covering over the aiptasia...while all pumps/filters were turned off.

Granted things might have changed...it was 4 years ago when I tried it. It didn't work for me after 4 attempts so I tossed it in the garbage.

Yeah it was about that long ago when i first tried it too.
Its called f- aiptasia 2 now IIRC
So maybe updated formula with more butt kicking power lol.

I didnt see the BBs until this last time i used it when reconstituting. I thought it was the hardened chemical at first.

dadnjesse · Apr 22, 2023

I have gone through a lot of bottles of F Aiptasia. It seems to work but then they appear to multiply. Peppermint shrimp worked for me but I just couldn't keep them alive very long. Maybe because I have a lot of flow I'm not sure. Then I got a Copperband Butterfly I haven't seen an Aiptasia since.

Uncle99 · Apr 22, 2023

Seagrass file fish.
Obliterated my Aptasia, but he didn’t start for a month. I watched him hit it first, it balled up, then he pecked it off and appeared to clean around where it once was.
He’s been swimming around and slowly, taking them out. Cant find one now. Been two months.
Has not touched anything else, but will join in at feeding time. Other fish don’t seem to care he’s there.
Nothing else ever worked for me.

Dr. Peter Venkman · May 4, 2023

**UPDATE** I decided to order 5 peppermint shrimp, which arrived 2 days ago. Between my original post and the arrival of the shrimp the number of aiptasia blew up even worse. I counted a total of 56, and I'm sure i missed some. However, as if this morning i can't find even one aiptasia in my tank. The peppermint shrimp saved the day.

kian.aeineh · May 4, 2023

Excellent

Oldreefer44 · May 4, 2023

Agree with those that have used a CBB to solve the issue. My overflows and refugium are filled with Aiptasia yet I haven't seen one in my DT for months.

LJLKRL05 · May 4, 2023

In my opinion, you can never kill them all with F-Aiptasia or Aiptasia X or anything that you manually use, because you cannot see them all. They are hidden in places you can't get to.