Aiptasia ...... at my breaking point

Yretsym · Oct 27, 2023

Hi everyone,

I'm having a real battle with aiptasia and could use some constructive advice!! I'm not new to the hobby and have always come here to get answers to questions that I might have and have always found constuctive feedback! I have a 75 gallon tank, with lots of rockwork. I dont have alot of corals, but it seems like aiptasia has found a way into my tank even after quarantine and dipping. Ive gone through over 1000 ml of aiptasia-x and have 6 peppermint shrimp but they dont seem to be effective. They multiply faster than i can treat them. At this point, should I take the rock out and try bleaching it, the sand bed is covered as well in some areas. My thought is that Im going to have to break it down and bleach everything and possibly get new rock. My other thought was to take the shrimp out and get some Berghia nudibranchs and see if that helps. Ive probably got over 100lbs of rock and if I had to do it over again, I would not have so much! Ive read alot on the forums and Im not opposed to getting a filefish of a copperband butterfly, but my tank is fairly well stocked and Im not looking to add any more fish. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!

Thereefgallery · Oct 27, 2023

Take out the Peppermint Shrimp and add the Berghia if that is an option. Berghia only eat Aptasia and will get everywhere in the system. Bleaching the rock will destroy any microbiological biodiversity in your established system.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Oct 27, 2023

Yretsym said:
Hi everyone,

I'm having a real battle with aiptasia and could use some constructive advice!! I'm not new to the hobby and have always come here to get answers to questions that I might have and have always found constuctive feedback! I have a 75 gallon tank, with lots of rockwork. I dont have alot of corals, but it seems like aiptasia has found a way into my tank even after quarantine and dipping. Ive gone through over 1000 ml of aiptasia-x and have 6 peppermint shrimp but they dont seem to be effective. They multiply faster than i can treat them. At this point, should I take the rock out and try bleaching it, the sand bed is covered as well in some areas. My thought is that Im going to have to break it down and bleach everything and possibly get new rock. My other thought was to take the shrimp out and get some Berghia nudibranchs and see if that helps. Ive probably got over 100lbs of rock and if I had to do it over again, I would not have so much! Ive read alot on the forums and Im not opposed to getting a filefish of a copperband butterfly, but my tank is fairly well stocked and Im not looking to add any more fish. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!

I agree with trying the berghias. But if you feel you have too much rock, there's no reason you can't remove some, especially if those pieces have a lot of aiptasia...

If you decide to try a filefish, you can always re-home it after the aiptasia is gone. They seem to be hit or miss whether or not they'll eat the aips, but I had one that did a great job.

Leadfooted · Oct 27, 2023

you don’t want to hear this but you need 25-30 peppermint. Return to LFS for store credit when majority are eradicated, leave 3 just in case.

Lbrdsoxfan · Oct 27, 2023

Recent thread with some good info...

Aiptasia Squad - Here's my plan!

So, it happened! The tank is infested and the dreaded aiptasia is taking off! It so happens that I have wanted to add a couple of fish for a while and here's what I'm planning to add: - Pearl Scale Butterfly - Molly Miller Blenny - Aiptasia eating file fish The idea is that if one of them...

www.reef2reef.com

InvaderJim · Oct 27, 2023

I've had amazing luck with peppermint shrimp. I had a pretty bad infestation in my 15g and I threw in 2 peppermints and almost all of them are gone already. I also had 2 in my 80g keeping them at bay for years.

Daftendire · Oct 27, 2023

I picked up a copperband butterfly 2 weeks ago and it made quick work of an aiptasia infestation. It eats small frozen foods as well. I've tried berghia unsuccessfully in the past. Its a shy timid fish so I would be weary of stocking it with some aggressive eaters

Daveobrien · Oct 27, 2023

I'm a long time reefer, which means I've delt with Aptasia many times over the years. Small amounts, KalkPaste/F-Aptasia. Large amounts, with Berghia. Turns out, Berghia didn't work my last time ... Which I now attribute to mass amounts of Amphipods I'd been adding to the system... Eating the berghia eggs.

It's a 250g system + 2x 50gal frag tanks. I added all the aptasia eating fish. no luck. Can't add peppermint shrimp to the main tank, wrasses eat them too fast. Peppermint shrimp have never worked for me in the past, until I got the advice of A. don't feed them and B. use LOTS of them. Here's my success story, on our local club webpage.

BTW, I found it much cheaper to bulk order peppermint shrimp from suppliers - especially when using high volume.

Aptasia Death, by peppermint shrimp

My Aptasia have gotten out of hand. I've applied added Filefish (2), a copper banded butterfly, and Berghia. Even added couple of peppermint shrimp... never to be seen again. (I suspect wrasses got them.) Filefish and CB butterfly aren't seeming to make a dent. In this case, I suspect my efforts ...

www.pnwmas.org

Jmp998 · Oct 27, 2023

If you have too much rock anyway-take out what you don't want and put it in a bucket with an airstone. When you get the berghia, put them in that bucket for a few days to lay eggs. In a couple months you will likely have a bucket of Berghia to share with/sell to your friends, or add to your display if you think you need more Berghia there.

piranhaman00 · Oct 27, 2023

Copperband

edd59 · Oct 27, 2023

go with berghia's as mentioned a few times. i have over 100lbs of rock in my 120 and had an infestation. aptasia everywhere. got 6 peppermint and never seen them again. got 10 nudis, thought i wasted money. seen nothing for 3 months then they started going away and seen more and more nudis. when they were done i traded the ones i could catch. probably about 40. just be patient.
i dont think the amount of rock matters, they will grow everywhere and anywhere.

BubblesandSqueak · Oct 27, 2023

I didn't have an infestation but every time I F-Aipt them I would suddenly have a couple more. I bought Berghia a few weeks ago and I currently only see 2 Aipt in the tank. Had maybe 20. If you get a huge infestation, perhaps you can make some money off of breeding a supply of Berghia to get it back to 0?

TSA had a descent price on them. The biggest pain was waiting for them to crawl out of the jar in the tank. Also helps to let them go in different areas but near Aipt.

Grog · Oct 27, 2023

Berghias did it for me. It took some time but slowly the aptasia disappeared. I cannot find any of the bergias in my tank either. I'd love to rehome them. But they are missing too....

Yretsym · Nov 1, 2023

Thanks everyone for your replies! I'm going to try some berghia's soon and see what happens!

chipchipbro · Nov 1, 2023

I have a captive bred filefish and this guy works wonders.
doesnt touch zoas or anything... And Aiptasia are GONE

Yretsym · Feb 2, 2024

Just wanted to give an update on my Aiptasia......... they are GONE!!!! I purchased some berghia nudibranchs from Reef Town and after several weeks I have no sign of Aiptasia anywhere!! I cant say enough good things about the quality of the berghia that I received from Reef Town, they were awesome!! I did lower the flow in my tank over the weeks in order for the berghia to get to some heavy spots, but I was patient and they got the job done!