Aiptasia eating filefish

[Seahorse man]

Hello, I have a bit of a small aiptasia infestation in one of my tanks, I have tried using aiptasia x, but for every one I kill, 10 more take its place. Will a filefish help, or is it a lost battle?

I also found a bonded pair of filefish for sale, but can't find anything on how that works, any one with experience with these fish would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi,

I just put one in 3 weeks ago. At first I thought he wouldn’t eat aptasia since I feed lots of other yummy stuff. Only this week I am really starting to notice him working. Never seen him eat but can notice the difference.

I call him filey

 

[Bj’s Reef]

My file fish worked for me. The only problem is after he finished with the apitasia he started eating my zoas and other soft corals. They are hit or miss in my opinion. Now if I could just get him out of my 150.

 

[Bill Urbanski]

I also had aptasia put a file fish in don’t see anymore aptasia. I’ll rent him to you. Lol.

 

[Seahorse man]

I also had aptasia put a file fish in don’t see anymore aptasia. I’ll rent him to you. Lol.

Has he nipped at corals?

 

[Seahorse man]

Definitely think I'll get one, seems to be the only solution most people have had luck with

 

[Bill Urbanski]

Has he nipped at corals?

Not yet. Had him about a year.

 

[tehmadreefer]

The best thing to get is berghia nudi's. They eat aiptasia and nothing else, but die once they are all gone.

 

[John Hughes]

I just purchased what my lfs is listing as an Aptasia eating Filefish. He's in my QT tank now and has been for almost a week. I took a small piece of live rock from my display tank that has a couple of aptasia on it and have that in the QT tank but so far it's ignoring it and only eating the pellets I add very sparingly to keep him hungry. Should I wait until he finishes QT before discounting him?

Thanks in advance

 

[FishyDP]

+1 on berghia nudibranches. They wiped out all visible aiptasia in my tank in short time. I still see some crawling around in my tank from time to time months later, and they have quadrupled in size, so they must still be feeding on some smaller/hidden aiptasia. I put 6 of them in my 150g, for a small aiptasia outbreak. I would personally choose berghias over the filefish, as others stated filefish may munch corals.

 

[WMR]

Both berghia nudis & filefish both work, the only downside is the nudis you should rehome or take them back to the LFS when they’ve eaten all the aiptasia, the filefish May start eating other things in your tank, kinda a catch 22, you’ll find the filefish more readily available than the nudis, good luck

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

Will filefish eat Rose BTAs ?

 

[Seahorse man]

Will filefish eat Rose BTAs ?

I'm not sure, but mine made a snack out of my duncan

 

[Seahorse man]

Any advice on how to catch them?

 

[Viking_Reefing]

Has he nipped at corals?

Mine got rid of the aptasia fairly effectively but I suspect that it’s nipping my sps due to the fact that my PE has gone to crap.
I don’t think it’s causing any actual damage but I will eventually catch it and put it in my refugium, bringing it up to the display if I need to knock back the aptasia in the future.

 

[Jason boles]

+1 on berghia. Can usually find someone locally with some in their tank and get a few.

 

[jd371]

Mine doesn't touch the Aptasia unfortunately. He has only gone after some Acans that I was able to move to another tank. Besides the Acans he hasn't snacked on anything else so I kept him and called him Deadbeat.
I've used Berghia before and although slow they do get rid of the Aptasia if they are not preyed upon. I can't use them anymore because I added some fish now that may eat them and that would be a very expensive snack.