Aiptasia Erradication

[Jwheld]

YES I HAD A BAD PROBLEM AND APTASIA-X HELPED SPRED THE PROBLEM.. I COMPLETELY PULLED OUT ALL OF THE ROCK AND BLEACHED THEM ..THE CORALS I TRIED TO ZAP AND TREAT IN SEPARATE CONTAINERS. I GOT MOST OF THE ROCK CLEARED FROM THE AIPTASIA BUT IT HAS COME BACK MAINLY ON MY CORALS. I TRIED FILE FISH AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT THE AIPTASIA.. TRIED A COPPERBAND AND IT WAS DEAD IN 4 DAYS. MY THING IS TO TAKE THE CORALS OUT 1 AT A TIME AND NULE THEM OUTSIDE OF TANK AND HOPE I CAN CLEAR THEM UP AGAIN...

What do you use to dip for aiptasia? I have some on drag plugs and plan on manual/dip removal.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Aptasia-X got me into this mess, so I don't plan on using it again.

That's what I've been told. After you put them in you won't see them for a while because they are eating the Aptasia that's under the rock or deep inside crevices and once they take care of those they start venturing out. What size tank do you have and how many did you add?

IME, AptasiaX works somewhat, but it's kind of like playing whack-a-mole. If you have one or two and you catch them early, it can work. If you have an infestations, they are constantly spreading and you may get the larger ones, but there are always tiny ones you can't see that keep popping up. At that point, a biologic method is the best option.

Options I know of are:

• Peppermint Shrimp - very unreliable, IME. Others have had success. I tried 3 different ones that didn't do a thing. The owner of my LFS said that's been her experience as well. Some like aiptasia, some don't.
• Copper banded butterfly
• Matted File Fish
• Berghia Nudibranchs - can get eaten by wrasses, somewhat expensive, but very effective IME
• AiptasiaX - See above comments
• Joe's Juice - another chemical method. I've never used it but I suspect it would suffer from the same limitations as AiptasiaX
• Mojano wand - zaps Aiptasias, but you have to get the entire animal, otherwise it will grow back and/or spread. See above comments for AiptasiaX
• Bleach

I got 5 berghias for my 120 gallon tank. I was also having some algae issues combined and had a velvet outbreak right after I ordered the berghias (yeah, how fun is this hobby???) so I took some of the rock out and bleached and re-cured it while I was trying to save my livestock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Copperband butterfly - no doubt.
Options would be a syringe filled with Kalk OR Lemon juice. Inject into core of aptasia and watch them melt away.

 

[Chrishvacman]

Peppermint shrimp always have taken care of any issues for me.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Copperband butterfly - no doubt.
Options would be a syringe filled with Kalk OR Lemon juice. Inject into core of aptasia and watch them melt away.

Those will also work, but if you have a heavy infestation you need to be careful about overdosing your tank.

Perhaps others can chime in if they've had luck with them, but I tend to classify those methods with AiptasiaX in that if you have a heavy infestation you end up continually playing catch up because you never see or get the smaller ones.

 

[mucky1957]

aiptasia x. used it over a one month period havent seen any aip since...this was 18 months ago.

 

[mmw64]

just be careful you dont have tank mates that eat the berghias. my solution was captive bred file fish

How long did it take your file fish until you saw a difference?

 

[711reefer]

about 2 weeks to see and impact. about 2 months for them to be all gone. of course it depends on the size of the tank and the level of infestation. once the aips were gone i believe they ate some nice zoas i had so be careful if you have any.

 

[Jwheld]

Well.... it’s been less than a month so I haven’t seen too much of an improvement. However, I did see a pair of Berghia last night munching away! First time I’ve seen any since I put them in the tank. This must be a good sign that they are doing good work deep in the rock work.

 

[Chrishvacman]

Peppermint shrimp younger ones tend to do a better job.

For non reef chlorican phosphate will whipe them out 100% not reef safe/invert safe though and it will kill good algae too. I mean your rock will be stripped clean. Imo better than having to break down the entire tank.

 

[DeepBlueSeaV1]

Any update?

 

[Jwheld]

Any update?

The nudis slowly disappeared. I only saw a couple here and there. I’m thinking that my strawberry crab slowly ate the.

I ended up getting a matted file fish 2 months ago and the aiptasia is about 95% gone.

The file fish did pick at my acans so I had to move them but other than that, I’m glad to have no aiptasia!

 

[Mikedawg]

I was thinking filefish, but heard mixed reviews on being reef safe.

I've read that file fish are 50/50 on being reef safe, but mine from ORA only seem to examine lps while feasting on aiptasia. They eradicated the few aiptasia I had and now are eating frozen and some pellets.

 

[Jwheld]

I've read that file fish are 50/50 on being reef safe, but mine from ORA only seem to examine lps while feasting on aiptasia. They eradicated the few aiptasia I had and now are eating frozen and some pellets.

Yea, I plan on keeping mine. He is definitely fun to watch zooming through the tank.