Aiptasia issue in a Anemone tank!

1979fishgeek · Mar 8, 2019

I have a Aiptasia issue in my Anemone tank, they are popping up all over the substrate and rocks as fast as I can kill them (tried Aiptasia-x, Kalk paste, hot lemon juice, Majano Wand and manual removal). I was thinking about getting a fish to eat them (matted/green filefish, copperband) as Peppermints can be hit or miss, the ones I have are a miss! Problem is the tank is dominated by a large Ritteri Anemone and very small Haddons carpet nem. Am I correct to believe if a fish finds Aiptasia tasty they would also find my other nems yummy too?
400l tank and only occupants are four Saddleback clowns and a Blue Devil Damsel. Plus cleanup crew (collector Urchins, conch, hermit crabs and peppermint Shrimps)

Can anyone suggest a control method?

Sashaka · Mar 9, 2019

If you find a cure, I'd love to know it too! I have a tank with these pests and they seem to live through just about anything. I've tried all the things you've tried as well as lowering salinity and adding a low dose of copper (all corals and inverts removed first). The Aiptasia lived. So, I purchased a a. eating file fish. The Aiptasia is now controlled. The fish eats all it can reach, though there are areas the Aiptasia has been able to hide. The file fish has gone through spurts biting at my coral and I can't have brittle stars as the file fish sees them as food as well, but the Aiptasia is not overtaking my tank anymore. Good luck. I hope you can figure out what works for you.

Katrina71 · Mar 9, 2019

Nudis work. They are slow, but they work.

Captain Quint · Mar 9, 2019

IME, the problem with some of the products such as Aiptasia-x, Kalk paste, hot lemon juice, Joes Juice and a few more are that if we run dedicated anemones tanks some of this can be detrimental to our wanted anemones if exposed.

When I had the dreaded glass anemones years back, I swear it seemed they lapped up some of those products for breakfast and multiplied.

I resorted to Berghia nudibranch as they are the only 'in tank' proven way to get rid of the pests.

greg 45 · Mar 9, 2019

File fish

Captain Quint · Mar 9, 2019

^^^ +1 but I found mine ignoring it when they became acquainted with frozen foods.

Then one took a huge chunk out of my 4-year-old GSM and killed it. I stopped using it.

1979fishgeek · Mar 9, 2019

I spent a fortune on aip eat nudi a few times now, one of the times I purchased them online I got Zoa eating nudi’s sent by unscrupulous seller! But I have not tried them in this tank only in my main display, I found they were eaten by Wrasse or just ended up being blasted by my wavemakers and then down the overflows.

Not sure the Damsel and Clownfish would eat them though? So maybe 4th time lucky!

Otherwise I’ll just keep adding Peppermints till one of them eats it! Lol

Filefish is a risk but o can always remove it.

ca1ore · Mar 9, 2019

That is a spectacular looking magnifica. Once you exceed a few, most of the chemical treatment don’t work for pest anemones. You need a biological solution. Nudies or shrimp are mostly miss IME. Fish predator is the best way to go. I have a mag in my system, and the fish I use for pest control do not bother it - even if they decided to try, the clowns would have none of it. I use angels as my control. Asfur is the best, though regal and emperor are good as well. They’ll eat zooanthids too though.

A couple of pyramid butterflyfish might work too. 400L might be a bit tight for large angels.

1979fishgeek · Mar 9, 2019

Pyramid Angels is a great idea, there no Zoa in this tank just mushrooms, Magnificent Nem and bleached carpet nem I’m trying to nurse back.

Four Saddleback clowns are in the tank, two choose the Haddons carpet and two literally moved into the magnificent this afternoon and nem stretched out to twice its original size, dwarfing the clowns lol . They already chasing off the Blue Devil Damsel so that’s promising.

Robink · Mar 9, 2019

Berghia nudibranchs

ca1ore · Mar 9, 2019

Clowns are very good at guarding their host. Mine will have a go at perceived invaders three times their size.

mmw64 · Mar 9, 2019

Katrina71 said:
Nudis work. They are slow, but they work.

Can one use nudis if you have wrasses?

Katrina71 · Mar 9, 2019

mmw64 said:
Can one use nudis if you have wrasses?

I know they will eat them, but I'm not sure if nudis would make a dent before that happens or not.

mmw64 · Mar 9, 2019

Katrina71 said:
I know they will eat them, but I'm not sure if nudis would make a dent before that happens or not.

Thanks, have to do something.

Sashaka · Mar 10, 2019

mmw64 said:
Can one use nudis if you have wrasses?

Katrina71 said:
I know they will eat them, but I'm not sure if nudis would make a dent before that happens or not.

I'm not sure about your tank but in mine the nudis would be lunch before they put a dent. They are expert hunters and scan the rocks for food all day. It probably depends on how many wrasses you have. Still, I'd be throwing my money away on nudis if I didn't removed the wrasses first.

mmw64 · Mar 12, 2019

Sashaka said:
I'm not sure about your tank but in mine the nudis would be lunch before they put a dent. They are expert hunters and scan the rocks for food all day. It probably depends on how many wrasses you have. Still, I'd be throwing my money away on nudis if I didn't removed the wrasses first.

Thanks

sarcophytonIndy · Jun 22, 2019

I have about a half dozen large aiptasia in a mixed reef. They don't seem to be bothering anything and aren't multiplying, so far. I'm not sure if I should mess with them???

Sashaka · Jun 22, 2019

sarcophytonIndy said:
I have about a half dozen large aiptasia in a mixed reef. They don't seem to be bothering anything and aren't multiplying, so far. I'm not sure if I should mess with them???

IMO, it's just a matter of time before your aiptasia multiplies. If you can - lift the rock or rocks with the aiptasia on it, take it out of the tank, set it in a strong bleach solution for a week, rinse it well, dry it completely - outside in the sun if you can, and then replace the clean rock in your tank. The other rocks in your tank will reseed the cleaned rock with beneficial bacteria again. The bleach and sun baking will destroy the aiptasia and eat away at any organics inside or on the rock so it is clean. This pest anemone is almost bulletproof. Drastic measures are needed if you really want to get rid of it. I've had aiptasia show up over 8 months later after setting up a tank with some live rock. The handful you have now may already have spread and you just don't see them yet. I tried everything to get rid of it too, and I finally added a file fish. It occasionally picks at my CUC, but it does control the aiptasia that it can reach. I do have a clown that protects my anemones. Just don't take out too much rock at one time. You don't want to upset your cycle. Good luck!