Aiptasia? It's not going away :(

[MnFish1]

Here is a sure bet:
Blue faced Kleini butterfly. Will eat them like candy and Not miss any and then will eat all dry and frozen food offered, It is friendly and does not bother coral. If you get the yellow kleini without the blue on the face, it may annoy zoa and similar unless well fed

Everything I read said they are not reef safe?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Everything I read said they are not reef safe?

I have one in each of three tanks and NO issues. The yellow ones are caution

 

[MnFish1]

I have one in each of three tanks and NO issues. The yellow ones are caution

Thanks - I just looked at 3 web sites all said reef safe - no. BUT - like you say - I have had many angels and butterflies over the years that were not 'reef safe' that did fine.

 

[Soryu]

I put three peppermint shrimp in my tank to rid it of aiptasia, about a month later I didn't have a single aiptasia in the display. About a month after that I noticed one of my peppermint shrimps whiskers sticking out of one of the dozen or so RBTA in my tank. After about a month it looks like the RBTA at my shrimp.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Get Berghia Nudibranchs, work amazing

 

[Woodneers]

Berghia Nudibranchs from salty u underground I think it was! Like others have said a month later and all gone.

 

[ApoIsland]

Fish or shrimp only work as long as you keep the fish or shrimp in the tank. They can't eat 100% of the aiptasia if they have a deep crevice to retreat to and only work to suppress it as far as they can reach it. Lose the fish or shrimp and it will eventually come back.

F aiptasia worked better than aiptasia X for me. But it only worked on the bigger ones where I could get a big glob on the head. The smaller ones came back after a month or so as I believe I just didnt get enough paste on them.

 

[Juniorh2r]

I agree with the gentleman who suggested filefish make sure its aptaisia eating filefish I've heard they devour them

 

[jaganshi066]

I rid my entire tank of Aptasia with Aptasia X.
Took six months, once a week treatment, but all gone for almost a year now.
I don’t know why this product works for some and not others....very strange..

The problem with some predators is after the Aptasia is gone, sometimes Corals become a target

Seems like everyone has a different experience with peppermint shrimp or File Fish. I'm in the File Fish camp. I have a pair in an AIO 60g and the only aiptasia I ever see is in the back filtration compartment. They enjoy meaty fresh food also and don't seem to bother any corals (yet). I gave up on Aiptasia- X and the like. I also stopped buying frags from the LFS that has visible aiptasia in their frag tanks and my new tank is clean.

aiptasia x worked for me, tried 4 peppermints in my 40 gallon and all they did was go after every cerith and nerith snail I had.

 

[jaganshi066]

I rid my entire tank of Aptasia with Aptasia X.
Took six months, once a week treatment, but all gone for almost a year now.
I don’t know why this product works for some and not others....very strange..

The problem with some predators is after the Aptasia is gone, sometimes Corals become a target.

I’ve tried peppermints and they didn’t touch it and instead went after my nerith and cerith snails. Literally flipped them over from the glass and I had to keep pushing them away. I tried aiptasia x and the thing worked and it hasn’t been back

 

[Juniorh2r]

I was having the same problem so I bought 4 medium sized berghia nudibranchs. Honestly I thought either the fish ate them or they didn't make until one day i saw one it was way bigger obviously it was munching on aptaisia. After a month they've completely wiped all of them out I do not see one single aptaisia and I actually had a lot of them.

 

[MattW33]

I bought a marginalis butterfly to knock my aip population back. It cleared all the visible ones in a few months. Only time will tell if it's going to at anything more desirable! I have a bluethroat trigger so shrimps were a no go, and I decided that a filefish was too high a risk. Berghia just seem a bit hit and miss for a long term solution, could end up being expensive if you end up replacing them every year or so. I'm not convinced your average tank can support enough aptasia to keep them alive and breeding long term.

 

[MnFish1]

Seriously -I have a copper band (a great fish) - doesnt eat aiptasia. Bought peppermint shrimp - god rest their souls - the harlequin tusk had a good meal, The filefish eats flake food, LRS and everything but aiptasia. The berghia. - Release from their jar at night - while the fish are asleep- took care of it within a month

 

[MnFish1]

IMHO injecting these things is a temporary fix. they come back.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Everything I read said they are not reef safe?

I have 1 in each tank. Never bothers anything. You must get the one with blue on its face. The yellow version will go after zoa eventually

This version which many I told of had success with theirs:

 

[vetteguy53081]

IMHO injecting these things is a temporary fix. they come back.

In my drop off tank, injecting with kalkwasser powder mixed into a thin paste and a little lemon juice got rid of them for good (been 7 months) but you but inject dead center of them

 

[MnFish1]

I have 1 in each tank. Never bothers anything. You must get the one with blue on its face. The yellow version will go after zoa eventually

This version which many I told of had success with theirs:

Oh - I might have made a mistake - I didnt mean to say butterflies wouldn't work. I might have responded to the wrong post.. Nice fish BTW. I want to get 3 large semilarvatus - but nervous about ordering online - trying to get from my QT shop

 

[MnFish1]

In my drop off tank, injecting with kalkwasser powder mixed into a thin paste and a little lemon juice got rid of them for good (been 7 months) but you but inject dead center of them

I had within a week 100 - I was like - no way am I going to do that. The berghia did the job lol. lots of things work - but - as in jurassic park' nature finds a away.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Oh - I might have made a mistake - I didnt mean to say butterflies wouldn't work. I might have responded to the wrong post.. Nice fish BTW. I want to get 3 large semilarvatus - but nervous about ordering online - trying to get from my QT shop

And syringe agreed doesn’t work for everyone

 

[jaganshi066]

IMHO injecting these things is a temporary fix. they come back.

I used aiptasia x since my 4 peppermints didn’t do anything, and they haven’t came back for months