Aiptasia taking over

[twilliard]

Superglue
No need to take the rock out of the water.
Touch them with the tip of the tube and when they retract fill their spot with glue.

 

[hawkinsrgk]

I have had good luck using kalk paste. Squirt it in the center and it has killed all of mine

 

[swat2]

Careful with the peppermint shrimp , it ate my chalice and started on my acans before I could stop him. [emoji36]

 

[rossco]

I think peppermint and copperbands. Only eat the small ones.

I have seen that as well. My Copperband has done a nice job taking care of mine, but the big ones I had to hit with Joe's Juice first and get them to retract and stress, then the Copperband moved in the next day and took care of them when they were shriveled up. I'm hoping that the Copperband will start eating with the rest of the fish. I have had it a month and it still picking at the rocks all day long, but snubs everything else I feed the other fish.

Joes Juice and Aiptasia X both just seem to make them retract for a week and then they are back. I have tried using different amounts, from just a little so they consume it, all the way to covering them but they keep coming back. Either it is not killing them or there are small ones around them that take their place.

 

[mrcoffee2]

If you have coral bhergia

 

[rock_lobster]

Funny no one boils them. It has to be by far the best method... The hot water stuns them so they don't even retract unlike the other methods of trying to inject them. Glue is far more work, a waste of glue not to mention....

 

[Kershaw]

Funny no one boils them. It has to be by far the best method... The hot water stuns them so they don't even retract unlike the other methods of trying to inject them. Glue is far more work, a waste of glue not to mention....

I have tried this with out luck. They seem to come back.

 

[Reef_Chief]

don't use a mojano wand, you'll wind up with 6+ for every adult you zap. I've always been a fan of a combo of peppermints and aptasia x. I kill whatever adults I can find with the ap x and let the peppermints take care of the babies

 

[maroun.c]

I've had good luck with CBB and it ate frozen and never touched other Corals or clams... It still faded away an died months after it finished aptasia sin my tank.
Watch out for the nutrient levels as it effects how much the aptasia population grows in the tank.

 

[Kershaw]

I think best bet after solving issue is to keep peppermint shrimp in tank. They eat other stuff and should kill little aptaisa before you even see it. I have 2 in a 125 and and all my aptaisa was small. Gone about a week after I put them in.

 

[ESVAreefer]

Issues: super glue can cause them to split and make more if they have even a small space to escape which is something they have with porous rock. Peppermint shrimp eat everything they've opportunistic they ate my aiptasia and LPS at the same time... Despite being very well fed and then they left the aiptasia alone. Boiling water works but again they can be deep in a rock and you can miss them also heats up your tank if you use a lot also be fast it cools fast too so it's not practical for large numbers. Copper bands are great but easily stress and die, they can eat then stress die then the aiptasia grow back because the CBB does not eat the whole thing and one cell can make a new one. Aiptasia X is great for small ones but again you run into issues with big ones and they'll grow back that's why I use to use a toooon of aiptasia x for 1 so it's not used by me anymore! I love Kalk paste it's great at killing them in 1-2 uses depending on size(again 1 cell can grow a new aiptasia) but I learned fast it can be VERY bad if you don't use it right you'll kill all your coral. File fish I'm thinking (haven't used them) are in the same boat as CBB reef safe with caution but minus the stress that kills the butterflies. Joes juice is about the same as aiptasia x as far as effectiveness. Laser never used mojano wand never used. Berghias are superior in every way for large numbers or even 10-20 small ones scattered everywhere in your tank took 2 1/2 months to eat all the aiptasia I delt with.... Thouuuuusands -_- I'd say use a couple different methods if you can but sure fire is berghia Nudibranchs.

 

[jt17]

Bergias worked for me the first time. The second outbreak they didn't work as I had increased the flow in my tank. If you have low flow then the berghias can work but the Aptasia that's in your overflows, pipes and sump will repopulate the DT once the berghias population crashes. I had hundreds maybe even thousands of Aptasia in my 155 and tried it all. what finally worked for me was a CBB. As mentioned before they can be tricky to acclimate. Make sure it's well established and feeding well at your LFS. Don't buy these mail order. You want to see it eating first. If it's not eating at the store then it likely won't eat in your tank.
I was at a LFS in Orlando a couple weeks back and they had one that actually ate nori. I spoke with them and they were able to get theirs to eat flake food also. My CBB loves LRS reef or fish frenzy.

 

[reefwiser]

I put Berghia in my tank and they where crawling around but I never saw any effect they must have been eaten by fish.
They would work best in a Coral QT tank with out fish in it.

 

[pscheel2]

For those of you having no luck with the filefish, shrimp, copperband etc, try not feeding the tank for a several days (don't worry your fish and corals won't die). They'll get hungry and most likely will find the aiptasia. Worked for my filefish. HTH

 

[eliramos]

My tank had a huge aiptasia outbreak I couldn't even stick my hand in there it was that bad.
My tank was too small for a copperband and those slugs would've taken forever to take them down. So I went for peppermint shrimp I bought like 8 of them and I cut my feedings in my tank and those shrimp went to town. In a few weeks I only had a few aiptasia left in comparison to the hundreds I must've had before.

 

[Icryhard]

I am having the same issue in my tank but I think I am more along the lines of about 100+. I have a file fish. He doesn't eat them. I dropped 24 peppermint shrimp. They had zero effect. I have tried 3 copperbands. All have died for one reason or another. The laser. Well I would love to know which one they used cause I bought a 1mw and a 5mw laser each were no more effect as a cat toy then a aptasia killer. I put in 10 Berghia Nudibranchs and well they must had been starving cause when the hit the tank and found aptasia. Well 5 out of 11 got stung and ate. It's very depressing to have a lot of money tied up in a tank to have it over run with zero you can do about it. But I will find a way. I WILL FIND A WAY!!!!!

I somewhat am "glad" I found someone who actually gives a realistic insight in regards to this. I have literally tried everything, just like you, and everyone who sells me X swears on their mother's grave it works and when I release the animal it either dies or just doesn't eat it. My latest one being a filefish, which I think looks beautiful. It just doesn't eat any ap. and the guy was telling me how it definitely did and his whole aquarium was totally cleaned by it blabla.

 

[Icryhard]

For those of you having no luck with the filefish, shrimp, copperband etc, try not feeding the tank for a several days (don't worry your fish and corals won't die). They'll get hungry and most likely will find the aiptasia. Worked for my filefish. HTH

How many days should I not feed them?

 

[vanguard]

My personal experience:


AiptasiaX - Did nothing, it kept spreading
Laser - Made it angry, came out the next day or so
Kalk - Made it angry, came out the next day or so
F-Aiptasia - Kills it but it's a pita
Peppermint shrimp - Killed them all in a few days, they haven't come back. I have about one per 10 gallons

Best of luck