Aiptasia

ajhudson15 · Jan 17, 2019

I am losing a battle with aiptasia. I have tried glue, aiptasia x, lemon juice. I just bought two file fish. The peppermints I bought were supposedly the right species but haven't touched them. I'm almost done with trying to get rid of them. I have seen people user peroxide. My question is can I take all the coral off and soak the rock in a peroxide bath for a few minutes and they will die?. What effect will the peroxide have on the bacteria growing on the rock?

bsn_rn_cen · Jan 17, 2019

I found a few aiptasia in a tank I took over. I was talking about it in my reef build and got a tip to take the rock out and use a baster to spray boiling water on the aiptasia. Have to make sure not to hit anything you want to live but it worked. Havent seen one since. Dont know if that is feasible for you but if it isnt to hard may try.

Credit @NY_Caveman for the tip

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 17, 2019

With the file fish in there , kill the big ones with app X and the fish should control the small ones.

EmdeReef · Jan 17, 2019

ajhudson15 said:
I am losing a battle with aiptasia. I have tried glue, aiptasia x, lemon juice. I just bought two file fish. The peppermints I bought were supposedly the right species but haven't touched them. I'm almost done with trying to get rid of them. I have seen people user peroxide. My question is can I take all the coral off and soak the rock in a peroxide bath for a few minutes and they will die?. What effect will the peroxide have on the bacteria growing on the rock?

Depending on the concentration and exposure time, H2O2 could kill bacteria. I would dose bacteria after doing that and test ammonia a few times or drop the ammonia badge and have prime on hand.

ajhudson15 · Jan 17, 2019

I have two big rocks in there. I was thinking of trading one out doing the peroxide bath putting it back in for a few days to build bacteria back up and then do the other one

ajhudson15 · Jan 17, 2019

Just a pain since alot of my sps is encrusting but I'm out of ideas

davocean · Jan 17, 2019

While aptasia X usually does not work to completely remove aptasia permanently, it's great to take down the big ones as mentioned, and it also kinda mushes or softens them up and this tends to encourage the critters that eat aptasia to begin doing so.

jwshiver · Jan 17, 2019

Have you considered a Copperband? I was losing the battle with Aptasia. It seemed like the more I used Aptasia X the worse they got. I was reluctant to buy a copperband because of the mixed reviews on their survival rate and, I don't like it when I have a fish that dies under my care. It seems some reefers have a problem getting them to eat. I decided purchased one because I have enough confidence in my QT process. After QT it went into my display and within 3 weeks there wasn't an Aptasia to be found. By the way it eats like a pig and will hold its own with all tank mates at feeding time and has doubled in size. While I have a predominantly SPS tank I do have two Acans. They stay closed up during the day because the Copperband will nip at their polyps if they open. That has been the only downside but its beauty and hard work annihilating Aptasia makes up for it.

ajhudson15 · Jan 17, 2019

I have thought about a cbb. Just nervous on it staying alive long enough to do the work

davocean · Jan 17, 2019

CBB's are cool, but so random on what they eat, if they eat, and do they eat aptasia.

I've seen claims the aussies eat it more, and the aussies I've had did eat it, they are pricey right now though.

I have had CBB's that ate prep'd foods, and not the aptasia, but I did have luck getting them to eat aptasia after hitting w/ aptasia X, it melts them enough to get them interested, and once they develop the taste...

Having files I would begin using apt X and see what happens first.

steallife904 · Jan 18, 2019

berghia nudibranch would be the only sure way to take them out without having to remove everything. that's literally all these things eat. I have 2 times used them with success (1 time was just recently). Ordered them from reeftown and had no issues. You have to make sure though you have nothing in your tank that will eat them.

If you know where they are on the rock you could pull the rock and burn them with lighter. that also works and you wont kill off the good stuff on rock.

Reab · Jan 18, 2019

steallife904 said:
berghia nudibranch would be the only sure way to take them out without having to remove everything. that's literally all these things eat. I have 2 times used them with success (1 time was just recently). Ordered them from reeftown and had no issues. You have to make sure though you have nothing in your tank that will eat them.

If you know where they are on the rock you could pull the rock and burn them with lighter. that also works and you wont kill off the good stuff on rock.

+1 on the nudibranch. They are the harlequin shrimp of the aptasia world. Like others have said typically the critters will not go after the large/mature ones as the babies are easier to get

amazongb · Jan 18, 2019

Looks for peppermints that have been fed aptasia.. I have an LFS and I watch him feed them... I had an aptasia problem, bought 2 from him, and they were gone within a couple weeks. I think I read that Algae Barn feeds aptasia to their peppermints, but not 100% sure..

UnbalancedNights · Jan 18, 2019

I would go with the berghia nudibranch as well.

If you do use berghia nudibranch make sure to get rid of the peppermint shrimp as they can eat the berghai. I'm not sure if file fish would eat the berghia though.

ajhudson15 · Jan 19, 2019

I have had the nudis and they cleaned my sump up. However I do have a Cori's wrasse that I'm sure wiped then or if my display. I have bought peppermints that were cultured on aiptasia tanks but still didn't rock any

Rc1989 · Jan 20, 2019

steallife904 said:
berghia nudibranch would be the only sure way to take them out without having to remove everything. that's literally all these things eat. I have 2 times used them with success (1 time was just recently). Ordered them from reeftown and had no issues. You have to make sure though you have nothing in your tank that will eat them.

If you know where they are on the rock you could pull the rock and burn them with lighter. that also works and you wont kill off the good stuff on rock.

Completely agree. I had a few in there and I added 3 of them. Within a week they were gone completely. Haven’t seen any since

rich nyc · Mar 10, 2019

I added berghias, did not have success. However, I decided to buy 4 peppermint shrimps (going on number 9 in a 20 gallon tank) and one of them is eating the aiptasias. Problems i I wont know which one so will have to keep all 9 in my tank. Maybe i will transfer some to my aiptasia free display tank. I had not luck with aiptasia x it got worse. Good luck