Aptasia issue

[Nmaran72]

Here’s my issue. My tank was fallow from may to aug. aug I added 3 fish that were qt. 2 clown fish and a goby. I have not added anything since. In November I fought bubble break out and now is gone. And now I’m fighting an aptasia outbreak. I’ve been blasting it with kalk but it seems to be spreading. How does this happen when you are not introducing anything to the tank. And what can I add to eat this crap.

 

[JCOLE]

What size tank do you have? I tried everything and the only thing that eradicated them was a Copperband Butterfly. Over 100 Aiptasia gone in 3 days.

 

[Uncle99]

Then at least the babies were in your DT.
peps usually work for smaller ones, I just kept hitting them with Apastia X every time I seen one.
Took about 6 months, knockoff 2-3 week, Have not seen any in the last three weeks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here is definite answer:
Kleini Butterfly. This fish will mow down the aptasia. After aptasia is gone, will eat everything offered in terms of food, Friendly, does not bother coral and nice colors.
I have three kleinis', three tanks and NO Aptasia

 

[Nmaran72]

My tank is a 60 gal aio with a 45 gal display.

 

[Eggs]

Here is definite answer:
Kleini Butterfly. This fish will mow down the aptasia. After aptasia is gone, will eat everything offered in terms of food, Friendly, does not bother coral and nice colors.
I have three kleinis', three tanks and NO Aptasia

Same here with using a Kleini.

 

[Bossman]

Here is definite answer:
Kleini Butterfly. This fish will mow down the aptasia. After aptasia is gone, will eat everything offered in terms of food, Friendly, does not bother coral and nice colors.
I have three kleinis', three tanks and NO Aptasia

That's a beautiful fish! Do you have leathers or LPS? I don't keep SPS...yet. But I do have some soft corals and leathers seem to like me. LA lists it as not reef safe but real life experience is a great thing.

TIA

 

[Enchanted Reefs]

Aptasia x worked for me maybe you can give it a try? Heres a link

Amazon.com: Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE22231 Aiptasia-X Eliminator Kit for Aquarium, 2oz/60ml: Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE22231 Aiptasia-X Eliminator Kit for Aquarium, 2oz/60ml: Pet Supplies

amzn.to

 

[vetteguy53081]

That's a beautiful fish! Do you have leathers or LPS? I don't keep SPS...yet. But I do have some soft corals and leathers seem to like me. LA lists it as not reef safe but real life experience is a great thing.

TIA

Both. I have 3 tanks- One in each tank ( All mixed reefs)

 

[ZoWhat]

Dealt with an Aiptasia problem until I did the following (from lots of research)

* wipe out the med-lrg sized Aiptasia with AiptasiaX.... because Copperbanded Butterflies will NOT eat med-lrg sized ones because the tentacles STINGS their eyes.

* after wiping out med-lrg sized ones (which may take a few times) in conjunction buy a Medium sized Copperbanded Butterfly. They WILL eat the baby to small sized Aiptasia as you handle the med-lrg ones.

* may take 3-4 months BUT once the only ones growing back are baby Aiptasia the CBB will eat them. Eventually they will be non existent in your tank.

P a t i e n c e

 

[Phil D.]

Ok, Aiptasia-X works good. But, if you want to get rid of every SCRAP of Aiptasia, go with Berghia nudibranchs. They ONLY eat Aiptasia!! Then you can pass onto other hobbyists with Aiptasia.

 

[Nmaran72]

I’m just curious as to how it gets in a system when nothing is being added

 

[amnesiac]

(Just so everyone knows I'm not crapping on anyone who uses AipX or kalk. Maybe it works just fine and I'm an idiot.) My experience with AiptasiaX was not great. When my Aips were around 10-20 I started using it and at first I thought "this stuff is great, aiptasia aint so tough". Then they came back and I fooled myself into thinking they were ones I must've missed. Dosed again and sure enough they were back in a few weeks. Rinse and repeat until 10-20 has become a full on invasion from tank to sump. I think that AipX and kalk can be effective if you can destroy the ENTIRE thing, but if not any scrap can regenerate a whole, so very easy for 1 to become 2 or even 5.
I was at tank tear down levels and a thought crossed my mind "will my wife still love me if she sees me crying about this tank?". Lucky for me though, there was an incredibly effective solution available: nudibranchs. They made short work of every Aip in site and for maybe 6-7 months I didn't see any. They did come back after that so I unleashed another smaller nudibranch mercenary team in there and tank's been clean ever since. I'm sure it's not 100%, but this for me it's manageable. -A

 

[Mical]

I’m just curious as to how it gets in a system when nothing is being added

It usually comes in on live rock and/or frags.

I cured two tanks of aiptasia with ORA filefish. I tried aiptasiaX (that irritated my nems), I tried kalk and even one of those lasers. The only thing these things did was irritate the aiptasia, which is basically an anemone. You irritate a nem and it splits. Same applies to aiptasia but they do it tenfold. I'd kalk one big one and within days I'd have dozens. Finally added a pair of ORA Filefish to both tanks and within 10 days aiptasia was gone. From what ORA told me, filefish are shy and eat at night and it could take up to two weeks to start seeing results. Since then they are model citizens and don't pick at any coral.

 

[flsalty]

I’m just curious as to how it gets in a system when nothing is being added

It only takes one. Scratch that, it only takes the bud of one. You either missed it or it was too small to see.

 

[JCOLE]

Dealt with an Aiptasia problem until I did the following (from lots of research)

* wipe out the med-lrg sized Aiptasia with AiptasiaX.... because Copperbanded Butterflies will NOT eat med-lrg sized ones because the tentacles STINGS their eyes.

* after wiping out med-lrg sized ones (which may take a few times) in conjunction buy a Medium sized Copperbanded Butterfly. They WILL eat the baby to small sized Aiptasia as you handle the med-lrg ones.

* may take 3-4 months BUT once the only ones growing back are baby Aiptasia the CBB will eat them. Eventually they will be non existent in your tank.

P a t i e n c e

?? Mine consumed ones that were at least 2". Must have been hungry or blind.

 

[Panky]

Anyone thought of using Green Scat?

 

[Bossman]

Here is definite answer:
Kleini Butterfly. This fish will mow down the aptasia. After aptasia is gone, will eat everything offered in terms of food, Friendly, does not bother coral and nice colors.
I have three kleinis', three tanks and NO Aptasia

So, I took vetteguy's advice and bought an Kleini Butterfly from LA. It was labled as an "Orange Butterfly" but goes by a couple of different names. I also really wanted the butterfly!

I received it Wednesday morning and expected no issues but my Tomini Tang was not happy. He charged the butterfly but fell short of nipping or using his tail. Today things are much more calm and everybody is getting used to the new fish. He looks beatiful IMO.

I was watching him this morning and low and behold.....he's eating aiptasia! I have leathers, zoas, palys, acans and no problem so far. I'll keep an eye on him but what a great solution to aiptasia.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So, I took vetteguy's advice and bought an Kleini Butterfly from LA. It was labled as an "Orange Butterfly" but goes by a couple of different names. I also really wanted the butterfly!

I received it Wednesday morning and expected no issues but my Tomini Tang was not happy. He charged the butterfly but fell short of nipping or using his tail. Today things are much more calm and everybody is getting used to the new fish. He looks beatiful IMO.

I was watching him this morning and low and behold.....he's eating aiptasia! I have leathers, zoas, palys, acans and no problem so far. I'll keep an eye on him but what a great solution to aiptasia.

You got a winner and will never see aptasia again

 

[Uncle99]

According to LA’s website, the fish Labelled “orange butterfly” is marked as “not reef safe” as they are known for eating especially leathers and some other polyps of corals.

They add that leathers are part of their natural diet.

Coral World says the same.

Keep well fed may avoid coral munching...and maybe this description is in error.