Aptasia problem

bjledbetter · Apr 22, 2012

It started out as a few and has grown to be many. i have tried joes juice, lemon juice, and currently tring a file fish but if he dosent stop tring to eat the snails hes gone. Whats the best way to kill these pain in the rears? Lemon juice seamed to kill some of them but i think it may have made some spread too tho. There mixed into my corals so i cant torch them or boil them.

akma · Apr 22, 2012

I purchased berghia nudibranches about 2 weeks ago and noticed a nice decline in aiptasia in my tank. If you don't have anything that eat berghias might want to try them.

SmokeyCFH · Apr 22, 2012

Use Blue Life's Aiptasia RX. I just used it today and it destroyed it on contact. Pretty awesome! and reef safe!

Reefpestsolutions · Apr 27, 2012

Definitely try berghia, there no overnight cure but effective. Berghia are a bit spendy you get what you pay for.

lawnman · Apr 27, 2012

Peppermint shrimp ate over 200 of them in my old tank in less than 2 weeks.

huuta · Apr 27, 2012

lawnman said:
Peppermint shrimp ate over 200 of them in my old tank in less than 2 weeks.

+1 0n the peppermint.I bought 2 for my 54 corner and the aptasia was begging for mercy

STL · Apr 28, 2012

+1 on peppermint shrimp, though if they're shy they won't do anything until they adjust to your tank.

Aiptasia-X works well while the shrimp are settling in, as well as on large ones that the shrimp won't touch.

Also, check your overflows, filter boxes, etc. - these things can colonize anywhere there's water and will repopulate your tank from their hidden fortress.

Braves Fan · Apr 28, 2012

I had good luck with the Peppermint Shrimp also, they really didn't mess with the big ones though. For those I would make a paste ball with Ms Wages Pickling Lime and shove the ball onto the Aiptasia. The pickling lime is sold at Wal Mart in the canning section, most reefers use it in their top off tank as a Kalk water solution, its cheap, it works and is good for your tank. The thing with Aiptasia, imo, once you have them, you will always have them, the Peppermint shrimp will keep them under control, then you use the the Pickling Lime to kill the bigger ones from time to time. Aiptasia X works well also, but at $20 a bottle, try the Ms Wages $2 a bag.

fsu1dolfan · Apr 30, 2012

lawnman said:
Peppermint shrimp ate over 200 of them in my old tank in less than 2 weeks.

Gotta admit - I tried all kinds of stuff from Aiptasia X, Joes Juice, Boiling water, Manjoa Zapper and yes even Berghia. While Berghia were the best out of that list...unfortunately they would always miss one or two and after a few months i would begin getting them again. This last time i finally decided to try peppermint shrimp. I was always worried about corals with these shrimp but after my crash last year i figured i truly have nothing to lose. I bought 3 for my 29 biocube, fed the tank before i put them in, and didnt feed the tank for 3 days. In those 3 days my Aiptasia's we completely gone. It was absoultely amazing. I then caught them in a plastic bottle trap (in 5mins) and gave them to my brother in law for his tank. That was roughly 2-3 months ago and no site of any aiptasia since!

blkhawk10 · Apr 30, 2012

peppermint shrimp have always worked for me...I'll put them in there and the next day when I wake up, boom! no more aiptasia!

btkrausen · Apr 30, 2012

I always used a Matted Filefish for my aiptasia problems. While not the prettiest fish in the world, the matted filefish are cool to look at, although both of mine were very shy. However, they pounded aiptaisia with no remorse.

akma · Apr 30, 2012

It's been about 3 weeks since i put my berghia nudi's in. I had an outbreak after trying to kalk it. Even though I haven't seen the nudi's since I put them in, I have to say about 95% of my aiptasia has disappeared.

fsu1dolfan · Apr 30, 2012

akma said:
It's been about 3 weeks since i put my berghia nudi's in. I had an outbreak after trying to kalk it. Even though I haven't seen the nudi's since I put them in, I have to say about 95% of my aiptasia has disappeared.

That's good. Just keep in mind if you see them and they are on the sand or your glass then they are hungry and looking for food. Try to carefully pick them up in a pipet and relocate next to an aiptasia. Be ready to give, trade, or sell them to another reefer because once all aiptasias gone they will die.

JoJo82 · Jun 13, 2012

I've also tried the lemon juice. In fact, that's what I've been doing for the last week or so. I have a massive aiptasia invasion in my 210g. I've tried copperbands (which my tangs weren't fond of), a file fish (which after a while just got used to eating flakes), and peppermint shrimp (which would disappear constantly). None of them truly worked. I've also tried the Aiptasia-X and other products, but they get quite expensive. The lemon juice is kinda doing it but it is taking a while. I just ordered a few berghia. Hopefully they'll be here soon. I'm hoping I'll have some luck with them and make all the aiptasia disappear once and for all.

I've also heard about using H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide). Has anyone tried this? Is it good? Any adverse effects? Also, I've been using the lemon juice quite frequently, anyone has heard of any ill effects on the tank from using this?

reef life · Jun 13, 2012

Peppermint shrimp worked ok at first,Then the aptasia returned. Use to blast with Kalk and worry about alk spikes. Bought 5 Berghias, 2 large and 3 small. Released into reef. Took aprox 2 months before I seen progress. I guess because I have about 300 lbs of reef. Can't find any aptasia on rock. Make sure the pump is off when releasing them and dont place them on an aptasia because it will sting it and kill a nudi. They usually hang in groups or pairs at least what I noticed.

velrui · Jun 13, 2012

let me know when you are going to get rid of your berghia i would like to buy them ...thanks and good luck..........

Reefpestsolutions · Jun 13, 2012

Hydrogen Peroxide is like dosing vodka, just a carbon source. This method for reamoving aiptasia will need to be repeated just like calk, jose juse, aiptasia x, lime juse, boiling water, lazer's, contunualy makeing aiptasia worse till you just give in and use berghia!

mcarroll · Jun 14, 2012

Try Klein's Butterflyfish for Aptasia or Majano anemones.

As with any critter you want to do a job in your tank, don't spoil them on fish food until your problem is gone (give them a few days at minimum). But as you have deduced from his job description, he's a polyp-eater - so watch your corals while you are witholding food. Feed only as needed. Once anemones are gone, keep them well fed like the rest of your fish.

Kleins are one of the hardiest, least demanding and best schooling fish I know - and they eat pest anemones!

Infinitely more attractive than a filefish too - which I've never personally seen anyone have luck with.

(Also, Hydrogen Peroxide (as the name alludes) is only hydrogen and oxygen - no carbon source. It works as an oxidizer or "bleach" if you will (like Chemi Clean, and the other similar products from Blueline and Ultralife, etc) so people do use it for dealing with algae or cyano issues sometimes - kinda like a carbon source in that way only.)

-Matt