Aptasia Question

Animal Chin · Jul 11, 2013

Ive had success with lemon juice. On live rock it took care of them instantly. Then a year later i got this beautiful red blasto colony and notice a big apastia in the middle. I hit it with lemmon juice and nuked it but the lemmon got into the coral skeleton and within days i lost all 18 bladtos! Felt like an idiot. I wouldnt suggest injecting lemmon on a coral...

The Saltwater Kid · Jul 12, 2013

The only thing that I found that works with no side effects at all are Berghia nudibranchs. Like someone else mentioned, they are not cheap...about $10 - $15 each for a 1/2" long nudi and you'd most likely need at least a couple depending on how big your tank is and how much of an infestation you have. The Klein's butterfly fish is another great weapon to use...they are an absolute aiptasia eating machine but unfortunately not 100% reef-safe. Aiptasia X (or whatever other aiptasia killing chemical of choice) works but as some other's have mentioned it seems like it causes the parent aiptasia to spew babies just before they die so instead of 1 large pest you have a dozen (or more) baby pests which is worse! I have tried all of these methods and I greatly favor natural predation over adding chemicals to my water that could possibly screw up my water chemistry. Honestly if you can spare the expense the Berghia are worth their weight in gold and WILL eradicate all aiptasia in your tank and if you don't have any predators that will eat their egg's they will also breed and have babies. The only downside is they ONLY eat aiptasia and once they are gone the Berghia no longer have a food source in your tank and will starve and eventually die so it's best to sell/give them to another reefer after they have finished their job in your tank so they can help someone else. The Klein's will also completely rid your tank of aiptasia but they will also nibble on some of your corals (mine had an Acan he liked particularly well) so it's more of if can you accept some minor coral losses as payment for ridding your tank of the vermin decision. Hope this helps...I have some new aiptasia myself and have already contacted my LFS about ordering me some Berghia nudi's :bigsmile: .

ajwalker261985 · Jul 12, 2013

I used lemon juice yesterday and killed mine off!

you may have to just keep going back over the ones you miss.

Just try and use a syringe with the pointy caps to make it easier and make sure you inject it into its body,they'll go purple and shrivel up and die straight away if you got it right if not ul have to wait for it to show up again prob 5-10 minutes later and then get the little sucker!

steamer51 · Jul 18, 2013

Be careful with Kalk paste. My stupid fish eat anything I put in there and I lost three after the last time I used Kalk. You'd think after one taste they would quit but they kept going back while I was chasing them away from the rocks.