Aptasia - when do you quit

[TonapahNorth]

At what point do you throw in the towel? I have spent hundreds of dollars on berghia nudibranchs with zero response from the seller, despite his frequently saying he has responded. (I have the screenshots). I have spent a lot of money on shrimp, copperband butterfly which is thriving, and now an aptasia eating file fish. Is there a point when you just throw in the towel and burn the whole ****** tank? I got out of this hobby years ago due to aptasia and i'm about done again. I'm fustrated at the lack of control we have over this nuisance. I'm mad at myself for my inability to keep it out of my tank. Yes, I have two (not one) quarantine tanks. I use reputable coral sellers only. You know who you are. And i'm upset at the gimmicks that are designed to control them. I worked very hard to keep this tank clear of nuisance aptasia because I knew it was what got me out of the hobby years ago. I don't know if its even recoverable if i had ten file fish eating non-stop. too many and they grow too fast .. spitting nails in disgust

 

[jsker]

I here ya, I have one file fish on duty. I had aptasia about two years ago taking over. A matted filefish took care of my aptasia in about two weeks. I have had a couple pop up here and there and they are gone by the next day.

 

[CodyRVA]

Can you post some pics? Have you tried other means of handling the issue besides livestock; such as aiptasia X?

 

[alton]

Since you tried berghias I am guessing you have a wrasse and why they did not work?

 

[TonapahNorth]

I have two wrasse. But was told by the seller that these particular wrasse weren’t an issue. Mccoskers which I have rehomed to a friend. And a leopard which I still have.

@jsker I have an “aptasia eating file fish”. But it is small. I think there are some aptasia as large as it is. I don’t have a lot of confidence that it will do much good. I also have a copperband that is very healthy and doing great. I see him pecking. But he seems to be looking for pellets.

it’s too embarrassing to post photos

 

[SPR1968]

I’ve always used Red Sea Aptasia X to good effect, once you get the timing of the squirting correct. Hover over/away from the mouth and then fire!

If you have a lot just do it over a period of weeks when you get time and you should soon have it under control, that’s what I did anyway.

I also got 3 peppermint shrimps as well once under reasonable control

 

[jsker]

I have two wrasse. But was told by the seller that these particular wrasse weren’t an issue. Mccoskers which I have rehomed to a friend. And a leopard which I still have.

@jsker I have an “aptasia eating file fish”. But it is small. I think there are some aptasia as large as it is. I don’t have a lot of confidence that it will do much good. I also have a copperband that is very healthy and doing great. I see him pecking. But he seems to be looking for pellets.

it’s too embarrassing to post photos

I will go first, I thought this was a coral when I first setup my tank . Tried to kill it when I discovered it was apitasia with apitasia X and it spread like wildfire;Jawdrop. The Matted filefish work for me

Some have success with the copper bands and some have used Berghia Nodibranchs link

 

[sfin52]

The lepoard wrasse will eat the nudies if I'm not mistaken. A file fish like @jsker stated.

 

[rossco]

I have used berghias twice, once with decent success, 95% removal rate and once with no results. I have lots of flow.

The 95% rate was not effective, the aptasia came back.

My tank had become a nightmare like yours and I decided to give peppermint shrimp a try. I had resisted in the past because of their tendency to poach food from LPS after target feeding. I didn’t care anymore and don’t have that many LPS anymore.

I made sure to get the peppermint shrimp that “dance” as they sit idle behind the rocks. I put 8 in my 210 gallon, and I have zero aptasia now. Zero. It took a month or so but I could see them disappear by the day.

Don’t give up.

 

[André Brasil]

I had luck with a peppermint shrimp. Although, after the aiptasia were gone he started going for the soft corals...still, no aiptasia!!

Giving a direct answer to your question: NEVAAAA!

 

[csb123]

I was about to nuke the tank when my aiptasia problem seemed insurmountable. I did everything you’ve done. $700 of berghia did nothing for me. The filefish picked at ny duncan more than the aiptasia.

What I did was the following. I systematically removed the rock, corals and all, and literally painted the exposed rock with kalk paste. I then returned the rock back to the tank. It would cause a ph spike to 8.5 for a few hours, but would return to normal. The alk would bump up. When the alk drifted down to a bit, I would move on to the next rock. Over the period of a month, I had all the rock treated (it is a 300 gallon tank.) Any surviving aiptasia got smothered in kalk paste with a syringe. Afterward, I got a Copperband which has kept my display clear of the devils. I lost no corals, but a few acros browned out. Killing all the aiptasia did cause a nutrient spike which I controlled with skimming, chaeto, and DIY NOPOX.

The kalk paste was made with a 1/4 cup kalk powder thinned with ro water to a latex paint consistency (yielded about 1 cup.) This was enough to tread a pretty big rock.

This whole process was a major PITA, but a few months later the tank looks fantastic and the corals are taking off.

Good luck! You’re not alone.

 

[Bob Escher]

I have a 45 gal AIO that I converted to have a SUMP. I have aptasia all over the back of the tank. I have peppermint shrimp ( I think their still in their as they’re always hiding behind the rock) in the front.
and it looks like they are keeping the front at bay although I found three this morning.
The sump is clean. But the back is loaded.
I can’t get to the back with a syringe. So now I’m thinking either nudibranch or very small file fishes but there a few large aptasia in there.

I am also just thinking of getting rid of it and getting a Red Sea 250. I’m size restricted

Any other ideas would be appreciated Thanks

 

[WVNed]

You quit when they are all dead.

It is what it is.

 

[reeftopia]

Have 9 tanks and keep an aptaisia eating file fish in each. They are not an overnight cure but I have seen them eliminate hundreds of aptaisia. You may have a dud but I would get 2 more until they are destroyed you can always sell them after words

 

[EHerbert]

I tried the berghia to no avail. Aiptasia X caused a population boom and I guess I got the wrong peppermints because they didn't work either. Then I got two Matted File Fish. One was the size of a dime and the other a quarter. In three weeks my infestation was gone. They are both about two inches now and I am hard pressed to find the pesty nems. Make sure it's a Matted File Fish as like the peppermint shrimps, all of them are not aiptasia eaters. I know it's frustrating but hang in there... it's a process. Good luck.

 

[GlassyReefer]

I’m going to chime in and say the Berghias are a win in my book. I had a 75 gallon tank and had tried using peppermint shrimp but after a few weeks they would get tired of eating aiptasia (my tank was covered) and they started attacking all my bubble tip anemones . Im talking they hunkered down day and night and camped on these poor anemones until they wouldn’t even open up anymore. I had to remove the peppermint shrimp .

I then bought some berghias , 9 to be exact. All medium size. I carefully followed the instructions and watched as they scurried into rocks. I saw NO RESULTS for close to a month. But slowly, the aiptasia started disappearing and I started seeing tons of baby berghias all over everything. Over two months (three months total) they completely erradicated the aiptasia 100%x I’m talking 100s if not thousands of aiptasia gone. I tried to capture some to pass along and save them but the population of berghias seems to have died after the food source was gone.

 

[CodyRVA]

FWIW, I also experienced blooms with Aiptasia X until I figured out how to use it properly. I can honestly say when I first started using it I was not hitting the "sweet spot" and within a week there were several more aiptasia than before using Aiptasia X. After treating multiple times, reading the instructions carefully, and with simple practice, my aiptasia were no more and are easily resolved now with a single spot treatment.

 

[bkelley02]

For those using the Matted file fish, have you noticed them picking st or eating anything else in the tank that you dont want them to? LPS, Zoas, SPS?

 

[TonapahNorth]

Thanks for the support. I'm not glad that I'm alone but I'm glad to see some success stories here. It's beyond frustrating to see a beautiful tank overrun with these dang things.

Have 9 tanks and keep an aptaisia eating file fish in each. They are not an overnight cure but I have seen them eliminate hundreds of aptaisia. You may have a dud but I would get 2 more until they are destroyed you can always sell them after words

I have ordered another matted filefish today. Wish me luck.

I should take "before" and hope for an "after" success.

 

[Fredm]

Hi

Sorry for my poor english...Sometimes i sa w people who use "big" laser...Good idea or not.

Tanks
Fred