Debating on tearing down my DT :(

[Fourstars]

Another tip is to not feed when you start to see an outbreak. That means observing the tank every day! Your corals have another score of food for awhile while you get it under control.

 

[jgvergo]

Are you sure that the Peppermints were actually Peppermints? There are many reports of shrimps being sold as Peppermints that are actually a similar looking species, but not the real deal.

 

[leahfiish]

I've seen worse than that. It will take some dedication but you can definitely beat this! I have dealt with tanks much worse than that and I usually use kalk paste. Fill a 3ml pipette and kill as many as you can with that. Repeat ever day until they are totally gone. Make sure you turn off flow and completely cover the whole anemone. Also check everywhere. Turn your rocks around and check the back. Make sure you really get them all!

 

[Gareth elliott]

Are your rocks all connected? If any of the rocks able to be out of the tank I find pests on the rocks 10x easier to battle in air than in water. I havent had pest anemones but how i deal with hydras and vermitids. Pull the rock out apply whatever i need to kill. If takes a little longer i give the rock some soak time in water change water.

 

[Deinonych]

I had an infestation easily as bad as yours in my tank (105g). I added berghias in early July of last year. It took them a while, but they completely cleared my DT of aiptasia after about 6 months. Started really slow, but by the end of November, I was seeing noticeable progress every day. The key is to acclimate them properly, ensure there are no predators and give them time. They will kill them all - even in the overflow (I had them there too).

 

[Paullawr]

When I had an infestation I added peppermint shrimp which did nothing, nudibranch which did nothing, copperband ditto. What did work was a filefish. It took about four weeks to settle in the tank but soon got to work...then ate my Zoas.....

Still the problem for infestations is usually down to an abundance of nutrients. Have you overfed the tank in the past?

Get that in check first to help reduce the reproduction further.

There is no easy answer and it’s going to be hard work whether you restart or try and eradicate.

 

[pdisner]

If I were you... I would get some marine pure blocks or spheres and run the 30 gallon until it’s fully cycled. You have time. The aiptasia isn’t going to crash your tank. Once the 30 cycles, add your fish, corals, and inverts. Drain your AIO and kill the rock and sanitize the tank and start over. I typically wouldn’t recommend that but your infestation is pretty substantial and the typical treatments aren’t going to work.

I agree totally.

 

[bglegs]

I agree totally.

That's a berghia's paradise. Order from salty underground

 

[aquaregia]

Juvenile peppermint shrimp have worked for me on several occasions 100%!!

 

[O'l Salty]

What are you going to do if they pop up in the new tank. It's better to learn how to deal with them because eventually they will show up in your new tank. File fish Has always worked for me. Maybe you could try another one.

 

[Fin]

I have a Copperband and he kept my display absolutely aiptasia free for about 10 years - until the display was torn down for a tank upgrade. Never saw a single one in my display, but there were a number of them in the overflows and some in the sump. I tried a file fish in another tank. He did wipe out the aiptasia, but then turned his attention to my zoanthids.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

It was great to log on tonight after not being able to yesterday, and feeling the R2R family love from almost everyone that commented. Since a few questions have been asked more than once, I am going to do my best to answer them in the next couple of posts.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

Maintenance Schedule

• Water changes once per week or every 2 weeks depending. I make my own water with RODI and Instant Ocean.
• Reef Octopus 100 HOB skimmer emptied and cleaned as needed
• No filter socks or other mechanical filtration
• Tank is barebottom with detritus picked up with a turkey baster every day or every other day

Overfeeding
It's definitely possible and heck even probable that I've overfed my tank from time to time; who hasn't especially when the fish start begging? It's something I actively monitor with careful observation of how much the fish eat and how quickly as well as how much detritus I find on the bottom of the tank.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

Peppermint Shrimp
I tried peppermints already. I bought 2 each from LiveAquaria and a LFS and inspected each one very careful to make sure it was a peppermint and not a camelback. I will probably not do peppermints again because they bothered my coral too much between stealing food and actual damage to coral. I witnessed 2 peppermints surround a torch and then tear into it, completely destroying the coral.

Copperband Butterfly
Not going to even attempt a Copperband. The tank is only a 45g and with as difficult as copperbands notoriously are, I'm not going to stress out an already difficult fish that I've never kept in a tank that is 1/3 the size they should be in. I wish the tank is bigger because I would LOVE to have a copperband even if I didnt have an aiptasia problem.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

Chemical things I've already tried

• Aiptasia X
• Joe's Juice
• Lemon juice
• Vinegar
• Kalk paste

As everyone says, at the end of the day the infestation only ends up worse. I tried to full myself into thinking that these were working but I don't think they really did much. That being said, I did load up a few syringes of Kalk paste tonight and do another round in the tank. I'm hoping to have my new nudis here on Thursday so I figured this would be my last opportunity to try and make a tiny dent in the buggers before they get here.

 

[TheLadyCrash]

The berghias are going to be ordered from ReefTown this time because Salty Underground is out of the medium size. I am planning on getting 10 mediums and 2 egg spirals to hopefully get a 2nd generation pretty quick. I haven't decided if I'm going to move the Filefish to an acclimation box until the nudis have safely moved in or not. The emerald crab will most likely be temporarily relocated to the 12g tank in my office until the nudis are settled.

As mentioned earlier, I did one round of kalk paste tonight hoping to kill off some of the larger aiptasia since I won't be able to once I get the nudis.

I am hoping that the nudis can be proven as successful and I plan to document the process (with lots of pictures!) starting from introduction and hopefully eradication. My goal is to be able to post lots of photos of my coral collection (I have a LOT more than was shown in my DT pic) while not getting distracted by the ugly aiptasia.

 

[Poacher]

If I were you... I would get some marine pure blocks or spheres and run the 30 gallon until it’s fully cycled. You have time. The aiptasia isn’t going to crash your tank. Once the 30 cycles, add your fish, corals, and inverts. Drain your AIO and kill the rock and sanitize the tank and start over. I typically wouldn’t recommend that but your infestation is pretty substantial and the typical treatments aren’t going to work.

Get a bunch of peppermint shrimp they cleaned mine up a few years back when I had an outbreak

 

[Myk Verified Sponsor]

Hey TLC...... Still waiting on those test results.

I know that you posted a list above of the various treatments, but hear me out. AiptasiaX does work, but it has to be done tediously correctly. You must "sneak up" on the Aiptasia, place the tip of the syringe in the tentacles and wait for the nem to try to eat it and then gently squeeze a dollop into the mouth of the nem. Will only work if it eats it. This is work, but well worth it. Also, work in sections. Don't spend more than 10 or 15 minutes on it at a go. Just do a little every day. This in conjunction with a natural predator will slowly but surely cut back the numbers. The reality of the situation is that most natural predators other than obligate will probably eat other things after the nems are gone. Obligate feeders (berghia) will starve and die when the nems are gone.

Go to a good LFS if you have one nearby and explain the situation to them and see if they will get you a small tank raised Aiptasia eating filefish as a possible "loaner" fish to clean up the nems. If the fish is a good citizen after the job is done keep it. If not and it starts to snack on things it is not supposed to, have that arrangement in place with your LFS to buy it back from you for a half credit. It sounds like you are already set against peps and they are hard to remove once in the tank anyway. Filefish are slow and tame easily and are simple to remove from the tank if you need to. If you have to get rid of the filefish just keep that bottle of AipX around and knock out the occasional nem if and when they pop up as a part of your normal maintenance routine.

Consider running mechanical filtration temporarily for the duration of the treatment of the infestation cleaning it regularly and then go back to your original routine after you are free or sufficiently controlled of the Aiptasia.

Lastly, please don't nuke your tank! When mother nature has an infestation she doesn't typically send in a meteor and blast away everything and start over. Usually she sends in predators or lately a little human intervention.

Good luck and don't give up!

 

[pharazon]

The berghias are going to be ordered from ReefTown this time because Salty Underground is out of the medium size. I am planning on getting 10 mediums and 2 egg spirals to hopefully get a 2nd generation pretty quick. I haven't decided if I'm going to move the Filefish to an acclimation box until the nudis have safely moved in or not. The emerald crab will most likely be temporarily relocated to the 12g tank in my office until the nudis are settled.

As mentioned earlier, I did one round of kalk paste tonight hoping to kill off some of the larger aiptasia since I won't be able to once I get the nudis.

I am hoping that the nudis can be proven as successful and I plan to document the process (with lots of pictures!) starting from introduction and hopefully eradication. My goal is to be able to post lots of photos of my coral collection (I have a LOT more than was shown in my DT pic) while not getting distracted by the ugly aiptasia.

I can’t wait to see the pictures of your progress! The last thread I read about Berghia nudis was basically a pictorial of the battle from start to finish and it was awesome!

I am by no means a Berghia expert, or an expert of any kind for that matter, but I think you may have better success with even more nudi’s. If your invasion is as bad as you say it is, then I think you can probably sustain them. You may consider thinning the herd as the aiptasia population dwindles, but I think you would also benefit from an expedited aiptasia annhilation.

Do you have a plan for your nudi’s after the aiptasia problem is handled, assuming that occurs before they reach old age naturally?

 

[TheLadyCrash]

I can’t wait to see the pictures of your progress! The last thread I read about Berghia nudis was basically a pictorial of the battle from start to finish and it was awesome!

I am by no means a Berghia expert, or an expert of any kind for that matter, but I think you may have better success with even more nudi’s. If your invasion is as bad as you say it is, then I think you can probably sustain them. You may consider thinning the herd as the aiptasia population dwindles, but I think you would also benefit from an expedited aiptasia annhilation.

Do you have a plan for your nudi’s after the aiptasia problem is handled, assuming that occurs before they reach old age naturally?

I hadn’t thought all the way through to that part. If I do get to where the population has exhausted the aiptasia, I will probably try and sell them to other local reefers for the cost (or less) and hopefully help out others in my area.