Just how far do you let Aiptasia go?

wesman42 · Sep 30, 2018

So, how far do you let Aiptasia go before you call it a real problem? Does anyone have pictures of it taking over? I just want to feel a little better about my current situation, possibly decrease the stress a little lol.

My tank has some rock in it with around 3-10 aiptasia on each rock all small to medium. I'm honestly thinking about getting some berghia but I don't want to get rid of the aiptasia if it's not bad enough to sustain the number I buy.

ScottandAlisa · Sep 30, 2018

I saw my friends tank get a pretty bad aiptasia infestation within a couple months... its better to be on the proactive side and nip it in the butt before it gets pretty bad.
She ended up getting a peppermint shrimp which ate all the small aiptasia. I have heard it is hit or miss though when trying to find a shrimp that has a taste for them.

THX1138CY · Sep 30, 2018

Kill it now, get the berghia. I had 2-3 I ignored in my refugium, and am now battling them, have killed 50 at least and they keep coming. Aptasia-X and Joes juice work, but are nothing compared to a berghia.

philfree · Sep 30, 2018

I allowed two to exist in my tank, did nothing about it. 2 years later, there was a tiny one at least every 3 inches. Tried peppermint shrimp with no success. Got a bristletail filefish, I'm now aiptasia free!

wesman42 · Sep 30, 2018

philfree said:
I allowed two to exist in my tank, did nothing about it. 2 years later, there was a tiny one at least every 3 inches. Tried peppermint shrimp with no success. Got a bristletail filefish, I'm now aiptasia free!

Thanks for the suggestions...but I have found reading around about aiptasia that it really depends on the fish for aiptasia kinda like peppermint shrimp. Maybe I'm wrong with the filefish?

All I know is I'm not willing to put my new frags through peppermint shrimps lol.

My issue with berghia is they are expensive if you have a large tank...maybe I'm looking in the wrong place? Anyone have an idea on where to get them?

Nburg's Reef · Sep 30, 2018

I kill on site. My tank is aptasia free and always was. If I ever get a rock or coral with one, i waste no time killing. With that, i have never seen one on anything established in any of my tanks since starting 12 years ago

philfree · Sep 30, 2018

wesman42 said:
Thanks for the suggestions...but I have found reading around about aiptasia that it really depends on the fish for aiptasia kinda like peppermint shrimp. Maybe I'm wrong with the filefish?

All I know is I'm not willing to put my new frags through peppermint shrimps lol.

My issue with berghia is they are expensive if you have a large tank...maybe I'm looking in the wrong place? Anyone have an idea on where to get them?

The other problem with berghia, is that's all you can get them to eat. I've tried different filefish in two different tanks, both have mowed down aiptasia. Bristletail seem to be the ones to go with, especially if they are ORA or Biota bred.
Even if not they seem to have an appetite for them and will scavenge on them when bored.
Additionally, once they take care of your aiptasia infestation, they will readily eat and enjoy your fish feeding regimen.

Firemanreefkeeper · Sep 30, 2018

Berghia take a couple of weeks to start working. And they reproduce too. There was a thread on here about them. I don't know how to link it, just search it. Ive tried aiptasia x and it makes them worse. I have a peppermint shimp that is on a hunger strike, I haven't seen him eat anything. He just hides in a rock. Ive looked at various times in day and night. I'm getting some berghia with my next paycheck as my problem multiplies by the day it seems.

ScottandAlisa · Sep 30, 2018

wesman42 said:
All I know is I'm not willing to put my new frags through peppermint shrimps lol.

I have one in my tank and spot feed mysis whenever I feed my fish/coral, its never picked on any of my coral. But I do understand that thats something people may not be willing to do!

Cody @ChaosAq · Sep 30, 2018

Definitely destroy. When they spore to make new heads they will destroy any coral nearby. For example they can burn holes into sps and clear an area around themselves once they settle. Do not experiment with time and aiptasia, you sill lose.

Murica · Sep 30, 2018

Get rid of it immediately before it's too late. You'll be kicking yourself down the road if you let it be.

My old peppermints never touched corals but I've heard a lot of horror stories as well

wesman42 · Sep 30, 2018

I think I'll go ahead and get some berghia then. If I don't see a change in my aiptasia problem, then I'll go with a filefish + berghia. I guess it's time to start attacking this with several approaches at one time.

cmcoker · Sep 30, 2018

If you use berghia, there should be no other aiptasia predators in the tank. No peppermints, no filefish. My understanding is they will eat the berghia since they compete for same food.

Also do not try to help the berghia along by using kalk or aiptasia X or similar, if these remedies have been taken up by the aiptasia, it can harm the berghia when they go to eat the aiptasia.

wesman42 · Sep 30, 2018

cmcoker said:
If you use berghia, there should be no other aiptasia predators in the tank. No peppermints, no filefish. My understanding is they will eat the berghia since they compete for same food.

Also do not try to help the berghia along by using kalk or aiptasia X or similar, if these remedies have been taken up by the aiptasia, it can harm the berghia when they go to eat the aiptasia.

Well that's insightful, thanks. Once they get rid of the aiptasia, I'm assuming they die? Are they toxic in any way if they do die?

PanchoG · Sep 30, 2018

Zero tolerance, kill it every single time, filefish, peppermint shrimps, paste to bury them it is the only way. My tank is aiptasia free.

w8_4iT · Oct 1, 2018

wesman42 said:
Well that's insightful, thanks. Once they get rid of the aiptasia, I'm assuming they die? Are they toxic in any way if they do die?

I'd be interested to find out also. If berghia exclusively eats aiptasia, what happens to the berghia if there aren't anymore to eat?

cmcoker · Oct 1, 2018

When there are no more aiptasia, the berghia will starve and die. Flip side is if you start taking them out to save them too soon, aiptasia comes back.. dont ask me how I know that....

You will start seeing them cruising around the tank looking for food, they will be white instead of brownish when they are hungry. Eating thr aiptasia gives them color.

They are not toxic when they die, to my knowledge

w8_4iT · Oct 2, 2018

cmcoker said:
When there are no more aiptasia, the berghia will starve and die. Flip side is if you start taking them out to save them too soon, aiptasia comes back.. dont ask me how I know that....

You will start seeing them cruising around the tank looking for food, they will be white instead of brownish when they are hungry. Eating thr aiptasia gives them color.

They are not toxic when they die, to my knowledge

Would the CUC then take care of the dead berghia?

spartanman22 · Oct 2, 2018

Do not wait! I’m am just now recovering from a terrible outbreak. Had hundreds in a 35 gallon AIO. Tried berghia a bit they disappeared and never did anything. Waited three months because everything I read said to give it time for them to settle and start reproducing. I added 4 adults, but after the first week never saw them again. Aiptasia numbers continued to increase. So, three months later I added 6 peppermints. No luck. Month later I added a matted file fish, and within one month I am now 100% aiptasia free.

rossco · Oct 2, 2018

I have spent over 500 dollars on berghias in the past in 2 separate orders. First time, they did a decent job, but died off before eating every last aiptasia. A year and a half later my display was literally infested. Second order did no good at all, they must have all died from the get go.

I was going to go with a matted filefish (also known as the aiptasia eating filefish) and the two at the LFS did not eat aiptasia in their holding tank. So I skipped them.

I had resisted peppermint shrimp because they have a tendency to poach food out of the mouth of LPS after spot feeding. I have very few LPS these days, not by choice but had some sort of infection that wiped most of my acans and chalices out, so in desperation I bought 8 peppermint shrimp for my 210. A month later, I could not find a single aiptasia and am still aptasia free.

Find a small piece of rubble with aiptasia on it and take it with you to the LFS. If the LFS is cool like mine, they will let you drop the rubble in the peppermint shrimp tank and you can target and catch the shrimp that go for the aiptasia. If they won't let you, the variety of peppermint shrimp that "dance" back and forth while resting seem to do a better job.