Just how hardy is Aiptasia?

[Spare time]

Yea I know there's the threat of them spreading. It seems like it would/could do that with superglue too could it not? Your'e still disturbing it and causing it to react unless there is some way to sneak superglue on them...
Even so, I'm more curious as to how in the world it got into the tank in the first place lol.

The superglue smothers it so nothing can be released. The idea is you cover it if its small or get it into its hole retracted and do it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

They are surviviors just like asterina stars. Destroy now before they do the hostile takeover

 

[syrinx]

Its hardy enough that when I took a sump out that had them on the bottom-the survived two days in a dry tank in the yard. And then came back to life when we got a couple inches of rain the following day-salinity was whatever salt creep got washed in. Really amazing to experience.

 

[reefydude360]

So far I've had only one encounter with aiptasia, they came on a neat favia and acan lord frags. I just poked the frags until they receded completely in the skeleton and dipped the frag including the exposed skeleton on the frags in pure peroxide. Left them dipped in the peroxide for a few minutes until the aiptasia disintegrated and was very careful not to let any coral flesh touch the peroxide. I had to repeat the process a second time for the acan lord frag so any animal that can survive a dip in peroxide for a few minutes, Id say is extremely hardy.

 

[Dburr1014]

T.y. Been looking for them with this virus out there shipping was stopped I have them on order

I just received a shipment last Wednesday from Salty Underground. They are shipping...

 

[Dburr1014]

Its hardy enough that when I took a sump out that had them on the bottom-the survived two days in a dry tank in the yard. And then came back to life when we got a couple inches of rain the following day-salinity was whatever salt creep got washed in. Really amazing to experience.

I have had them soaking in a weak vinegar solution for a few days and survive. Crazy. I have treated them every way but the wand. They always come back. I wouldn't do the wand after seeing the video's, they release spores and come back worse.
Berghia are the only thing I know that will knock them back, maybe not completely, but 99%.
I'm looking to move and upgrade the tank when I do. My plan is to bleach 1/2 my rock and start cycling it so when I move I can do the other 1/2. The trick is to have NONE of the old water touch the newly clean tank, sump, rock when it gets all put back together.

 

[Amado]

Nature will find a way.
I recently moved and I tore down my old tank. I kept my rocks because it’s a mix of live ocean rocks and dry rock. I power washed the rocks. I left them outside to dry In the sun. I put them In two garbage bin with salt water/pump/heat. After 60 days
I moved them in to my new tank. I cycled the new tank with no lights or fish. I transferred my old fish and keep the lights off for 90 days. No corals no lights. I added my lights and anemone no corals. I found a small aptasia on the rock. I am also getting bubble algae. lol i think I am just going to live with it.

 

[William Norman]

I fing hate aiptasia and vermetids.

I QT everything. - Inverts and coral in one tank and fish in another.

When I get inverts they get dumped into a colander then rinsed with old tank water. Then I put then through a series of rinses in containers. Each time they get dumped into a colander and rinsed. Any larger ones I hit with toothbrush. Then I do it again when they come out of QT prior to putting in my display.

So far I have been able to keep creepy crawlies out of my tanks. I have seen many hitchhikers on my inverts. I use white tubs to clean them so you can easily see what comes off. But even then I have had aiptasia show up in my coral QT. But I see them and treat for them there. Much easier then in display.

I started this because I have both in my Fowlr and it takes some much time to keep them at bay. I have found the easiest way to do it is take the rock structure out and leave it in the sun for 2 days. Obvioulsy I can only do this in my Fowlr. In the tank F aiptasia has been great. When I am in between order of F aiptasia i use super concentrated Kalk.

So far I have been able to keep both out my reef tanks.

Right now I setting up a temp QT to move my corals that are currently in QT, as my wife got me a surprise coal. She followed my dipping protocol but must have not scrubbed well. Wont you know vermetids showed up and I was traveling for work so much prior to lock down that I didnt see them until it was too late.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

I think they hitch hike on snails. I always try to wash the shells of new snails with a tooth brush to get of any hitchhikers off them , then I noticed I was getting hair algae which I never get, came to find out my 6 inch red coris wrass who never before ate snails. has now ate all my snails and emerald crabs. so I bought 300 snails to eat the hair algae and of course did not spend the time to clean their shells. now I have aiptasia, glass anemone, astar stars. and of course the wrass ate the snails. so I got 3 file fish, living in Fla we have many . so I quarantined them then put them in my tank well my wrass killed 2 of them and has not bothered my last one. and of course my file fish loves the fresh seafood I cut up for my fish and I have to wait and see if he will eat aiptasia. it is so hard to play mother nature, and expensive. I to have a 180 gal. tank and wish I had 350 or 400 gal tank because my fish are getting to big. I tried so many things to kill aiptasia but they just come back with a vengeance also the astar stars are everywhere. cant find a harlequin shrimp anywhere, but if I do,,, I have to catch my red stars and put them in another tank or the shrimp will kill them to.. anyone know the best way to catch a large red coris wrass ? I need to trade him he is just way to big .he is so fast and hides in the rocks when he sees me and then dives into the crushed coral bed and stays under there.my tank is so deep I cant get my hand down there.

Have you tried the red light trick BRS has on their YouTube channel? I havent but it makes sense, most fish cant see the red spectrum of light. So buy a cheap red flashlight and net it with the lights out.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

I’m following this thread. I’m actually learning a lot from you guys. Like some of the ideas I have to get rid of them won’t work.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

They also have a video on Aiptasia, you use Aiptasia X then as it recedes plug the hole with putty.

 

[jaxteller007]

I have had them soaking in a weak vinegar solution for a few days and survive. Crazy. I have treated them every way but the wand. They always come back. I wouldn't do the wand after seeing the video's, they release spores and come back worse.
Berghia are the only thing I know that will knock them back, maybe not completely, but 99%.
I'm looking to move and upgrade the tank when I do. My plan is to bleach 1/2 my rock and start cycling it so when I move I can do the other 1/2. The trick is to have NONE of the old water touch the newly clean tank, sump, rock when it gets all put back together.

Our old filefish did work on ours. Unfortunately she didn't survive long after out tank switch.
None of the old rock, sand or water touched our new tank. It was all brand new, i.e. new bags of live sand, brand new dry rock, brand new salt water. No idea how it made it but it did.

 

[jaxteller007]

I've had luck with the Aiptasia X so far. Want to get another filefish or a couple of them and/or some of those nudibranches if I can find some without outrageous pricing right now.

 

[ca1ore]

Most of the methods work reasonably well when there are just few … though usually for every one you see, there are three you don't see. Since aiptasia spreads mostly via spores (versus Majano which spreads via pedal fission) those same methods are ineffective once populations become larger. At that point, some form of biological control is required …. all of which come with their own drawbacks. In my tank, for example, it's angelfish, but they also eat zooanthids.

 

[charged]

All the above are great suggestions. I've also had success with using water weld to trap large ones. I flick my fingers in front of them to make them retreat and then seal it off with a slab of putty. It's not the prettiest solution but it worked. I have an outbreak and sealed six off and haven't seen any in a while.

Problem is they can be in places you don't see. Behind rock work, sump and plumbing. Thinking mine had to come in on Chaeto. Peppermint shrimp cleared them out first go around. Once aptasia was gone the shrimp died. Now the are popping up again.

 

[austibella]

Most of the methods work reasonably well when there are just few … though usually for every one you see, there are three you don't see. Since aiptasia spreads mostly via spores (versus Majano which spreads via pedal fission) those same methods are ineffective once populations become larger. At that point, some form of biological control is required …. all of which come with their own drawbacks. In my tank, for example, it's angelfish, but they also eat zooanthids.

I read an old post on reef 2 reef that aiptasia is single cell. Even out of water that cell doesnt die, so when you put rocks back in the water .the cell will live. Nature is amazing and the more I learn about it I I realize I know nothing, if that makes any sense....I love playing mother nature. To keep these beautiful animals alive and try to mimic the ocean for them. Keeps my brain alive.everything has a role in life, and talking to other readers helps us all to be the best we can be for our extended fish family. thank you Reef 2 Reef for bringing us all together to share our knowledge.

 

[jaxteller007]

Most of the methods work reasonably well when there are just few … though usually for every one you see, there are three you don't see. Since aiptasia spreads mostly via spores (versus Majano which spreads via pedal fission) those same methods are ineffective once populations become larger. At that point, some form of biological control is required …. all of which come with their own drawbacks. In my tank, for example, it's angelfish, but they also eat zooanthids.

Do all angels go after it or only certain ones? I ask because we recently added a coral beauty. She's left our Duncan coral alone thankfully but I've seen her go after stuff in/on the rock pretty aggressively which is awesome.
Thinking of adding a copper band butterfly instead of a filefish.

 

[bblumberg]

What about BERGHIA NUDIBRANCH

They will be eaten rapidly by the wrasse...

 

[bblumberg]

I have aiptasia in my tanks that have resisted eradication despite trying most every method mentioned above and in other forums. Peppermint shrimp worked for a while, Berghia were eaten by peppermint shrimp (expensive lesson). High powered laser was very satisfying way to fry them but not permanently. Aiptasia-X caused one visible aiptasia in my corner tank to multiply into thousands within a few months. Klein's butterfly and matted file fish did a decent job of killing accessible aiptasia. Much of my rock is Pukani which has deep crevices that the filefish and Klein's could not reach. Eventually, I learned the secret of getting copperbanded butterflys to survive in my tank (no quarantine in 2/2 tanks led to 100% survival, quarantine with a tank full of aged live rock was good for another).

The CBB in my 150g reef is aggressive and holds its own with larger tangs and the Klein's butterfly at feeding time. It has eradicated all visible aiptasia, including those that were deep in rock that the Klein's and filefish could not reach. However I have no illusions. There will definitely be aiptasia in the overflow, pipes and elsewhere so the fish will always have some to munch on.

I have a small CBB in my frag tank and it has eradicated all visible aiptasia there as well. I bought another relatively large CBB for my 75g corner tank but the much smaller Kleins' butterfly in that tank harassed it mercilessly for days until the CBB appeared nearly dead. After about a week, I took that CBB out and put into a new 40g frag tank with a powerhead and all of the excess live rock I had in my garage Brute. It has now settled in after about a month of peace and quiet. That rock previously had aiptasia before I put into the Brute, but I can't see any now. The fish is happy.

So the moral of the story is that the best method I have ever found is ongoing biological control with fish that like aiptasia. A healthy CBB can do the job on its own and is a beautiful addition to any tank. Klein's are a mixed bag. Most eat aiptasia but the one in my 150g is a serious coral muncher. I had to move all of the fleshy corals (acans, pectinia, scolymia, trachys) to the frag tank where they have all recovered. The CBB in that tank doesn't bother any of them.

 

[austibella]

I have aiptasia in my tanks that have resisted eradication despite trying most every method mentioned above and in other forums. Peppermint shrimp worked for a while, Berghia were eaten by peppermint shrimp (expensive lesson). High powered laser was very satisfying way to fry them but not permanently. Aiptasia-X caused one visible aiptasia in my corner tank to multiply into thousands within a few months. Klein's butterfly and matted file fish did a decent job of killing accessible aiptasia. Much of my rock is Pukani which has deep crevices that the filefish and Klein's could not reach. Eventually, I learned the secret of getting copperbanded butterflys to survive in my tank (no quarantine in 2/2 tanks led to 100% survival, quarantine with a tank full of aged live rock was good for another).

The CBB in my 150g reef is aggressive and holds its own with larger tangs and the Klein's butterfly at feeding time. It has eradicated all visible aiptasia, including those that were deep in rock that the Klein's and filefish could not reach. However I have no illusions. There will definitely be aiptasia in the overflow, pipes and elsewhere so the fish will always have some to munch on.

I have a small CBB in my frag tank and it has eradicated all visible aiptasia there as well. I bought another relatively large CBB for my 75g corner tank but the much smaller Kleins' butterfly in that tank harassed it mercilessly for days until the CBB appeared nearly dead. After about a week, I took that CBB out and put into a new 40g frag tank with a powerhead and all of the excess live rock I had in my garage Brute. It has now settled in after about a month of peace and quiet. That rock previously had aiptasia before I put into the Brute, but I can't see any now. The fish is happy.

So the moral of the story is that the best method I have ever found is ongoing biological control with fish that like aiptasia. A healthy CBB can do the job on its own and is a beautiful addition to any tank. Klein's are a mixed bag. Most eat aiptasia but the one in my 150g is a serious coral muncher. I had to move all of the fleshy corals (acans, pectinia, scolymia, trachys) to the frag tank where they have all recovered. The CBB in that tank doesn't bother any of them.

Thank you for your info.i have been looking for a copper band butterfly for awhile .every place is sold out. Do CCB eat majano