Trick to kill the aiptasia?

[Mindi]

aiptasia X IMHO much better than Joes Juice. ..works well

 

[schooncw]

You could try a Aiptasia eating filefish, but there's not guarantee that they would eat them. My preferred method is peppermint shrimp but like you said, no sissies in your tank. I've also taken epoxy stick and buried those suckers under it and that's worked very well for me.

My Sea Grass Filefish is a champ!

 

[MartinWaite]

I used a laser to burn them it would only work on the ones that were within about 5-6" inches of the glass and you have to burn them in the mouth otherwise they release they spores and in a month you'll have loads of young ones. Once you've lasered all you can I over fed the tank for a couple of days while my lfs had put me 3 proper Peppermint shrimps in a tank on there own and never fed them for 3 days prior to me getting them. Once I put them in my tank I never fed my tank for 3 days in which time the aips all disappeared and I have never seen another for well over a year.

 

[coralbeauties]

so after the Berghia finish off the aptasia will they come back like they do with paste? Ive always used paste but it is a constant battle.
thanks
Jeff

 

[Jim Scannell]

"Just left a LFS. They had 1 of those nudi's you guys are talking about, it was like a spec. Are they that small? Like i mean like 2mm kinda small. I could barely see it. Wanted $16 for it. I said nah."

You need at least 3 or 4 for them to reproduce and they don't start laying eggs until they are about 1/2" . It takes 2 months for them to start laying eggs after hatching (to get to 1/2"). For a bad break-out a couple generations are needed (several months)

 

[Reef of Fillory]

I used aptasia x and it worked great, just made sure to get the tip in the mouth and keep squeezing while it closes up around the tube.

It's been around 6 months since I last treated, and there's none left in my tank

 

[HB AL]

Not sure why people hate them so much let alone stress over them. I let them be till i can see 15 decent size one's clearly then use aiptasi x to eradicate them. I do this maybe once a month, i actually like the look of them especially the really big ones that are out of reach, but only reason i nuke them is because they would take over if left untreated.

 

[DSPENCE]

so after the Berghia finish off the aptasia will they come back like they do with paste? Ive always used paste but it is a constant battle.
thanks
Jeff

I had a problem with Aptasia and despite being diligent about injecting them and making sure to get all of the "remains" out, I continued to have problems with "babies" showing up all over the place. From what I read, I understand that when you inject, or stress them, it results in a release, s0-to-speak, of lots O babies. I bought 6 Berghia and put them in my 30gal and within a week, they had almost all of them gone. They will lay eggs and reproduce so any small ones that happen to show up, will continue to be eaten. As the number of Aptasia decreased to no more visible, I began to remove them (use a pipette) and I sold them. Haven't had any more problems with them and it's been almost a year. I went in with 2 others and bought the 1/2" Nudi online from Reeftown. He gives a volume discount and we didn't have a single one that arrived dead.

 

[Honeygs]

I have a file fish. He swam around for 2-3 weeks and then BAM! They were all gone and I never saw him eat one. Still have him and the tank is Aptasia free!

 

[T Carey]

I have used Peppermint shrimp and it did a get job in the tank. The shrimp died and they came back. Got a new shrimp and they were gone. Then I found out where they were hiding. They were in the overflow box. I treated that with acid and several other things and they survived. Finally filled the overflow with boiling water. Haven't seen one since.

 

[TbyZ]

Copperband butterfly will clean them out also

Now this is interesting to me.
I just bought a CBB, & I have a few of these aiptasia thingys, though I'm not sure why they are a problem, unless they take over a tank?

I'll be watching to see if Curtis eats them.

 

[James Johnson]

When you damage an aiptasia they typically just spread. While aiptasia-x works most of the time it never seems to fully get rid of them. Any kind of injection just seems like it would damage them and cause them to spread further. The berghia nudis do a great job but wrasses love to eat them and once the aiptasia is gone they starve. Peppermint shrimp have always worked the best for me but I have also seen them eat coral numerous times so always just keep an eye on them. Yes I'm sure there are several different kinds of peppermint shrimp but it's not like they carry a little passport with them on their trip to the fish store. And if you are confusing them with a camel shrimp then just look up a pic, peppermint shrimp have a clear body with red stripes a camel shrimp has red and white stripes.

As far as the fish scats are technically brackish water fish that have been converted to salt water, they get pretty big and can be aggressive and some times hard to find. The cooper banded butterfly are very high mortality rate and imo should be left in the ocean.

 

[nhlives]

Don't use anything chemical. Just makes things worse as it is nearly impossible to not propagate more of the little devils. Berghia nudibranchs worked for me. I put six in my 60 gallon 6 weeks ago and everyone of the aiptasia are gone. Peppermints eat them though so if you go that way consider that.

If you have been using Aiptasia-x, wait about three weeks before adding the Berghia. And remember that a good predator does not completely eliminate its prey, Over time they will likely comeback. Unless they causing an issue leave them alone and when they are a pest again, add more berghia. I'm hoping for a year.

 

[alex.mccann99]

You could try the Peppermint Shrimp route, I haven't had success with them when the aiptasia has gotten to a bigger size. What has worked every time for me is Joe's Juice. It's literally killed it first time and never come back.

 

[Robert Scott]

Peppermint shrimp worked great for me. Needed an ARMY. 24 in a 500gal. Compitition for food or effectiveness in numbers.

 

[Oldsalt01]

If you go the Peppermint route BE SURE you're getting true Peppermint's and NOT Camelback Shrimp. There are different physical identifiers, but the surest way is by the shape of the rostrum ("nose"). I added 2 to my 14g after an outbreak of 'tasia's and they cleaned them out. BUT they also cleaned out my small Acans frags and may have been complicit in multiple zoas failures. They be GONE, never to return! Bergia's work great but they die after the 'tasia are gone. My vote is for the reticulated filefish or the Copperband. JMHO.

 

[HB AL]

I have used Peppermint shrimp and it did a get job in the tank. The shrimp died and they came back. Got a new shrimp and they were gone. Then I found out where they were hiding. They were in the overflow box. I treated that with acid and several other things and they survived. Finally filled the overflow with boiling water. Haven't seen one since.

Thanks for the great tip as I have a huge colony down in my overflow box and was trying to figure out a way to get to them.

 

[DSC reef]

Thanks for the great tip as I have a huge colony down in my overflow box and was trying to figure out a way to get to them.

I leave mine in the overflow, its my aptaisia scrubber. Some look like palm trees! Lol.

 

[Outdrsyguy1]

I literally burned one with a lighter for 20 seconds+ till I could see nothing but black. It was on a frag disk too and not in a hole...... ******* came back 3 weeks later exactly the same spot.....
Only thing that's ever worked for me was peppermint. I had to remove my wrasses last time as they ate them like popcorn.
I did have them pick at a purple long tentacle anemone once.
I've never tried nidibranchs due to cost and having some sort of wrass or cleaner shrimp in the tank.

 

[HB AL]

I leave mine in the overflow, its my aptaisia scrubber. Some look like palm trees! Lol.

Big palms, but figured I should kill them as they are probably seeding the tank. But then again any small particles of food that go into the overflow are probably getting caught and eaten by that giant colony instead of rotting in the sump sock so maybe I will just leave them alone.