What worked for your aiptasia?

[Haacheew]

I have two in my RS625 DT - a year ago i spotted a couple Aptasia heads and added them. They have been there ever since and there is ZERO Aptasia in the DT as far as I can tell. My sump however is completely infested with Aptasia and I am considering putting a couple down there.

Why not! If you could get the youglings to start with I think the success would be more assertive.

btw, my peppermint never bothers other corals as far as I can tell. It's nocturanal; I can only see it active under the moonlight. The rest of the time it stays under the rocks.

 

[TehBrainz]

Your spot on !! I’ve tried just about everything out there that they say kill aptasia only have them come back in droves . Not to mention how many nearby corals harmed or lost in the process . The key is to identify and buy true peppermint shrimp. I went through failure of buying what I was told was peppermint shrimp only to find out they in fact were not . Natural is always best .

How do you insure they are "true" peppermint shrimp? I've seen comparison images online, but would it just be best to buy from an online vendor? Any suggestions?

I've just put 8 nudibranch in the tank yesterday and if they don't work I may go peppermint shrimp. Not sure how much time to give them though haha.

 

[Sump Crab]

Personally, my peppermint shrimp (I got 2) are aces. They ate the ____ out of my aiptasia, leave my softies alone, and I've not had any issues. BUT to be fair, I searched around town at 4 different LFS until I found the exact species of shrimp I wanted/read up on that was successful.

To date, my Peppermints are delights to have in the tank. Still dancing around, and when I target feed my nem, duncan, goby, etc they waits for their turn and latch onto the turkey baster

which species did you go for? Thanks

 

[CoralB]

How do you insure they are "true" peppermint shrimp? I've seen comparison images online, but would it just be best to buy from an online vendor? Any suggestions?

I've just put 8 nudibranch in the tank yesterday and if they don't work I may go peppermint shrimp. Not sure how much time to give them though haha.

Their have a distinct striped pattern . Their are a couple of sellers here on this group that not only sell but guarantee them to eat aptasia. I think algae barn is one of them . I got mine in Lakeland Florida about a hour and a half away . Rod at bargain coral warehouse has a tank of them and he threw in some aiptasia to prove to me that they infact were the real deal .i bought three and within a week all but three aiptasia were left out of hundreds . Don’t think he ships but others do . Good luck

 

[DHill6]

How do you insure they are "true" peppermint shrimp? I've seen comparison images online, but would it just be best to buy from an online vendor? Any suggestions?

I've just put 8 nudibranch in the tank yesterday and if they don't work I may go peppermint shrimp. Not sure how much time to give them though haha.

Give the berghia some time, the .75 inch ones worked for me. Smaller ones not so much.

 

[TehBrainz]

Give the berghia some time, the .75 inch ones worked for me. Smaller ones not so much.

I'll definitely give them a chance, especially because of their price. I got a mix of mainly 0.75 and a couple .25. Pretty sure my wife would kill me if I suddenly wrote them off and jumped to something else hahah.

I do have a larger bristleworm population though. I know they're mainly detritovores, but would they go after the nudis at all? I've read the egg sacks could become food, which isn't great but not as bad as the nudis themselves.

 

[DHill6]

I'll definitely give them a chance, especially because of their price. I got a mix of mainly 0.75 and a couple .25. Pretty sure my wife would kill me if I suddenly wrote them off and jumped to something else hahah.

I do have a larger bristleworm population though. I know they're mainly detritovores, but would they go after the nudis at all? I've read the egg sacks could become food, which isn't great but not as bad as the nudis themselves.

That may have happened to my smaller berghia. I’ve tried the smaller .5 size twice and they disappeared. I even rehomed a goby, that guy ate them I’m pretty sure, he was fat. I found a couple bristle eats and removed them. I’ve been after them for awhile also. I don’t want bristles in the tank. Anyways, the larger ones went to work, I haven’t seen an astapia. They cleaned the ones off the clam scutes, the tiny ones from the underneath areas of rocks the larger ones, all gone. They work. If I see them coming back I’ll wait to get the .75 size. That purchase was definitely worth it.

 

[CoralB]

I'll definitely give them a chance, especially because of their price. I got a mix of mainly 0.75 and a couple .25. Pretty sure my wife would kill me if I suddenly wrote them off and jumped to something else hahah.

I do have a larger bristleworm population though. I know they're mainly detritovores, but would they go after the nudis at all? I've read the egg sacks could become food, which isn't great but not as bad as the nudis themselves.

I’m interested to see if they work for you as well . I tried them twice with no resolve . The first time I tried they got eaten by a coral banded shrimp . Lol!!! . I should have known better duh!!! . The second time they disappeared and never came back out . I’m sure the died . A lot of people have had success . I didn’t . Good luck and please post your findings .

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Another peppermint shrimp success story here. I tried everything else and these two little dudes cleared (over 100 at least) the tank.

 

[TehBrainz]

So just about a half week has gone by and I have 3 aiptasia that have disappeared near where I put 2 groups of berghia nudibranchs.

It's not a complete cure all as they need to move across my whole tank, but thats a good start, IMO.

 

[TehBrainz]

Big patch disappeared in the last couple nights also. So far so good.

Also saw one of the bigger ones trekking across my tank

Sorry for the blurriness. Combination of moonlight mode, a dark room, and a few too many beverages

 

[TehBrainz]

Latest update on Berghia Nudibranchs

I have been in and out of the home for the last month for work travel so I haven't been watching aiptasia population on a daily basis in the tank (probably a good thing for my own and my wife's sanity).

I noticed a reduction though early this week in areas that had previous known "gardens" of aiptasia. In the last 2 days, the largest one in the tank just vanished. This sucker was ~1" in diameter and I had been contemplating zapping it on my own, but left it because...life stuff.

So far so good. Slow and steady.

 

[Jedi1199]

Requirements: cannot pick/eat acropora/clams.

I don’t have a major aiptasia problem. I just have 1 with a lot of babies around it. It’s only a matter of time until it gets out of control though and I am aiming to treat this BEFORE it becomes crazy unmanageable issue.

Someone (fish behaviorist that used to frequent this forum) recommended me pyramid butterflies. He told me that he’s had great success with them eating aiptasia and that they will eat xenia/anthellia.

I thought, “great, I’ll get 3!”

1.5 months later…nada. Aiptasia still there.

One of the suggestions is to pick one day out of the week and not feed the fish. He said that would encourage them to seek out the aiptasia. I don’t feel comfortable with that method. Maybe it’ll be fine, but I just don’t feel comfortable.

What have you tried that you found success with? I might listen to his advice, but my pyramids are not ready to go on a 1 day hunger strike per week since they are relatively new from QT.

I had a HUGE aiptasia im my system for quite a while. I treated it with a dose of "Apitasia X" it appear to have done the trick.

I am fortunate that I only had the one. I have never seen any others in my system. For a major outbreak, i suspect stronger measures may be required.

 

[kevgib67]

Berghia for the win, worked for me. Here is one cruising across my glass.

 

[Discovery]

Long string - apologies if this was already discussed. I’m a huge Berghia fan myself. Just be aware, after they’ve done their job and die due to the lack of their sole food source, if you have a large tank there may have been babies hidden deep on opposite sides of the tank. Also, aiptasia not only reproduce via pedal laceration but sexual as well. https://guselab.de/aiptasia/?doing_wp_cron=1664023934.1362640857696533203125 Don’t be surprised if a new one pops up a few weeks/months after your tank is “clean.” Also your display may be clean, but aiptasia gets into the plumping. It’s a constant battle.

 

[Reefahholic]

4 things I know that work for a fact, because I’ve seen it myself or used it, but all can be hit or miss sometimes:

1. Franks F-Aiptasia
2. Copperband Butterfly
3. Peppermint shrimp
4. Molly Miller Blenny

 

[jhuntstl]

Finally making big strides with Gulf Peppermint Shrimp from Reeftopia. I ordered 12. They were very small when I got them. I gave them a couple weeks in the frag tank to grow and color up. Feeding them a little bit of frozen each day. I trapped 8 of them and released them in the display a few weeks ago.

I was worried they'd struggle to get around. I run a high flow bare bottom tank, but it has not been an issue. I had some monsters in my display. Some extending 3+" at night with heads the size of silver dollars. Once they settled in after 10 or so days, they started to make quick work of the tasia at night.

 

[i cant think]

4 things I know that work for a fact, because I’ve seen it myself or used it, but all can be hit or miss sometimes:

1. Franks F-Aiptasia
2. Copperband Butterfly
3. Peppermint shrimp
4. Molly Miller Blenny

3 of these may not always work. Luck is a HUGE factor with natural predators and aiptasia. I have had peppermints that just don’t bother with aiptasia and peppermints that go crazy for them. The same has and will occur with the other two natural predators.

 

[ReefRondo]

I purchased the second version and it does burn the astapia out of existence. Left a black spot where it used to be. It does work, button easy to push.

Version 2 is a different machine. Working for me.

 

[HBtank]

Berghia.

Other attempts, like peppermint shrimp, were failures. Manual treatment is pointless at a certain point.

Used them twice, worked both times, with a halichordis wrasse in the tank both times. Currently a melanarus, and aptasia are being decimated after about 2 months from being added. Takes a bit to get going, and breeding, but now I regularly see some cruising in the day (with lots out at night).