Aiptasia as a Pest - and HOW to get rid of it

[Pistol Peet]

Have seen filefish as well doing nothing, have seen eating the aiptasias really but easily get a taste of other corals as well, for the peppermint shrimps is a bit different, they'll taste other corals probably when they get very hungry. But about the Berghias...., there isn't any doubt! For sure they'll take everything off for no time.
2 years ago had a farm already for Berghias..., unfortunately after 6-7 months raising them I contaminate the main-display tank probably with eggs, and in nearly month and half I got there no aiptasia (I do spread the aiptasias as mad to be honest with you, using them as a source of food for the berghia farm)..., soon I'll try again, once I get constant source of aiptasia to feed the berghias.

I had thought about taking them from my desplay once cleared after moving a contaminated rock to a different 20 gallon or so and then trying to keep them alive by ticking off the aptasia really bad and spreading it like mad in a isolated 20 to 30 gallon. I ended up plucking them out and giving to my local fish store for there aptasia infestation.

 

[Magik884]

Had a 75 gallon completely addled with them and decided to just tear the thing down. Never using bottled bacteria starter again it left the rock open for the infestation. Tried kalke paste and xtasia stuff...waste of time. Gimmicks

Rocks looked like a mountain range of pine trees.

Smart cure was move fish, drain tank, throw the rest out into the sun to bake.

How did you clean the tank overflow plumbing etc. to make sure they will not re appear ?

 

[Pistol Peet]

How did you clean the tank overflow plumbing etc. to make sure they will not re appear ?

The nudibranchs go down the over flow in the sump everywhere just let them do there thing.

 

[ReefingInTheBuff]

I had an infestation in my reefer 750 including in the sandbed. Had a guy come out who told me to break down system and start over.

Bought a filefish, CBB, and 30 peppermint shrimp and several months later don’t see a single aptasia.

Moral of the story is don’t give up you can get it under control.

I had tried aptasia x and found it spread aptasia more then controlling it but that may have been my error.

I did throw kitchen sink at it but I feel this was much cheaper than starting over.

I rehome the peppermints and keep filefish and am getting another CBB (old one died) to keep things in check. CBB will be proven to eat mysis but feel can still help.

 

[Magik884]

The nudibranchs go down the over flow in the sump everywhere just let them

I ment once tank is dry no water in it. I have all the berghia predators right now( cbb peppermint shrimp and wrasses) and thinking of a reset dump all the rock and sand and restart with kp aquatics starter rock.

 

[Pistol Peet]

I ment once tank is dry no water in it. I have all the berghia predators right now( cbb peppermint shrimp and wrasses) and thinking of a reset dump all the rock and sand and restart with kp aquatics starter rock.

I c . I broke mine completely down soaked everything in bleach. Does the trick.

 

[SHNICI]

I c . I broke mine completely down soaked everything in bleach. Does the trick.

a bit harsh xD

 

[Allaric]

I had an infestation in my reefer 750 including in the sandbed. Had a guy come out who told me to break down system and start over.

Bought a filefish, CBB, and 30 peppermint shrimp and several months later don’t see a single aptasia.

Moral of the story is don’t give up you can get it under control.

I had tried aptasia x and found it spread aptasia more then controlling it but that may have been my error.

I did throw kitchen sink at it but I feel this was much cheaper than starting over.

I rehome the peppermints and keep filefish and am getting another CBB (old one died) to keep things in check. CBB will be proven to eat mysis but feel can still help.

I got an aptasia on my first coral purchase. I thought it was super cool looking and that I had gotten really lucky. Six months later there were several more not-so-cool-looking ones and I figured out what they were. Bought Aptasia express, I mean Aptasia X, carefully and correctly applied letting them eat some then quickly smothering the disc hole and my 10 ugly aptasia were super dead.

After about two weeks I had 100 new ones. Never again unless you want to farm aptasia.

I went the nudibranch route. They did well but I couldn't keep them out of the return pump even after installing filter sponge and checking the sock 20 minutes every day. Eventually the population was too small and they disappeared. It was cool watching them eat. You could almost hear the aptasia screaming and by then that made me happy. If you just have a sponge filter then I'd recommend these (but you need 5+ to reproduce or they wont live long enough to eat all the aptasia)

I didn't want peppermint shrimp. I thought the pictures were a little on the boring side. I had a small tank and didn't want to waste the bio load, but I broke down and got a few in a last-ditch effort. These guys blasted through every aptasia I had in about a month with daily noticeable progress. There were maybe 200 aptasia by then and I have never seen one since. Aside from the job they did, the peppermint shrimp have become one of my favorite pets. They are friendly to everyone, jump up for food, even swim upside-down on the surface to see me , clean my hands, and other interesting behavior. Aptasia or no, I plan to keep these guys around in every tank.

Just wish coral banded shrimp were that way.

 

[RandyL]

I've been using Joe's Juice for years and have never had a problem. It usually comes with a small syringe and two "needle" nozzle valves that can be interchangeably attached. I like the one that is slightly angled at the end as it seems to give me the most control.

 

[YGPR]

I have aptasia in my anemone tank, usually i can get rid of it manually at start. The problem is, the tank is deep (pond shape), with many anemone (H. magnifica, buble, etc). Is these option also kill the other anemones? is there a safe option that safe for other anemones?

 

[klavmaister]

had some of them, bought a peppermint shrimp, now I don't see any. lucky? or are they there yet...

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

had some of them, bought a peppermint shrimp, now I don't see any. lucky? or are they there yet...

check inside you overflows and pipes they love to hide and reproduce, befor showing themselves again in overwhelming numbers

 

[Paullawr]

Nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

 

[Quintin]

My go to has always been a copperband, he keeps the aiptasia out of the display, and in the overflow where they need to be.

Have a copperband, eats froze and live food and a prolific hunter of pods and worms on rock but hasn’t touched a single aiptasia.

Mind you this is the one on TBS rock, not the common pest type found in many tanks.

 

[Noodles_Jefferson]

Peppermint shrimp worked great for me.

I tried that once when I had a few in hard to reach places. It did a nice job. I didn't see any for a long time after that but recently added some new corals and got a couple. i'm using Aptasia X also with good results. The funny thing is when i first started with the reef tank, maybe a few months in, I saw a couple and didn't know what they were. i'm thinking that's a cool little coral and it must have come in on a piece of rock. i'm thinking big score, i didn't pay for it! Then there were 3 then 5 and so on....

 

[ClownSchool]

Peppermint shrimp work great for awhile; usually to limit the spread in the area they can reach. But, I’ve always needed to treat manually, especially the large ones.
If you’ve tried using store bought stuff like me, you’ll know it doesn’t really work any better than thick Kalkwasser paste in a syringe with blunt needle that they sell in the package of the store bought stuff.
Happy hunting!

 

[ackshee]

I've got a 2.5 gallon pico tank. I just added two small pieces of live rock last week. One of the pieces of live rock is now sprouting some Aiptasia. In such a small tank, what's the best route to get rid of the Aiptasia?

 

[klavmaister]

2.5 gal? = restart the tank

 

[ackshee]

2.5 gal? = restart the tank

That's boring!