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

[SMSREEF]

Has anyone tried putting their Berghia in their overflows? If so how did you do it? I just got some today and am in the process of acclimating them. By far the most significant outbreaks of Aiptasia in our tank right now are in our overflows. I just don't know how to place any of the Berghia's in there. I'm worried if i try to place them directly on top of an aiptasia, they will get stung/killed but i can't just drop them in the overflow and let them swim can I?

When I got my berghia, the instructions said to acclimate and then put the whole cup into the tank and let them find their way out. I did this in my main tank, but you could do a similar thing in your overflow and they would be protected for a while.

I did turn my wavemakers off at night so the berghia can get anywhere in the tank at night and not get blown around.

If you can turn the return pump flow down low, I bet they do ok.

I bought 3 extra large for my 60 cube. I have never seen them again. However, after 3 weeks, I can’t find a single aiptasia anywhere.

I also bought an aiptasia eating filefish which is now eating my duncan coral. The filefish may have helped, but I really give credit to the berghia because the aisptasia are gone from the places the filefish cannot get to.

In my sump I put 2 peppermint shrimp.

 

[Plandauesq]

I'm a little over 2 years with the copperband. The biggest hurtle with them is eating prepared food, a lot of times they starve to death because they don't equate what we add to the tank as food. My CBB went through 6 weeks of QT and because there wasn't any competition to feeding he took to prepared food right away.

Every tank that I've ever had, was blessed with a CBB, and I never had issues with them... now I have to find some wood to knock on, hehe

Any issue with the CBB nipping at coral?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Any issue with the CBB nipping at coral?

Nope, and I have a quite the zoanthid collection that he doesn't even touch.

 

[SHNICI]

Any issue with the CBB nipping at coral?

can you drp photo please of your CBB ?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

can you drp photo please of your CBB ?

I'll do you one better, here's a video.

 

[SHNICI]

I'll do you one better, here's a video.

It look nice mate, Thank you!

 

[SeZMehK]

I put bergia nudibranches back in September. I am not sure if they are still there. My aptasia started to increase now. I hope my bergia didn't die...

 

[SHNICI]

I put bergia nudibranches back in September. I am not sure if they are still there. My aptasia started to increase now. I hope my bergia didn't die...

if your aiptasias are been gone for over 2 weeks the chances to have survived Berghia are small.., usually till 2 weeks max like I know, they can survive w/o food (aiptasia) haven't test my one how long can struggle before it die.

 

[SeZMehK]

if your aiptasias are been gone for over 2 weeks the chances to have survived Berghia are small.., usually till 2 weeks max like I know, they can survive w/o food (aiptasia) haven't test my one how long can struggle before it die.

I had put in 5 medium bergias from reeftown back in September. The number of aiptasia started to go down but now it's increasing...

 

[SHNICI]

It sound to me you have in the tank one or some of them: peppermint shrimp, CBB, filefish, hermit/s. All this will/can kill Berghia Nudibranch.
If you have this predators, probably your berghia are gone eaten. snails and worms usually don't touch it, if I remember properly and bobbit worm can munch on them.
So If I'm, I'll take out of the tank the animals I say already and will get new Berghia for the tank, and until can't see any aiptasia (at least 2 weeks after) I'll keep the animals above out of the tank no matter what And next time I have something for the tank (coral, LR and snail) I'll keep them under quarantine (not only DIPing them excl. the snails) for at least 4-5 days to observe for aiptasia (not only for other pests).

GL and if there are another question, drop them here, if can, I'll help.

 

[SeZMehK]

I do have hermits but I also have bristleworms I guess that was the problem too? Great, an expensive snack...

 

[PR_nano]

Between the Joe Juice and 2 Peppermint I finally started to see some progress. I been doing 2oz of Joe Juice once a week to hit the bigger ones. I did notice the Peppermint have molted after dosing, happened twice now. The Peppermint have been going after the smaller aiptasia closer to the overhang were they spend the entire day.

 

[FreshwaterConvert]

Pretty sure I’ve got Aptasia. I got my first corals a bit over a week ago and then a few more on Sunday. I’ve got 3 zoanthids, a paly, a mushroom, and a sun coral, and last night I saw one on the paly frag. I’ve pulled the frag and put it in a separate container next to the tank, I’ll be getting Aptasia X from my LFS tomorrow. I’m not sure if there’s one or two on the frag plug but so far I haven’t seen any others in the tank, I’ll be keeping a good eye out from now on tho. Every coral that I got I dipped with Coral RX following the instructions. The tank is a month old. I will be getting a mantis shrimp, it’s a 13 gallon, and I’ve got hermits and bristleworms so the usual Aptasia eaters aren’t really an option for me. I’m hoping I caught it early. The paly is from the second wave of corals that went in.

 

[CassieTaylorMylo]

I got this filefish to address the aptasia on my live rock and he munched through them all very efficiently

 

[PhilipS]

I borrowed a Lysmata wurdemanni (Peppermint Shrimp) and gave it back two molts later to the LFS.

No Aiptasia to be seen again.

 

[ProvidenceTidalReef]

If they are in your tank already then you have to practice management of them. They aren't going to go away anymore it's too late for most if you reading this page.

The best path is the qurantine any new coral and fish for no less than 60 days I'd say even longer if possible.
Then kill any you see with your preferred method.
Grow the coral out in quarantine for awhile a few months or so then buy all fresh new frag plugs.

Bleach/peroxide and rinse them, (the new plugs)

Take frags of your coral put them on new plugs. And put them in a second qurantine tank for observation as they heal.

For your main tank. Most likely you would have to RIP it as your never going to get it out once fully grown by coral. Without risking hurting the animals you have.

I'd start a whole new tank with dry Rock and live sand. Let that go for about 6-8months.
Once all the algae issues are solved and you see no aptasia then I'd start adding coral from my second observation quarantine. That I know 100% dont have anything on them.

 

[SantaMonica]

Did not read the posts, but I used the majano wand a lot (the full size; not the mini).

 

[ClownWrangler]

If they are in your tank already then you have to practice management of them. They aren't going to go away anymore it's too late for most if you reading this page.

The best path is the qurantine any new coral and fish for no less than 60 days I'd say even longer if possible.
Then kill any you see with your preferred method.
Grow the coral out in quarantine for awhile a few months or so then buy all fresh new frag plugs.

Bleach/peroxide and rinse them, (the new plugs)

Take frags of your coral put them on new plugs. And put them in a second qurantine tank for observation as they heal.

For your main tank. Most likely you would have to RIP it as your never going to get it out once fully grown by coral. Without risking hurting the animals you have.

I'd start a whole new tank with dry Rock and live sand. Let that go for about 6-8months.
Once all the algae issues are solved and you see no aptasia then I'd start adding coral from my second observation quarantine. That I know 100% dont have anything on them.

I got rid of them easy. Took out the rock, took it outside, took a pencil torch to the Aiptasia. It came back a month later, but smaller. Did it again but then filled the hole with black hot glue. No more Aiptasia. In another tank, I just took out the rock, sprinkled some lye granules (sodium hydroxide) in its hole. waited a few minutes then irigated the hole to rinse away the melted aiptasia. The downside to this method is it gets white stuff all over the tank, but it didnt hurt anything. In both instances, still no signs of new Aiptasia months later.

 

[IKD]

Since this is a pinned post, can we update the original with this link to help identifying the ‘true’ peppermint shrimp?

QUESTION OF THE DAY - THIS aiptasia killer got MOST VOTES but be careful, you might not have the REAL thing!

Earlier this week we had a poll here where you voted on the best eradicator or aiptasia anemones! To my surprise the peppermint shrimp edged out the berghia nudibranch by over 4%. Needless to say both of these natural aiptasia predators will do the job. But since the peppermint shrimp won the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[AL210]

Ok I've read all the ways here to rid them. I haven't added anything to my tank for 6 months but just noticed it the other day wedged in a tight crevice where my zoas are. I think I would damage my Zoas if i tried to use the X or F product. TSM has Aiptasia eating file fish. Not sure what to do. I don't see them anywhere else but I have a lot of areas I can't see.