Aiptasia control

[gtguy256]

I have a pretty bad aiptasia infestation in my 90 gallon display tank.

I first tried aiptasia x, but i overdid the amount at once spiked the Ph and irritated my coral. I tried again using a smaller amount, but the Ph spike still took out my big birdsnest coral.

I have on two occasions added 20 berghia and there does seem to be areas that are free of the pests.

Unfortunately, the majority of the top faces of the rock are carpeted in them.

I don’t want to add peppermints or a filefish for fear of them going rogue.

I really don’t want to replace my live rock because it is so full of micro fauna.

I do have a mostly empty 40 gallon frag tank. that i could use to isolate several pieces of rock that have no coral on them. In the frag tank I could employ an army of peppermint shrimp or, a filefish, or both to eliminate most of the aiptasia without fear of losing any coral. then I would cycle the rocks through the frag tank and place them back in the display.

From there, I would hope to maintain them with aiptasia x in small doses.

I really don’t mind the hassle and my aquascape isnt glued at all so it would be simple to do.

Any thoughts?

 

[Rjukan]

Oof that's a lot of them. And imo, really the only way to get on top of them is a natural predator rather than physical removal or treatments.
Maybe an army of Berghia Nudibranchs?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Berghia nudibranch not an option?

 

[Rjukan]

Also, your rock and corals look beautiful btw!

 

[gtguy256]

I have added 20 berghia twice now. I could spot them and see activity for about two weeks, then nothing

 

[Ziggy17]

Do you have a wrasse or dottyback?

 

[gtguy256]

I have been tempted to try a copperband. I worry about tank size and there is still the chance of coral nipping

 

[Lavey29]

Seems you mentioned all the primary remedies. I'd probably do another round of berghia with placement in the most effective areas.

 

[gtguy256]

Do you have a wrasse or dottyback?

I have a melanaurus wrasse. I hope he is sleeping when the berghia come out at night

 

[gtguy256]

Oof that's a lot of them. And imo, really the only way to get on top of them is a natural predator rather than physical removal or treatments.
Maybe an army of Berghia Nudibranchs?

Already tried 20 of them about 2 months a part

 

[Ziggy17]

My Nudis became a very expensive dinner for my Melanaurus. I bought 10 and they lasted less than a week. Once he found one, it became his life mission to find them… I’d go peppermint shrimp. The chances of them nipping the good stuff would be lower as you will have a good source of Aiptasia for them for awhile. I think the big ones will have to be done manually with Aiptasia X, just understanding that you will have to do a bigger water change a day after to get the PH down as you have already experienced.

 

[gtguy256]

Also, your rock and corals look beautiful btw!

Thank you! The rock is the main reason I don't want to kill the old rock and replace, even though that would be simpler.

 

[krollins]

You can try a Lysmata Kuekenthali shrimp.

 

[kindafun]

My son had a bad outbreak in his tank. He was successful with a filefish, then re-homed it when the numbers were few. He used nudis, plus time counted in months, to get the rest. He had to re-home his wrasses to keep the nudis alive.

I've heard laser's can be helpful, and that you have to have good eye protection when using them.

 

[gtguy256]

In the last month or so i stopped running gfo and have just been rinsing my frozen food. The coral have responded well, and my levels of phosphate are exactly the same, but the aiptasia have really taken off.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I have a melanaurus wrasse. I hope he is sleeping when the berghia come out at night

Goodbye berghia...

 

[vanguard]

A few thoughts:

• I like peppermints and keep them in every tank.
• Aiptasia-X is the WORST. It literally grows the stuff.
• You probably need to remove the wrasses for a few months while the berghia breeds.

Regarding aiptasia-x, I saw a video from BRS where Ryan tried to eradicate aiptasia with the stuff. He said every time he killed one, two or three more would pop up.

So, his next move was to assign the job to a staff member. He told them to use all the time they needed, just attack the aiptasia every single day until it is done. They tried and they failed. It just grew like it did in your tank.

Being a slow learner, I tried the same tactic. Just like them, my aiptasia multiplied.

I've defeated aiptasia twice and at this point I don't even consider it to be a difficult pest. My method is simple.

1. Turn off the flow
2. Use F-aiptasia to kill every thing you can.
   1. If it drips on to a coral, turkey baste it off asap.
   2. The bigger aiptasias are your priority.
3. Keep the flow off for at least 15 minutes. Let it harden a bit.
4. Add 1 peppermint per 10-15 gallons.

That's it. Your problem will be 80% solved in one day. About 20% will come back or was simply small enough not to be noticed on the first day. You may do another round of f-aiptasia or you may let the shrimp do their thing.

A trip to the LFS and 30 minutes with a syringe of f-aiptasia and you'll have this mostly behind you.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I added about 30 peppermints to my display to get rid of aiptasia that came in on live rock from TBS. Haven’t had a single aiptasia for a while and all my Coral seem unaffected. Maybe I’ve been lucky.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Already tried 20 of them about 2 months a part

Crap that's a LOT of money spent. BTDT with berghia, peppermint shrimp and everything else in between.

Biological eradication is the only long term method IMHO. Ended up with a second Klein butterfly that rarely nips, best thing I could of did.

 

[GSPClown94]

Berghia nudibranchs have been the best solution for complete removal of aiptasia in my experience. Can you try temporarily relocating the fish that would eat the berghia to a separate tank while the berghia take care of the aiptasia?