Aiptasia "Eating..." Filefish - Don't do it!

[Tamberav]

I've honestly kind of given up on counting on any kind of "aptasia eating" creatures in my tank. I just bite the bullet and dedicate 20 mins once in a while to nuking them with F Aptasia.

Just need to try a more economical solution, but it works well enough for me. It helps that my wife enjoys point them out everytime one pops up, makes my eye twitch...

I kill then with boiling water in a syringe. Costs nothing.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

I kill then with boiling water in a syringe. Costs nothing.

I wonder if that works for xenia do. Gotta do a Xenia holocaust this week. Was thinking of trying very thick calcium carbonate paste or maybe using some of my left over putty I don't use anymore. Going to tweeze out as much as I can first.

 

[Pistondog]

I wonder if that works for xenia do. Gotta do a Xenia holocaust this week. Was thinking of trying very thick calcium carbonate paste or maybe using some of my left over putty I don't use anymore. Going to tweeze out as much as I can first.

Kalk paste works better, just be cautious of overspray and collateral damage.

 

[Twitch PhD.]

A handful.

 

[Twitch PhD.]

A picture of two that I removed attached to a rock and a shell. I have removed several more while telling the new filefish to get to work!

 

[Reeferbadness]

I tried everything to eat my aiptasia problem - finally settled on this guy (Australian Stipey) - for both of my 200g tanks - and after 6 months i can say that all coral are ok, all aiptasia are gone. While Australian Stripey is Reef Safe with Caution, it's worth a try and they are a lot easier to keep and def from my own experience and those of others will 100% eat your aiptasia.

 

[Twitch PhD.]

I just wanted to let everyone know my story based on first-hand experience and from what've I've heard from other reefers. Please comment if you want.

I had a fairly nice (see image) 80 gallon reef that I started 3 years ago. Everything was doing well, but I had a proliferation of aiptasia, probably several hundred or so, that were bothersome to the shorter corals and stalks of some corals. I only had one fish, a blue damsel, so I decided to get a small aiptasia eating filefish. His name was Henry.

Upon acclimation to the tank he did very well. He mostly hung out where the pods were in the back, spending numerous hours eating my live pods and mysis. Which was ok because I had thousands. Never saw him eat an aiptasia, ever. A few months in I noticed that overnight all of the aiptasia were gone one day - never saw him eat one, ever. I did however notice him eating my hammer and acans. The tank was starting to look tired at this point already and I had a feeling for a few weeks that something was off but my parameters were perfect. An important thing to note is that I have a 20 gallon sump on this tank and all, ALL, of the aiptasia also disappeared from the sump. I thought that was interesting.

I thought my first step should be to revert back to where I was and take the filefish back to the store. I did this. Over the next few months however, the damsel and every lps and sps in the tank slowly perished, along with all of the kenya trees and sinularia. Parameters were checked weekly at three different sources, all said my water was habitable.... everything continued to die.

Finally I broke down the tank and started over with my sand and rock scrubbed clean. I also had my RO and tank water tested via gas chromatography mass spectrometry - there were no none pollutants, only minerals that I used to supplement the corals. Keep in mind that the water was tested down to the parts per billion. Even some of the different types of algae I had died. Like the hard corkscrew algae.

Fast forward a few months, leathers are now growing again, but I still cannot keep a pod, a hard coral, or a fish alive in the tank. I've tried 5 different species of fish, all perish in 2 days like clockwork. Water is continually being tested and is within near perfect parameters.

Also, I'm using RO water and I do a 5 percent water change weekly.

It is my honest opinion that file fish do eat aiptasia but also, because of their habit of eating toxic polyps and anemone, they release a toxin into the water from their gut that will leach into your rock and sandbed having a potentially lasting affect on your tank. It may be that this toxin kills some of the aiptasia... Obviously not every filefish has the same diet, but it's not worth the risk. (Oh and I even replaced all of the equipment, because I didn't want to take the chance of a small amount of electricity leaking from a fixture being the culprit, but that had no affect.) Everything you see below, which is a pic of the left side of the tank, died.

So sorry to read your story. I have a small, nano, tank. Aptasia anenomi showed up and I was amazed at how fast they multipled. Got an aptasia filefish and he did little to nothing. I still have him and like him a great deal. What I discovered was the aptasia anenomis would immediately retreat when I tried to remove them. One time I was about to pick up a small rock right were one was and removed it. (I have sand and rock mixed in most of the substrate). I was able to hunt them down and remove the rocks they were attached to, WHICH PROVED TO BE THE ANSWER.
So they were all gone, but not completely and I look forward to hearing from you them daily. Today I removed a small one along with the rock it was attached to, a surprising inch into the sand.
My tank is in great shape. To the point where I am getting some small sponges starting to grow.
Had my tank now for one year and really enjoying it. Graduated with a marine biology degree from UofM in FL. Started a saltwater tank back then near Cleveland, OH. It was quite a task, stopped when I moved to Wall Street. That was nearly 50 years ago, so now, I am keeping it easy, using common sense and decent research, and as I said, really enjoying it.
So along with my experience I shared, relax and just enjoy the miracle.