I started with one or two in my sump. I ignored them because they were in my fuge, and because I'm dumb. Next thing I knew, there were thousands in my sump... then in my display, in my overflow in my protein skimmer ***. I tried Joe's Juice, I tried Kalk paste, I tried glue, I tried everything shy of the $400 laser that some people have used. For every one I killed, 10 more popped up.
So I went to my favorite solution to all reef-related problems... biological warfare. I bought a matted filefish on a whim. He didn't do crap. I still have him, I call him Derp. He just derps around my tank all day long. I like him now in the way that you like the dumb guy in a movie. I root for him, but he doesn't eat aiptasia. From there I went to peppermint shrimp. I've had great success with Pepps in the past, but they are hit or miss. I bought 6 for my 50 gallon setup, and they ate some of aips in my display, but when I tried to move them into my fuge, which is ground zero, they all disappeared (still have no idea where they went)... maybe the big aiptasia ate them? How would that be for poetic justice. When the shrimp left in my display started eating my acans and leathers, I had to trap them and evict them.
Finally, I found someone on my local board who was selling Berghia Nudibranches. I had avoided buying them in the first place, because my trio of leopard wrasses would never let anything even remotely slug shaped live in my tank. But I thought they might be helpful in my fuge. So I bought 6 of the biggest ones he had. They were not cheap. I think I spent $75 for them. But they WORKED! I put them in my fuge and they were ghosts from then out. I never saw one of them, but over the course of the next month or two, they eradicated every single solitary aiptasia in my sump. Not just the fuge chamber either, they migrated to the other two chambers and demoed the aiptasia. I don't know if they died after that, or if they're still cruising around in there, but my tank is free from these jerks now, and I won't hesitate to go nuclear on one if I see it pop up.
Hope this was helpful!
So I went to my favorite solution to all reef-related problems... biological warfare. I bought a matted filefish on a whim. He didn't do crap. I still have him, I call him Derp. He just derps around my tank all day long. I like him now in the way that you like the dumb guy in a movie. I root for him, but he doesn't eat aiptasia. From there I went to peppermint shrimp. I've had great success with Pepps in the past, but they are hit or miss. I bought 6 for my 50 gallon setup, and they ate some of aips in my display, but when I tried to move them into my fuge, which is ground zero, they all disappeared (still have no idea where they went)... maybe the big aiptasia ate them? How would that be for poetic justice. When the shrimp left in my display started eating my acans and leathers, I had to trap them and evict them.
Finally, I found someone on my local board who was selling Berghia Nudibranches. I had avoided buying them in the first place, because my trio of leopard wrasses would never let anything even remotely slug shaped live in my tank. But I thought they might be helpful in my fuge. So I bought 6 of the biggest ones he had. They were not cheap. I think I spent $75 for them. But they WORKED! I put them in my fuge and they were ghosts from then out. I never saw one of them, but over the course of the next month or two, they eradicated every single solitary aiptasia in my sump. Not just the fuge chamber either, they migrated to the other two chambers and demoed the aiptasia. I don't know if they died after that, or if they're still cruising around in there, but my tank is free from these jerks now, and I won't hesitate to go nuclear on one if I see it pop up.
Hope this was helpful!