Aiptasia remover (not peppermint shrimps)

[Brittany Marie]

I have a few small Aiptasia popping up in my 60 gal. Several I have been able to pull out myself, others are in hard to reach places. I know peppermint shrimp are always a go to, but im pretty positive my anglers and/or golden dwarf eel would eat it in no time. Anyone have any suggestions? Looking for natural, not chemical.

Thanks!!!

 

[JoshH]

Filefish or CBB fish (Temporary) wise might be best if you don't want to go the chemical route. Not sure how either would play with your less than friendly inhabitants though. Aptaisia X works really well for just a few of them to help prevent an outbreak, you don't need to use much and it's harmless to other organisms.

 

[Travis Stewart]

Heard a lot of good success with boiling water into mouth.

 

[Brittany Marie]

Filefish or CBB fish (Temporary) wise might be best if you don't want to go the chemical route. Not sure how either would play with your less than friendly inhabitants though. Aptaisia X works really well for just a few of them to help prevent an outbreak, you don't need to use much.

I guess I should have mentioned what else I have.
Painted angler
Warty angler
Yellow tang
Valentini puffer
Lightening maroon clown
Snowflake clown
And the golden dwarf eel

I think I’d be most worried about the file and the puffer

 

[Brittany Marie]

Heard a lot of good success with boiling water into mouth.

Yeah when I was in the hobby years ago and had larger ones pop up, I’d inject them with lemon juice, worked great! But these are tiny

 

[AndrewB]

Boiling water into mouth worked for me until I had one that was hard to reach... ended up with 100 baby clones around it.

If you do go that route make sure you get it good on the first shot.

 

[Dramad1]

Berghia nudibranches

 

[MSB123]

I guess I should have mentioned what else I have.
Painted angler
Warty angler
Yellow tang
Valentini puffer
Lightening maroon clown
Snowflake clown
And the golden dwarf eel

I think I’d be most worried about the file and the puffer

2 watt laser if they are legal where you live. Make sure to check if they are legal as I have a friend who got into legal trouble just for ordering one.

 

[Brittany Marie]

Boiling water into mouth worked for me until I had one that was hard to reach... ended up with 100 baby clones around it.

If you do go that route make sure you get it good on the first shot.

Yeah like I told travis, I used to inject big ones with a needle and lemon juice. But these guys are smart and in tiny hole and hard to reach places (for me) haha

 

[AB_Reefer]

Aptasia X + copperband cleared my tank's infestation within a week.

It's been months now and I can't seem to spot even a single aptasia in the tank..

 

[Brittany Marie]

Yeah like I told travis, I used to inject big ones with a needle and lemon juice. But these guys are smart and in tiny hole and hard to reach places (for me) haha

Berghia nudibranches

I’ll have to look into them. Will they bother my other corals after a while? Or is it one of those that if it doesn’t have any Aiptasia it will die?

 

[Brittany Marie]

2 watt laser if they are legal where you live. Make sure to check if they are legal as I have a friend who got into legal trouble just for ordering one.

Hmmmm I’ll have to look into this Aiptasia zapping lazer! Thank you!

 

[Brittany Marie]

Aptasia X + copperband cleared my tank's infestation within a week.

It's been months now and I can't seem to spot even a single aptasia in the tank..

I’d like to stay away from chemicals if possible. It’s not really an infestation (yet) would a copper band start picking at my corals thought? I know im complicated, haha. Need something that my fish cant eat and that won’t eat my corals

 

[Skedaddle]

If you can reach them with either a large gauge needle or even a piece of rigid airline tube, I have had good luck with a Kalk paste. Not sure if you would consider this a chemical or not. I mix up a thick slurry (think mayonnaise) put it in a syringe, most often 6ml since that is what I have on hand, turn off all your flow/pumps and inject a little pile of the thick Kalk right over top of the Aptasia. You do not have to inject the animal just cover its home. You can get syringes at the farm supply or your vet. If you can't reach with the needle, just use a short piece of airline tube to connect rigid airline to the syringe.

 

[jpas]

I had a huge outbreak. I added a filefish and within one week I never saw another aptasia again. You need to be sure that you get the correct one, they are a dull brownish color.

 

[40B Knasty]

Boiling hot water is only going to irritate it and go into protection mode and populate. Yes you will damage the heck out of it. But.. it only takes ONE cell for it to reproduce/grow back.
Lemon juice can make your pH go funky. I believe it can raise it really high.
File fish or Copper Band Butterfly is your best bet. Peppermint shrimp are like 20/80 chance. Once they enjoy the food you feed the tank. Forget about it.

 

[Brittany Marie]

Boiling hot water is only going to irritate it and go into protection mode and populate. Yes you will damage the heck out of it. But.. it only takes ONE cell for it to reproduce/grow back.
Lemon juice can make your pH go funky. I believe it can raise it really high.
File fish or Copper Band Butterfly is your best bet. Peppermint shrimp are like 20/80 chance. Once they enjoy the food you feed the tank. Forget about it.

I do like file fish. Do you think it would be okay with my valentini puffer?

 

[Brittany Marie]

If you can reach them with either a large gauge needle or even a piece of rigid airline tube, I have had good luck with a Kalk paste. Not sure if you would consider this a chemical or not. I mix up a thick slurry (think mayonnaise) put it in a syringe, most often 6ml since that is what I have on hand, turn off all your flow/pumps and inject a little pile of the thick Kalk right over top of the Aptasia. You do not have to inject the animal just cover its home. You can get syringes at the farm supply or your vet. If you can't reach with the needle, just use a short piece of airline tube to connect rigid airline to the syringe.

I’ll have to try it. I have no problems getting tubing or syringes, it’s just getting it to those dang devil cnidarians!!!

 

[Dramad1]

Berghia's only eat aptasia, once gone they will die unless you raise aptasia in a seperate tank, then you can breed them. Lol.
They are a bit pricey and do take a while to attack the infestation but they will get the job done. Salty underground is where I have bought them on several ocassions.
Using a pipette to introduce them to your tank and near the aptasia is key, dont just drop them into the tank, lol

 

[40B Knasty]

I do like file fish. Do you think it would be okay with my valentini puffer?

This I would not know.