Aiptasia treatment success or failure.... A poll

[Treefer32]

I keep these pictures for this reason... To show how bad it can get, and what the treatment options are... There is only one.. treatment for me. It was a beautiful, awesome personality fish, called a CBB.

 

[AeldariDrukhari]

I voted for Berghia Nudibranch, but I use a combination of F-aiptasia and epoxy cement in hard to reach places. But the Berghia Nudi's really cleaned the tank. The rule is three for every 25gallons. I was told they wouldn't touch the aiptasia without spawning eggs, but the three I got from reeftown.com did an amazing job. Jeff is very helpful. If my tank was bigger I might of grabbed a file fish.

 

[MnFish1]

120 gallons

the lasers look like fun

 

[ThRoewer]

For me, Berghia were the only thing that has worked to completely eradicate Aiptasia from rocks (aside from completely sterilizing the rocks). Though, I moved the infested rocks to a low flow tank where the Berghia could go to work on them until there was nothing left. Those treated rocks have stayed clear of Aiptasia for over half a year now.
So far I have not seen much effect from the Berghia I put into infested tanks, but it hasn't been that long yet with that attempt and success may come later. But Berghia do not like high flow and Aiptasia may therefore survive in high flow areas.
Another issue, for the same reason, are overflows and pipes where Aiptasia may be safe from Berghia and be able to repopulate the tank/system.

 

[tores]

Got on top of it quick with aiptasia-x but still never really managed to get rid of all of it. Got a couple of peppermint shrimp and haven't seen a single aiptasia for months and months.

 

[1stNoel]

Filefish.

I have a 300 gallon display with no aiptasia except for in the sump, so I know he's doing the job. Unfortunately, he also devours any euphyllia I add to the tank.

 

[AeldariDrukhari]

I keep these pictures for this reason... To show how bad it can get, and what the treatment options are... There is only one.. treatment for me. It was a beautiful, awesome personality fish, called a CBB.

How long did the CBB last in your tank?

 

[Tmtdvm]

Aptasia X. Got on them early and often

 

[ScottR]

SO - somehow - no clue how - I ended up with some aiptasia anemones. I just tried to kill them with 'removal' - and a month later - I had 50. They weren't spreading - and I personally don't mind them - they didnt seem to hurt anything - when it increased to more than that - I thought - hmmm. I should do something. I did something that I thought would never work - but - they are disappearing - day by day. So - thus the Poll - when everyone has answered - I'll give 'my experience'.

Peppermints really worked well for me. Oddly, I found aiptaisa in my sump where I keep no light and couldn’t believe it. They really are a pest. So I put peppermints in the sump and they ate them. There are different types of peppermint shrimps which is why some people have no success with them. Need to get the right type.

 

[Chessmanmark]

I’ve had plague level, hobby ending aiptasia in two tanks due to neglect. I was coaching a team that won a national championship. This other “hobby” took over all my attention during this time.
The two tanks are a 90 gallon and a 20 gallon.
I spent $100 on Burghia for the 90, and a couple of weeks later I spent $30 on a file fish.
The Burghia cleaned the 90 very slowly to the point that I couldn’t find any aiptasia in approximately 3 months. Almost a year later and I am finding a few pieces of aiptasia in hard to reach places. The Burghia are all gone. They starved to death.
The Filefish cleaned the 20 gallon tank in under a week. I still have this amazing fish and haven’t seen a single aiptasia.
This is my personal experience over the last year.

 

[bigjgmac]

SO - somehow - no clue how - I ended up with some aiptasia anemones. I just tried to kill them with 'removal' - and a month later - I had 50. They weren't spreading - and I personally don't mind them - they didnt seem to hurt anything - when it increased to more than that - I thought - hmmm. I should do something. I did something that I thought would never work - but - they are disappearing - day by day. So - thus the Poll - when everyone has answered - I'll give 'my experience'.

I caught mine early. I had one growing on the base of a Scoly (of course it was my favorite and most expensive coral in the tank) and noticrd another one on the bed.
I trashed the coral and vacuumed the orher one off the bed. That was about six weeks ago and they seem to be gone.
If you want to get rid of them, immediate and decisive action is required.

 

[pseudorand]

F-aptasia worked for me...at at least the ones I could reach. There's one I haven't bothered with because I'd have to move some rock. My peppermint shrimp from AlgaeBarn either hasn't found him yet, or he hasn't read the R2R posts that say he's supposed to eat aptasia.

I would think f-aptasia would be hard to use if you have dozens, but keep some on hand to kill 'em as you find 'em.

 

[attilak]

I have used Aiptasia-X and yes, it kills but it is difficult to keep up with doing this manually if you're continuing to battle outbreaks of aiptasia. Then I had tried a filefish - did not seem interested. Now I purchased several Berghia's and really hope it eliminates my problem! I am concerned because since I put them in, I cannot find and aiptasia's still there ... so whom ever has experience with Berghia's it would be nice to know how long it takes to begin seeing Aiptasia disappear.

I am very concerned because it is taking out several colonies of zoas. Take a look at the pics. They are just spreading on the rocks.

 

[Chris Martin]

I had great success with using a scat fish

 

[GK3]

So - I tried peppermint shrimp -no effect. I tried hot (boiling RODI) - no effect. I bought a file fish - no effect. I bought a copper band - no effect. I bit the bullet and ordered 11 berghia nudibranchs. They were maybe 1/2 inch long. I put them in the tank - never to be seen again - and I thought - hmmm... I talked to the person who sold them to me - they said - they are mostly nocturnal - once they start to lay eggs -you will have a lot of babies - and you will see the aiptasia slowly dying. At about 2 weeks - I noticed - several of them didn't look so good - i.e. somewhat shriveled - by 4 weeks 99 percent were 'gone'. I have yet to see a nudibranch that I could 'rehome'.....

My experience with bergia is similar, you never really see them but when you do it’s like wow, you got big.

one thing you have to make sure of is you don’t have any Bergia predators in the tank. I accidentally dropped one in and didn’t place it onto a rock, my dish destroyed it. Once on a rock I’ve not seen any normal (Common to aquarium) fish mess with them. I’d suspect smaller fish and maybe some shrimp would at least sample one.

 

[Tired]

Berghia are amazingly effective, and the most hands-off method. Expensive, though.

If you just have a few, or one that came in on a frag plug, I like liquid superglue. Take whatever they're on out of the water, wait for them to retract, and glue over them. Cheap and easy. Unless you glue something to yourself, then it's cheap and annoying.

 

[Injoynit]

I have a Copperband that eradicated them from one side of my split tank in about 3 days. Then on the other side, where I have Christmas tree worms, I have an ORA filefish. It took care of them in about 2 days.

However, I will never eradicate them, as they are clearly in my PVC plumbing. I'm not ready to push a filefish through my drain or return pump.

My CBB did the trick for me too after trying all the others. But, I too have them in the plumbing and sump I'm sure. Was thinking about getting the berga for the sump and plumbing only to see if they can take care of the places the fish and shrimp can't go. Just a thought.

 

[Crotalus]

I've had about 8 pop up so far. So far I am just covering them with gel. Thinking about a file fish. I heard that there is more than one kind of shrimp that looks like peppermint. How do you know you have the real deal?

 

[jeffrey750750]

super glue gel blob to seal it in, i started with about 15 and im down to 3. Time to re-glue

 

[zbryant91]

Heater explosion that nuked the whole tank did it for me. Havent had any in the tank for 2 years now haha. I have seen some on frag plugs when I get orders in but always get rid of them at first sight by cutting them off or removing the frag and putting it on a new plug if possible.

Prior to that I did have good success controlling the population with aptasia x.