Aiptasia

[tynewell1]

Have a 20g water box, started with almost no aiptasia and within 6 months my tank has HUNDREDS. Bought 2 peppermints so far and the aiptasia ate them within 1 day. Bought 2 berghias and aiptasia ate them within 10 minutes. Used to use aiptasia x back in my bio cube and it never killed it completely and it would cause hundreds more. I Pulled the rock out with the huge aiptasia on it, but it doesn’t stop the rest from doing the same thing. Idk what to do, I’m losing the war and giving up. Can’t find any reasonable berghia in my area, and online shipping is unbearable. What else can I do? I’m so over losing money.

 

[Lavey29]

Not sure why you chose to let the situation get out of control but on nano tanks rip clean is always a viable option.

 

[tynewell1]

I was away at college, didn’t know of the problem till I just got home. Had family members just topping my tank off and feeding while I was away

 

[Lavey29]

I was away at college, didn’t know of the problem till I just got home. Had family members just topping my tank off and feeding while I was away

Well if it is beyond typical remedies like peppermints and nudibranch, you might be able to use a file fish in there short term or just take the rocks out and scrub them clean.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have a 20g water box, started with almost no aiptasia and within 6 months my tank has HUNDREDS. Bought 2 peppermints so far and the aiptasia ate them within 1 day. Bought 2 berghias and aiptasia ate them within 10 minutes. Used to use aiptasia x back in my bio cube and it never killed it completely and it would cause hundreds more. I Pulled the rock out with the huge aiptasia on it, but it doesn’t stop the rest from doing the same thing. Idk what to do, I’m losing the war and giving up. Can’t find any reasonable berghia in my area, and online shipping is unbearable. What else can I do? I’m so over losing money.

Will not beat you up here- it happens. My best suggestion is a Bluehead (not the all yellow) Kleini butterfly. Bluehead will mow every last one and quickly and not bother coral. Is also peaceful with tank mates and eat all dry and frozen foods offered, stays small and has nice color.

Bluehead:

 

[tynewell1]

Will not beat you up here- it happens. My best suggestion is a Bluehead (not the all yellow) Kleini butterfly. Bluehead will mow every last one and quickly and not bother coral. Is also peaceful with tank mates and eat all dry and frozen foods offered, stays small and has nice color.

Bluehead:

Will it be comfortable/compatible in a 20gallon?

 

[tynewell1]

Well if it is beyond typical remedies like peppermints and nudibranch, you might be able to use a file fish in there short term or just take the rocks out and scrub them clean.

Im not saying it’s not my fault, it’s my tank so I’ll take all the responsibilities within it. Just looking for solutions! Are there any filefish in particular that are known to eat aiptasia better than others? Thank you for your response

 

[vetteguy53081]

Will it be comfortable/compatible in a 20gallon?

yes- theyre generally 2.5" at purchase size.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im not saying it’s not my fault, it’s my tank so I’ll take all the responsibilities within it. Just looking for solutions! Are there any filefish in particular that are known to eat aiptasia better than others? Thank you for your response

leathermat file but they too turn on soft coral once aptasia gone -IF- they eat the aptasia

 

[Lavey29]

Im not saying it’s not my fault, it’s my tank so I’ll take all the responsibilities within it. Just looking for solutions! Are there any filefish in particular that are known to eat aiptasia better than others? Thank you for your response

My understanding is they are 50 50 but if your tank is loaded they should attract to it.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Have a 20g water box, started with almost no aiptasia and within 6 months my tank has HUNDREDS. Bought 2 peppermints so far and the aiptasia ate them within 1 day. Bought 2 berghias and aiptasia ate them within 10 minutes. Used to use aiptasia x back in my bio cube and it never killed it completely and it would cause hundreds more. I Pulled the rock out with the huge aiptasia on it, but it doesn’t stop the rest from doing the same thing. Idk what to do, I’m losing the war and giving up. Can’t find any reasonable berghia in my area, and online shipping is unbearable. What else can I do? I’m so over losing money.

Well first off. Don’t beat yourself up over it. These things happen to most all of us at some point. Without knowing a little more, you will just get a lot of advice that might not be the best. I don’t know everything by any means but in my experience there is really no singular cure (other than nuking the tank and starting over but that just isn’t viable for most). There are posts on here that have a ton of valuable info that you should check out. My experience with peppermints is hit and miss. Some fish will go after them and high flow keeps them in hiding. I found filefish to be hit and miss as well. Mine just rips Aiptasia into pieces and spit them out, causing it to spread. With berghia, they do eat Aiptasia but they weren’t as ferocious in my tank as everyone touts. Some fish/shrimp eat Berghia plus some pods/bristleworms and they really don’t like high flow. Chemicals, superglue, and putty have worked for me in the past. However, if you have a lot it will take a long time to deal with. It can be difficult to deal with and it has caused some to leave the hobby. What I’m trying to get it is there is no real silver bullet. It takes time and patience, but you can get it under control. Just don’t expect it to be overnight. Everyone has different experiences in dealing with Aiptasia and what works for one might not work for another. Sorry I don’t have an easy remedy for you. Be patient and check out a few of the threads on here if you have a chance.

 

[tynewell1]

Well first off. Don’t beat yourself up over it. These things happen to most all of us at some point. Without knowing a little more, you will just get a lot of advice that might not be the best. I don’t know everything by any means but in my experience there is really no singular cure (other than nuking the tank and starting over but that just isn’t viable for most). There are posts on here that have a ton of valuable info that you should check out. My experience with peppermints is hit and miss. Some fish will go after them and high flow keeps them in hiding. I found filefish to be hit and miss as well. Mine just rips Aiptasia into pieces and spit them out, causing it to spread. With berghia, they do eat Aiptasia but they weren’t as ferocious in my tank as everyone touts. Some fish/shrimp eat Berghia plus some pods/bristleworms and they really don’t like high flow. Chemicals, superglue, and putty have worked for me in the past. However, if you have a lot it will take a long time to deal with. It can be difficult to deal with and it has caused some to leave the hobby. What I’m trying to get it is there is no real silver bullet. It takes time and patience, but you can get it under control. Just don’t expect it to be overnight. Everyone has different experiences in dealing with Aiptasia and what works for one might not work for another. Sorry I don’t have an easy remedy for you. Be patient and check out a few of the threads on here if you have a chance.

I agree there is no overnight cure, been in the hobby for a couple of years, been through worse than an aiptasia outbreak! I have just never started losing livestock over aiptasia (3 inch yellow Coris wrasse, 2 peppermint, 2 berghia, goby almost). I am looking into the blue butterfly, I’m not doing vette’s advice, I’ve trusted him in the past but does anyone have one actively? Are they working for you? I can provide pictures of said aiptasia after work, I got rid of the rock with the aiptasia almost 4inches wide. But that doesn’t mean other babies won’t get just as big. I have putty, but puttying aiptasia growing on the glass/back wall isn’t feesible.

 

[tynewell1]

I agree there is no overnight cure, been in the hobby for a couple of years, been through worse than an aiptasia outbreak! I have just never started losing livestock over aiptasia (3 inch yellow Coris wrasse, 2 peppermint, 2 berghia, goby almost). I am looking into the blue butterfly, I’m not doing vette’s advice, I’ve trusted him in the past but does anyone have one actively? Are they working for you? I can provide pictures of said aiptasia after work, I got rid of the rock with the aiptasia almost 4inches wide. But that doesn’t mean other babies won’t get just as big. I have putty, but puttying aiptasia growing on the glass/back wall isn’t feesible.

Doubting*** not doing

 

[Lavey29]

I agree there is no overnight cure, been in the hobby for a couple of years, been through worse than an aiptasia outbreak! I have just never started losing livestock over aiptasia (3 inch yellow Coris wrasse, 2 peppermint, 2 berghia, goby almost). I am looking into the blue butterfly, I’m not doing vette’s advice, I’ve trusted him in the past but does anyone have one actively? Are they working for you? I can provide pictures of said aiptasia after work, I got rid of the rock with the aiptasia almost 4inches wide. But that doesn’t mean other babies won’t get just as big. I have putty, but puttying aiptasia growing on the glass/back wall isn’t feesible.

I highly doubt small nuisance anemones killed your wrass3 and shrimp. I have a yellow coris and peppermint shrimp and of course periodic aptasia in the tank and they do nothing to harm the inhabitants.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Your apstatia is eating peppermint shrimp and Berghia nudibranches???? I highly doubt that.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I agree there is no overnight cure, been in the hobby for a couple of years, been through worse than an aiptasia outbreak! I have just never started losing livestock over aiptasia (3 inch yellow Coris wrasse, 2 peppermint, 2 berghia, goby almost). I am looking into the blue butterfly, I’m not doing vette’s advice, I’ve trusted him in the past but does anyone have one actively? Are they working for you? I can provide pictures of said aiptasia after work, I got rid of the rock with the aiptasia almost 4inches wide. But that doesn’t mean other babies won’t get just as big. I have putty, but puttying aiptasia growing on the glass/back wall isn’t feesible.

I know nothing about your tank or inhabitants but some of those mentioned might not get along if all kept together. I personally would look for other causes of livestock deaths. The Aiptasia may have ended up with snacks after they died from something else. I have found much better advice in the posted articles in here than from most fellow reefers. I believe we all want to help, but we all go through things differently. You can ask 100 fellow reefers what to do, and you will likely get 100 different responses. I try to encourage people to research and come to their own decision. If you go with livestock check to make sure they will work in your tank. Some fish might eat Aiptasia, but also pick at some types of corals. Peppermints might eat Aiptasia but some fish like dottybacks and goby’s might go after them. Berghias are snacks for filefish, copper bands, peppermints, etc., plus they might not reproduce in some tanks with high flow, pods, and bristleworms. It can get complicated.

 

[GoVols]

Have a 20g water box, started with almost no aiptasia and within 6 months my tank has HUNDREDS. Bought 2 peppermints so far and the aiptasia ate them within 1 day. Bought 2 Berghia s and aiptasia ate them within 10 minutes. Used to use aiptasia x back in my bio cube and it never killed it completely and it would cause hundreds more. I Pulled the rock out with the huge aiptasia on it, but it doesn’t stop the rest from doing the same thing. Idk what to do, I’m losing the war and giving up. Can’t find any reasonable berghia in my area, and online shipping is unbearable. What else can I do? I’m so over losing money.

For that reason I never use aiptasia-x, you will go into a full blown outbreak.

You can’t place the nudi’s on or close to aiptasia or they will be ate.

Next time with Nudis:
If would like to take the time, hover over my avi and ”click“ on the 1 article.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

For that reason I never use aiptasia-x, you will go into a full blown outbreak.

You can’t place the nudi’s on or close to aiptasia or they will be ate.

Next time with Nudis:
If would like to take the time, hover over my avi and ”click“ on the 1 article.

One of the articles that helped me. I would have linked it when I was recommending he search for articles on here but I’m legally blind now and can’t figure that out since I’m new to screen readers. Good info in there! Thank you for your time and effort!

 

[Sgchick]

Will not beat you up here- it happens. My best suggestion is a Bluehead (not the all yellow) Kleini butterfly. Bluehead will mow every last one and quickly and not bother coral. Is also peaceful with tank mates and eat all dry and frozen foods offered, stays small and has nice color.

Bluehead:

Ohhh…that’s pretty!! I‘m going to look into that. Are they difficult to find?

 

[Sean Clark]

Ohhh…that’s pretty!! I‘m going to look into that. Are they difficult to find?

You have aiptasia in your tank now? Or do you just like the fish?