Anyone have success with killing Aiptasia?

[bblumberg]

I have used matted and green filefish, Klein's butterflies, copperbands and peppermint shrimp. The bottom line in my tanks is that these will get rid of aiptasia where they can be reached. The filefish and Klein's butterflies did a great job of eliminating the aiptasia on exposed surfaces. Once I got copperbands to survive in my tanks (mostly by following Paul B's recommendation of not quarantining them) they did a great job of getting rid of aiptasia that had their bases deep in rock crevices. My frag tank is 100% aiptasia free, enforced by a small copperband. Peppermint shrimp, even MANY of them did not do much in my tanks. Now I have wrasses so no more shrimp.

However, I can see good-sized aiptasia growing between rocks that are inaccessible to the fish. Perhaps berghia would get rid of these if I had some.

Since you only have 1 visible aiptasia, I'd take that rock out of the tank and torch the aiptasia. Torch cigar lighters work great for this and it is very satisfying to see them sizzle and explode - at least for me. Keep burning them long after you think it the aiptasia is gone.

Lastly, I have a Klein's butterfly in my 150g and my 75g. The one in the 150g is a serious coral muncher. I have seen it eating fleshy corals such as acans, lobos and scolys so those are now in my frag tank. The one in my 75g is well-behaved. The copperbands don't bother anything in my 150g or my frag tank, even the fleshy LPS I took out of the 150g. Those are growing very nicely in the frag tank now. One of these days, I need to get rid of that Klein's and its partner in LPS eating - a flame angel.

 

[Neil S.]

Don't do apstasia x. They come back with a vengeance. Have used two bottles of that stuff. Just got worse every time I used it.

I recently bought 5 nudibranch and a apstasia eating filefish. I haven't seen the nudibranch ever since but I have seen the filefish eat apstasia.
Also I had a big infestation on the upper part of my rock work. It has since been cleared out.

As pointed out by @DancingShark use either nudibranchs and/or a filefish. I tried the aptasia x and it didn't work well at all, possibly due to a slightly shaky hand, so sneaking up on the aiptasia with a syringe never worked well....maybe damaged them but they never went away. Bought a matted filefish and no more aiptasia! The filefish is still feeding on something on the rocks, maybe small bits of algae, but he is quite healthy and has been in my tank now for 8 months.

 

[mattfish]

Theres an item on the market - the- Majano Wand- Marine Depot sell it for $129 , its an electric prob that zaps them and they just cook up. It gets a bit tedious if you have a lot of Aptasia. If you dont get it quick they just retract. Meleve recommends the focus able burning laser,there $60 on Ebay, you can shoot them right through the glass. But i think the same problem occurs ,that when you touch it with the laser light the aptasia will quickly retract. I think you have to develop a skill to be very exact and fast. After a while i got tired of battling them and just keep them away from the coral.

 

[Tony616]

I used lemon juice and had success with it. Atptasia never came back.

 

[rusty hannon]

Came home yesterday to see this little guy growing out of nowhere! Went and bought some Aiptasia-x seems to work, but I heard that they come back after a while. Any other way I can get rid of the permanently?

thought my feather dusters were multiplying n seems they r glass anemone n r spreading like crazy.wow another day in reef land.so do u recomend.theaptasia x or non if no anyone have an idea?thanks R

 

[A.grant 22]

One Peppermint shrimp whipped out the whole population in my 120. It only took two nights

 

[rusty hannon]

+1 absolutely works!

thank you all for thoughts n war tech. by the way can you please give me the warriors name.just came back from gazeing n i definately have a LOT moren. thanks reefersR

 

[John08007]

AiptasiaX worked for me, and i picked up 2-3 peppermint shrimp. Havent seen one in about a yr. The AiptasiaX works, its just sometimes hard to get to some with the syringe. You need to completely cover it with the stuff.

 

[Dave Cureton]

Berghia nudibranch
They will wipe out an infestation in a month. If you have a couple aiptasia and can pull the rock they are on I recommend doing that and cutting them off the rock. Look for them in your sump or overflow too as they are probably there. Good luck!

 

[rusty hannon]

+1 on the Berghia. Can be hard to get and are expensive for their size but they work great. Only issue is once all the aptasia is gone they basically starve to death.

yes collateral damage sucks but sometimes a necessary evil.this place rules n again thanks to all.R

 

[rusty hannon]

i think ive been individual n my appreciation n want to thank all reefers for your input n support.man this place rules as do u all great reefing everyone.R

 

[rusty hannon]

Kleini butterfly- eats them like candy and doesn’t miss any and eats all fish food thereafter

is this guy a fish.the kleini butterfly?

 

[rusty hannon]

AiptasiaX worked for me, and i picked up 2-3 peppermint shrimp. Havent seen one in about a yr. The AiptasiaX works, its just sometimes hard to get to some with the syringe. You need to completely cover it with the stuff.

definately getting a peppermint shrimp tommorrow n begin this new journey.funny thing i know these guys have been around a couple mil. years n ive been playing for 30 but havent met these guys before.lol.thank u.R

 

[rusty hannon]

thank you all r2rs but 3 year old grandson is now abuseing me n must go now 2 play.good nite reefers u all r the best n I DO love it here.R

 

[Dr. Reef]

Klein butterfly is the best fish for cleaning Aiptasia.

 

[vetteguy53081]

is this guy a fish.the kleini butterfly?

Yes

 

[gotmesalty77]

i have had peppermint shrimp and they seem to work well and ave not bothered any of my corals which i was shocked by.

 

[rusty hannon]

Klein butterfly is the best fish for cleaning Aiptasia.

thanks doc for the clairaty.still settling back into the saddle and doubt i really ever knew that.R

 

[rusty hannon]

I have used matted and green filefish, Klein's butterflies, copperbands and peppermint shrimp. The bottom line in my tanks is that these will get rid of aiptasia where they can be reached. The filefish and Klein's butterflies did a great job of eliminating the aiptasia on exposed surfaces. Once I got copperbands to survive in my tanks (mostly by following Paul B's recommendation of not quarantining them) they did a great job of getting rid of aiptasia that had their bases deep in rock crevices. My frag tank is 100% aiptasia free, enforced by a small copperband. Peppermint shrimp, even MANY of them did not do much in my tanks. Now I have wrasses so no more shrimp.

However, I can see good-sized aiptasia growing between rocks that are inaccessible to the fish. Perhaps berghia would get rid of these if I had some.

Since you only have 1 visible aiptasia, I'd take that rock out of the tank and torch the aiptasia. Torch cigar lighters work great for this and it is very satisfying to see them sizzle and explode - at least for me. Keep burning them long after you think it the aiptasia is gone.

Lastly, I have a Klein's butterfly in my 150g and my 75g. The one in the 150g is a serious coral muncher. I have seen it eating fleshy corals such as acans, lobos and scolys so those are now in my frag tank. The one in my 75g is well-behaved. The copperbands don't bother anything in my 150g or my frag tank, even the fleshy LPS I took out of the 150g. Those are growing very nicely in the frag tank now. One of these days, I need to get rid of that Klein's and its partner in LPS eating - a flame angel.

thank you very much for that bit of knoeledg n for shareing your tank story w me.greatly enjoyed especaily rite out of the gate this morn.have a great one n nice to meet youR

 

[Nhjmc]

I recently bought a filefish because my lfs said "they eat aiptasia" . I figured since such a cool looking fish and rather that than using more chemicals I'd buy but so far in the week I've had him/her hasn't eaten a single one!