Anyone have success with killing Aiptasia?

[Joe Rice]

...but these anemones were brutes and the shrimp didn't seem to be taking care of them. So I dropped reagent grade sodium hydroxide pellets on or near them (using a Tunze picker) and the local pH modulation dissolved/killed them.

Wow. I've been reading about Aiptasia strategies for years and never heard of this one. Was this in your display tank? No issues with corals or fish in the tank?

 

[Dana Riddle]

Wow. I've been reading about Aiptasia strategies for years and never heard of this one. Was this in your display tank? No issues with corals or fish in the tank?

Yes, this was in a 120-gallon display tank with a 40 gallon sump. I had some real concerns that the fish would pick at the pellet as it dissolved. They seemed curious but didn't eat any of the tiny flakes that sloughed off. No apparent effects on the 30 or so corals in the tank. Bear in mind these pellets are just a few millimeters across, but apparently the local pH is high enough to kill the anemones (one was over an inch in diameter.) So far, NaOH -3; anemones - 0. Shutting down all circulation pumps is the only thing I would do differently.

 

[The District Reef]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but I’ve had success killing off aiptasia, bryopsis, and to some extent, GHA using Reef Flux Fluconazole.

 

[RosieSkys]

I couldn't get a lot of those methods to work. Some of my rocks are not secured down, so if aiptasia rears it's little head, I pull out the rock and go to work. My drill with a small boring bit takes them out and a wash of the rock vigorously in a bucket of saltwater using a turkey baster to get all the muck off ensues. Then I repeat in a clean bucket of saltwater and seal the bottom of the hole with epoxy. I realize this won't work for everyone because you can't always drill around coral or remove rocks, it's just my way of going to battle. Not messin around! Aiptasia will die in my tank!

 

[Bwlynn]

I’ve had the best luck with an aptasia eating file fish and 4 peppermint shrimp for a 40 gallon DT. As mentioned before, you have to train the peppermint shrimp by using a syringe and applying a mysis shrimp slurry on the aptasia that the peppermint are near. The aptasia will capture the mysis shrimp and the peppermint shrimp will eat the aptasia in the process of going for the mysis. Once this happens they will solely go for the aptasia.
I have used aptasia x in the past and they always came back. The file fish and peppermint shrimp combo reduced my aptasia population down to nothing in 2 weeks and I previously had hundreds of aptasia.
Good luck!

 

[NanoSteam]

Well.... 8 Bhergia wiped out the entire infestation in my 20g in exactly one week.... now with the whole lock down thing I'm not sure what to do with them. Kinda thought it was going to take months from what I've read.

 

[Joshua Kerstetter]

Tried aiptasia X, never had success, plus it was tedious to do, and didn't really make sense to me to constantly try to use it. Got peppermint shrimp for the display and sump, the display ones got eaten, the sump ones are working like mad machines. Tried copperband butterflies, but mine got bullied a lot, then died, it was my third, never trying again, got a filefish, and he's awesome, annihilated them in the display, never touched a coral. Kids thinks he's ugly, but he's got a job to do!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Kleini butterfly all the way.
three tanks and I have in each for a reason. Corals are safe in those tanks

 

[Joe Rice]

Kleini butterfly all the way.
three tanks and I have in each for a reason. Corals are safe in those tanks

Do you have softies or LPS in those tanks?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Do you have softies or LPS in those tanks?

All my tanks are Mixed reef

 

[SashimiTurtle]

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

Also destroys LPS.

 

[Reefer-Noob]

Aiptasia eating filefish...does a good job and is easy to catch if you want to remove it.

Copperband Butterfly destroyed tons of them in my fathers tank.

 

[Luis1992]

So I’ve been following this thread. Unfortunately I do t have any nudibranch availability in my area. I only have a few aptasia at the moment. I am going to be using aptasia x and also putting 2 peppermint shrimp in the dt. Is there anything I should know in particular about the peppermint before I put them in.

 

[Mjl714]

So I’ve been following this thread. Unfortunately I do t have any nudibranch availability in my area. I only have a few aptasia at the moment. I am going to be using aptasia x and also putting 2 peppermint shrimp in the dt. Is there anything I should know in particular about the peppermint before I put them in.

yes, the peppermints i had ate aptasia, but they also ate my acans.

 

[Gakaii]

Copperband Butterfly

 

[Sinibotia]

I just had great success with a peppermint shrimp in my nano. Added him and aptasia started disappearing overnight. It's been a week or so now and I can't find any anymore when before they were starting to take over. I did, however, get a few big and hard to reach ones myself by injecting them with vinegar. The pods and cleaner shrimp actually ate the exploded anemones left from that.

I've heard peppermint shrimp do better in groups, but I have just a 10 gallon so I only added 1.

 

[albano]

Make sure that you purchase Caribbean Peppermints... the Pacific type do not eat aiptasia ...
I prefer the aiptasia eating file fish, but I also have a CB butterflyfish in my 500g tank

 

[Mjl714]

All my tanks are Mixed reef

so do you have acans, frogs spawns and similar, and no issues? I’m tempted to try one.

 

[vetteguy53081]

so do you have acans, frogs spawns and similar, and no issues? I’m tempted to try one.

sMALL EXAMPLE:

 

[eaglalbo]

I used a kleins butterfly once and it was nipping the aptasia. Then it starting wrecking the LPS. Had to rip out half the rock to catch him. It was one of my biggest fails in reefing. Huge disaster.