Aptasia infestation can’t get rid of it

[empire8585]

I had NEVER ENDING aiptasia out of nowhere in my 32 gallon Biocube. After trying the shrimp, after tons of money on Aiptasia X, I got creative and went on the hint for an aiptasia laser. Money well spent!! Not only was it oddly satifying to laser them down to nothing, but it was so much fun. The laser ran me $100 on ebay. This is NOT your everyday laser pointer. This this thing burns wood, lights matches and charcoal, and will burn you if not careful. I recommend spending another $15 and getting replacement batteries from Amazon. The laser batteries are rechargeable but you will want to go to town when you see how well it works. You can hear them crackle as they are shrunk down to nothing.
After 2 rounds of completely vaporizing the tank, I followed up with a filefish who eats aiptasia and have NOT had an outbreak since. The filefish maintains the tank and everyone is happy.

 

[Rcpilot]

Quarantine tanks and coral dips are your friends.
I never spotted more than 1 or 2 in any of my tanks.

I went with full battle gear when I saw them:
cordless drill and a masonry bit
exacto knife
small flat screwdriver or awl
gloves and goggles
super glue

Remove the rock from your tank. Your corals will be fine for a few minutes.

Slice the foot off - then dispose of corpse - kitchen garbage disposals are very satisfying.

Drill into the rock with masonry bit. I always went down an inch or so, to be sure I got it all. Chip, scrape and gouge around the hole with a screwdriver or awl. Get it all out of there.

Rinse thoroughly in tap water.

Apply super glue. Fill the hole entirely. Give it 5 minutes to cure before putting the rock back in your tank.

Sounds like more work than a lot of people would want to deal with. Go back up and read my 1st and 2nd lines in this post.

This is EXACTLY why I don't buy live rocks for my tanks. I always buy dry rock and start from ground zero. Yes, it takes longer. I don't get the "instant reef" that so many people want these days.

I also remove corals from frag plugs if possible. Never take a new frag and toss it in your quarantine tank with the rock or plug that it came on. If it's not fully encrusted on the plug or rock - get it off the rock. If it's fully encrusted on a rock or plug - use a hammer and a chisel, or pliers to reduce the size of the rock or plug as much as possible, but leave the coral attached so you don't damage it. Put the reduced size rock or plug into your dip solution and then into your QT tank and watch for nasties.

 

[dolliecc]

I have majano's all over my 125g tank, will the peppermint shrimp work for that?

 

[ether]

Peppermint shrimp worked for me, haven't bothered anything else in the tank yet. Fingers crossed.

 

[wmwesty]

To make story short tank is getting a lot of aptasia I already used aptasia x and other methods like lime juice in needle and shoot them directly also boiling hot water but just keeps coming back they are all little have like 20 heads in my 50 gallon reef any other method u can use.
Maybe shrimps ??

You are not using Aptasia x correctly, you need to let the tentacles rap around the needle and then gently squirt so the Ap actually eat it, then it will work

 

[Stella1979]

I can’t get hold of nudi and my lfs don’t have any file fish becouse no one ever buys them
But they have lots of peppermint shrimp for 6$

I have this link in my bookmarks for the day I get aiptasia lol https://reeftown.com/berghia-nudibranchs

Got my nudis there. I had lots of questions and the service was great all around.

You are not using Aptasia x correctly, you need to let the tentacles rap around the needle and then gently squirt so the Ap actually eat it, then it will work

I did my very best to do just this for months. When there's enough aiptasia, you're bound to get it wrong on some of them. I am 100% sure that injections ultimately made my problem a lot worse.

I know it works for some cases, but honestly, what's easier than Berghias? No user error, otherwise unwanted animals or coral munching involved.

Thanks @Reeftown . Your excellent service and quality product has earned you a lifelong customer and supporter.

 

[Cherub]

You are not using Aptasia x correctly, you need to let the tentacles rap around the needle and then gently squirt so the Ap actually eat it, then it will work

the problem with aiptasia x and kalk paste is this irritates the aiptasia, they then spit out a puff in their death throws which i can only assume are spores as this results in many more aiptasia. Unless you turn off all flow and siphon out the paste and the puff they do you will just spread it. I learned this the hard way

 

[Mpal771]

The file fish did it for me twice, I am not sure about the name of the file fish, check your local fish store... he may take a few days before he starts eating, also take him out when the aphasia is all gone.

matted file fish....and the peppermint shrimp... both are hit or miss. The matted file fish is an interesting tank mate and after they have served their purpose they are often kept. Sadly, this is a mistake. they will go after zoas eventually. But they are awesome to look at-

 

[Tix0l]

Removing them manually is pain in the butt and they will return in a month or so, but using natural predator will create a daily aiptasia cleanup team.

I myself have aiptasia problem, tried berghia nudi, and they were effective until my phosphates suddenly arose ( new liverock...) and all nudis died, so theyre very easy to kill and it takes like 4-5 months until theyre that many to clear up everything.

Is recommend u pepermint shrimp, but buy at least 3, because theyre hit or miss regardig aiptasia’s.

Filefish would destroy zoas and some sps, so I stay away from it.

Copperbanded butterfly is an option as well, but it could get nippy towards lps/softies, and it is also hit or miss

 

[mcarroll]

Watch red seas video and make sure you are doing it right.

 

[Rcpilot]

Removing them manually is pain in the *** and they will return in a month or so

Not if you do it right. If they are returning, then you didn't get them all, or the ones you got - didn't get got enough and regrew.

 

[psirex]

My 300 gallon was overrun with them..... Get a matted filefish, it took mine about a month to get comfortable in the tank then he mowed down every single one in about 2 weeks. He has been a model citizen throughout and if aipstasia does pop up it's not around for long.

 

[Pardsie]

Don't shoot the messenger but I had success using a syringe with muriatic acid

 

[Reeftown]

Got my nudis there. I had lots of questions and the service was great all around.

I did my very best to do just this for months. When there's enough aiptasia, you're bound to get it wrong on some of them. I am 100% sure that injections ultimately made my problem a lot worse.

I know it works for some cases, but honestly, what's easier than Berghias? No user error, otherwise unwanted animals or coral munching involved.

Thanks @Reeftown . Your excellent service and quality product has earned you a lifelong customer and supporter.

Thank you for your kind words.

 

[Reef Obsessed 1981]

Hey, my experience of dealing with aiptasia was 100% successful in the end so hopefully can be of help.

I started off with a handful of aiptasia. I started with Joe's juice and this caused them to multiply and I ended up with 100 that I could see and count.

Next up I tried berghia, added 3, was lucky enough to actually see the berghia eating the aiptasia, brilliant. I kept a count but then stopped seeing the berghia and the aip count started to rise again. Added another 3, same thing happened, in the UK that was about £120 spent. The berghia did half the infestation to around 50.

I then added 4 peppermints shrimp, over a few weeks I noticed the aips disappearing to the point I couldn't see any and never did again .

So for me chemical treatments spread, berghia are too expensive and delicate. Peppermint all the way but you do need more than one, I had 4 in 450 litres. Hope that's useful to

 

[Stella1979]

Hey, my experience of dealing with aiptasia was 100% successful in the end so hopefully can be of help.

I started off with a handful of aiptasia. I started with Joe's juice and this caused them to multiply and I ended up with 100 that I could see and count.

Next up I tried berghia, added 3, was lucky enough to actually see the berghia eating the aiptasia, brilliant. I kept a count but then stopped seeing the berghia and the aip count started to rise again. Added another 3, same thing happened, in the UK that was about £120 spent. The berghia did half the infestation to around 50.

I then added 4 peppermints shrimp, over a few weeks I noticed the aips disappearing to the point I couldn't see any and never did again .

So for me chemical treatments spread, berghia are too expensive and delicate. Peppermint all the way but you do need more than one, I had 4 in 450 litres. Hope that's useful to

Wow... those berghias are pricey. Wish you could've gotten them cheaper because I believe more of them would have worked a treat. Glad the peps finished the job for you.

 

[nhlives]

Aiptasia Eating File Fish from ORA. Not so pretty but still a very interesting critter. I’ve used berghi’s and they work. My knock on them is they die out and are expensive. My file fish is still going strong.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Don't shoot the messenger but I had success using a syringe with muriatic acid

[emoji15]

 

[Bob Lauson]

I had many aptasia and got a copper-banded butterfly that was eating well at the LFS and then added to my tank. The CBB went after the aptasia and got what I thought was all of them. He apparently then decided that aptasia would be his only food source and would not go back to eating frozen food. He died. Aptasia again for a foothold and had around 20 or 30 of them. Then got a couple peppermint shrimp and thought they perished but after about 2 weeks all the aptaisa were gone. We happened to look at the aquarium late one night long after lights out and the shrimp were alive and well. An excellent addition to the tank.

 

[brandon429]

I can cure any nano of aiptasias using a method similar to RCpilot's above.

its based on volume of tank not any other measure. if the tank is 1000 gallons we'd still rid them the same way, but the keeper would refuse bc it would be too much work

for what we'd have you do in a nano, not too much work, and a great lesson in reef hesitation in fact.

if someone with a nano has an aiptasia challenge, message me lets roll.

my tools
a flathead screwdriver
a hammer.
a few smaller screwdrivers all flat head variety

you'll be removing live rock anchor points, not the anemone from the anchor point, and that's why this method works first pass. the only ones it wont work on were skipped on the first round or unseen.

these aren't like popping valonia (debatable if even that spreads them) and as cellular organisms they don't just explode all over the frag when cut, if you don't leave any pedal tissue on your chip removal then that spot is permanently free. doing this dig-out doesn't transmit them around your tank.