Eliminating aiptasia options

[taytay_1119]

I have a 75g all-in-one like below and an aqueon 60 breeder (not plumbed)

I am needing the best option to get rid of aiptasia on low funds. I’ve tried aiptasia x but there’s so many and it’s hard to navigate the AIO with how it’s braced.

We were thinking of the following:
•Australian Stripey- BFs been wanting one anyways, but it’s ≈$200 and can go after coral. The 60g doesn’t have any coral just a toadstool atm.
•Copperband- I am most drawn to this option, but do I really want to try to mess with trying to get it to eat mysis as well.
•Filefish- one of the cheaper livestock options. Do I want to risk my LPS tho…
•Peppermint Shrimp- I think this would be the most cost effective option, but not sure if they would actually go after the anemones or if I would order the right species of peppermint. I do have several large aiptasias and read that they tend to leave those alone.
•Berghia Nudibranchs- soooo expensive when you need 4-6 per tank. Also worried my blue devil damsel will go after them.

•Are there any other options I didn’t list?
•What option would work best for both tanks?

Stock for tanks include:
•75g blue hippo tang, yellow tang, one spot foxface, 1 clown fish, blue devil damsel, neon blue goby, 3 chromis, pj cardinal, carpenter flasher wrasse, skunk cleaner, conch, red leg hermits, various snails. Mostly softie with lps and a couple of sps.
•60g: yellow watchman goby, fire shrimp 2 clowns, a few snails, macro algae, toadstool

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bluemon]

That 75g is way overstocked right now with some fish that does not belong. I’d stick to berghia or peppermint.

 

[taytay_1119]

In terms of peppermint- boggessi or wurdemanni?
And we’ve talked about moving some out of 75 and putting them in the 60g. Just the 60 only has a hob filter on it and actually thought about taking it completely down. Maybe move the wrasse and chromis over and rehome the hippo? I’d move one of the 3 bigger ones too, but 60g also doesn’t have a UV and don’t want to get stress ich.

 

[BetterJake]

How’s the aiptasia battle going? I’d recommend the boggessi peppermint shrimp.

I had 7 to 10 large aiptasia in my 65 gallon and added two peppermint shrimp about a month ago. After just a few days I could not spot the shrimp anywhere and assumed my hawkfish had eaten them. But lo and behold, one morning every single aiptasia was gone. So pretty successful result in my case. I picked them up from my local fish store.

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve used both Berghia and peppermint shrimp successfully. Peppermint shrimp are faster but both are affective. There is a vendor that sells very large Berghia that @kingranch2003 recommended to @00W after his tank was infested and nothing was working. His tank is berghia free. Maybe one or both will pop in.

 

[Lavey29]

All my peppermint shrimp do is dance for me

 

[kevgib67]

All my peppermint shrimp do is dance for me

Are you sure you weren’t sold sexy shrimp?

 

[Lavey29]

Are you sure you weren’t sold sexy shrimp?

Haha, They are peppers but have a sexy side.
..

 

[kingranch2003]

I’ve used both Berghia and peppermint shrimp successfully. Peppermint shrimp are faster but both are affective. There is a vendor that sells very large Berghia that @kingranch2003 recommended to @00W after his tank was infested and nothing was working. His tank is berghia free. Maybe one or both will pop in.

Yep I had fantastic success with berghia from @ReefEngineer. My corals were to the point of being stung and smothered out by aiptasia. I added 10 berghia and they absolutely decimated the problem. My peppermint shrimp preferred to pry ope the mouth of my lps and steal food from them. They almost wiped out several corals, but didnt touch the aiptasia. Ill also add that the OP mentioned wanting a cheaper option. That is not one of the upsides to berghia, unfortunately.

 

[00W]

I have a 75g all-in-one like below and an aqueon 60 breeder (not plumbed)

I am needing the best option to get rid of aiptasia on low funds. I’ve tried aiptasia x but there’s so many and it’s hard to navigate the AIO with how it’s braced.

We were thinking of the following:
•Australian Stripey- BFs been wanting one anyways, but it’s ≈$200 and can go after coral. The 60g doesn’t have any coral just a toadstool atm.
•Copperband- I am most drawn to this option, but do I really want to try to mess with trying to get it to eat mysis as well.
•Filefish- one of the cheaper livestock options. Do I want to risk my LPS tho…
•Peppermint Shrimp- I think this would be the most cost effective option, but not sure if they would actually go after the anemones or if I would order the right species of peppermint. I do have several large aiptasias and read that they tend to leave those alone.
•Berghia Nudibranchs- soooo expensive when you need 4-6 per tank. Also worried my blue devil damsel will go after them.

•Are there any other options I didn’t list?
•What option would work best for both tanks?

Stock for tanks include:
•75g blue hippo tang, yellow tang, one spot foxface, 1 clown fish, blue devil damsel, neon blue goby, 3 chromis, pj cardinal, carpenter flasher wrasse, skunk cleaner, conch, red leg hermits, various snails. Mostly softie with lps and a couple of sps.
•60g: yellow watchman goby, fire shrimp 2 clowns, a few snails, macro algae, toadstool

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Noticing this thread is over a month old and not sure how your aiptasia battle is going but I'm going to try and not be too long winded for anyone else who might be reading but I can't make any promises
Once I free up some time, I'm going to try and write an article about my aiptasia journey, hopefully it will be helpful.
I don’t have any pictures to go on with how bad the aiptasia problem is for you but suffice to say my tank had no free rock space without aiptasia.
It was everywhere.
I run bare bottom and the entire floor was covered.
Every size imaginable.
I worked for months on end, suffocating them with Mrs Wages, vinegar, hot water, lemon juice
Whatever I tried just made everything worse.
You could literally see the babies in the water if you turned the flow off and started moving rocks.
My first round of 10 Berghia was put in and I waited a month.
Then 2.
Then 3.
Nothing happened but more aiptasia.
At a loss and ready to quit the hobby altogether I called my buddy @kevgib67 and we talked about a 5 gallon aerated bucket with peppermint shrimp and some infected rocks.
So I placed 4 shrimp and 3 of my worst rocks in there and just let it be for a month.
After a month, the rocks were almost clean, a few Aiptasia here and there but not many and the shrimp ate most of my zoas too.
I'd never suggest peps for aiptasia because they WILL eat coral.
This wasn't my first experience with that but I didn't care much at this point.
Next I took bare, no coral on it rock and put it in a bucket of freshwater for 3 days
After that I sprayed it well in the sink and put it back in
Now, I have an insane amount of rock so I'm not worried here.
But if you don't, I wouldn't do this.
Next I ordered 5 giant Berghia from @ReefEngineer .
In 2 weeks, boom I'm down to about 20, then 10 now down to 3 giant ones with nothing else anywhere.
Berghia are the ONLY true way to eliminate aiptasia IMHO.
The cost is minimal compared to the loss of coral and spending dough and time on useless eradication methods.
Pm me or visit my thread if you need anything or have any other questions.
Peace
Joel

Before...

After.

 

[Lavey29]

Noticing this thread is over a month old and not sure how your aiptasia battle is going but I'm going to try and not be too long winded for anyone else who might be reading but I can't make any promises
Once I free up some time, I'm going to try and write an article about my aiptasia journey, hopefully it will be helpful.
I don’t have any pictures to go on with how bad the aiptasia problem is for you but suffice to say my tank had no free rock space without aiptasia.
It was everywhere.
I run bare bottom and the entire floor was covered.
Every size imaginable.
I worked for months on end, suffocating them with Mrs Wages, vinegar, hot water, lemon juice
Whatever I tried just made everything worse.
You could literally see the babies in the water if you turned the flow off and started moving rocks.
My first round of 10 Berghia was put in and I waited a month.
Then 2.
Then 3.
Nothing happened but more aiptasia.
At a loss and ready to quit the hobby altogether I called my buddy @kevgib67 and we talked about a 5 gallon aerated bucket with peppermint shrimp and some infected rocks.
So I placed 4 shrimp and 3 of my worst rocks in there and just let it be for a month.
After a month, the rocks were almost clean, a few Aiptasia here and there but not many and the shrimp ate most of my zoas too.
I'd never suggest peps for aiptasia because they WILL eat coral.
This wasn't my first experience with that but I didn't care much at this point.
Next I took bare, no coral on it rock and put it in a bucket of freshwater for 3 days
After that I sprayed it well in the sink and put it back in
Now, I have an insane amount of rock so I'm not worried here.
But if you don't, I wouldn't do this.
Next I ordered 5 giant Berghia from @ReefEngineer .
In 2 weeks, boom I'm down to about 20, then 10 now down to 3 giant ones with nothing else anywhere.
Berghia are the ONLY true way to eliminate aiptasia IMHO.
The cost is minimal compared to the loss of coral and spending dough and time on useless eradication methods.
Pm me or visit my thread if you need anything or have any other questions.
Peace
Joel

Before...

After.

I think berghia are one of the best solutions and I've tried them twice only to end up with a fatter 6 line wrasse. Ideally, a true aptasia predator fish is the best solution like a copper band or butterfly.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

pepps have devastated the aptasia in my tank. I may have gotten lucky with the right ones but they definitely keep it out. Some species do not go after it from what i understand

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Noticing this thread is over a month old and not sure how your aiptasia battle is going but I'm going to try and not be too long winded for anyone else who might be reading but I can't make any promises
Once I free up some time, I'm going to try and write an article about my aiptasia journey, hopefully it will be helpful.
I don’t have any pictures to go on with how bad the aiptasia problem is for you but suffice to say my tank had no free rock space without aiptasia.
It was everywhere.
I run bare bottom and the entire floor was covered.
Every size imaginable.
I worked for months on end, suffocating them with Mrs Wages, vinegar, hot water, lemon juice
Whatever I tried just made everything worse.
You could literally see the babies in the water if you turned the flow off and started moving rocks.
My first round of 10 Berghia was put in and I waited a month.
Then 2.
Then 3.
Nothing happened but more aiptasia.
At a loss and ready to quit the hobby altogether I called my buddy @kevgib67 and we talked about a 5 gallon aerated bucket with peppermint shrimp and some infected rocks.
So I placed 4 shrimp and 3 of my worst rocks in there and just let it be for a month.
After a month, the rocks were almost clean, a few Aiptasia here and there but not many and the shrimp ate most of my zoas too.
I'd never suggest peps for aiptasia because they WILL eat coral.
This wasn't my first experience with that but I didn't care much at this point.
Next I took bare, no coral on it rock and put it in a bucket of freshwater for 3 days
After that I sprayed it well in the sink and put it back in
Now, I have an insane amount of rock so I'm not worried here.
But if you don't, I wouldn't do this.
Next I ordered 5 giant Berghia from @ReefEngineer .
In 2 weeks, boom I'm down to about 20, then 10 now down to 3 giant ones with nothing else anywhere.
Berghia are the ONLY true way to eliminate aiptasia IMHO.
The cost is minimal compared to the loss of coral and spending dough and time on useless eradication methods.
Pm me or visit my thread if you need anything or have any other questions.
Peace
Joel

Before...

After.

have not had one coral colony affected by peppermint shrimp. Not even close.

Again, i think it depends on the species but to say they will eat your coral is not accurate.

 

[trout]

Filefish and majestic angelfish will also consume aiptasia. I have hundreds of them in my sump, but none in my display tank.

 

[bluemon]

Filefish and majestic angelfish will also consume aiptasia. I have hundreds of them in my sump, but none in my display tank.

I really don’t think OP should be adding more fish in their tank right now.

They have a hippo tang, a yellow tang, and a fox face in a 75g AIO.

None of those belong there

 

[00W]

have not had one coral colony affected by peppermint shrimp. Not even close.

Again, i think it depends on the species but to say they will eat your coral is not accurate.

I try to be as accurate as possible in every post I make.
I've had 8 peps, all have eaten coral.
The only thing that I know of that will eliminate aiptasia without harming anything else is berghia.
That's my experience and only my suggestion.

 

[trout]

I really don’t think OP should be adding more fish in their tank right now.

They have a hippo tang, a yellow tang, and a fox face in a 75g AIO.

None of those belong there

I definitely agree with you. I have just read the OP's post more carefully and realised that they have a lot of fish and LPS.

 

[00W]

I think berghia are one of the best solutions and I've tried them twice only to end up with a fatter 6 line wrasse. Ideally, a true aptasia predator fish is the best solution like a copper band or butterfly.

Yes.
Predators can be major factor.
Agreed.