Fingers crossed, ending Aiptasia war

[vetteguy53081]

Cant find any of the ones I introduced last weekend. I assume they are small and at work.

 

[drtrash]

Good to hear that I am not the only one that don’t see them at work

 

[Jl330]

On a follow up to my previous post, I have been watching a copperband at the lfs for about a month. Wanted to make sure it was healthy before buying. His tanks were finally free of aiptasia and he let me watch the fish eat misis shrimp.

Bought it yesterday afternoon. There were probably 15-20 aiptasia in my tank, currently down to 1 that I can see in my display. It has literally cleaned out my tank in 24 hours.

Looks good too.

 

[Leadfooted]

Well, at this point I'm starting to feel confident the Nudi's worked as advertized and I couldn't be happier. I never saw a single Berghia after I added all 9 to the tank, even after all the Nem's were gone. I'd highly recommend the Berghia nudi branch method for eradicating your Aptasia and Reetown was a good company to deal with. Now, who's got the secret list of vendors that have a history of aptasia ridden plugs lol

 

[Jl330]

On a follow up to my previous post, I have been watching a copperband at the lfs for about a month. Wanted to make sure it was healthy before buying. His tanks were finally free of aiptasia and he let me watch the fish eat misis shrimp.

Bought it yesterday afternoon. There were probably 15-20 aiptasia in my tank, currently down to 1 that I can see in my display. It has literally cleaned out my tank in 24 hours.

Looks good too.

And he died today. Guess my aiptasia is coming back and I'm out $70 for the fish.

 

[mmw64]

And for good measure, I just ordered 10 captive bred peppermint shrimp from Algae Barn that are supposed to love aiptasia. If this doesn't get rid of them, I will have to take rocks out and deal with them individually. I hope to avoid that!

Please keep us posted if this works. Tempted to true this too.

 

[Jl330]

Please keep us posted if this works. Tempted to true this too.

I think I'm gonna chuck a couple of these guys in my sump. I have a few aiptasia in the sump and none in the display.

 

[bblumberg]

It has been about two weeks now since the first combatants in the aiptasia wars went into the 150g. Sadly the 2 copperbands died in quarantine, despite that they were eating. The Klein's butterfly is robust and active. I have not seen it eating much aiptasia, though and it appears to be nipping on LPS, unlike the other Klein's I have in a 75 g tank. The peppermints went into the tank, followed by another 10 the next week and I have seen a great decline in the aiptasia population - even some very big ones. There are still plenty left, but there is definite progress. I have been out of town for all this week and will report back on Saturday when I return. Overall, I'd say the verdict is the AlgaeBarn peppermint shrimp are doing a very good job, perhaps assisted by the Klein's butterfly, but hard to be sure about the latter conclusion.

Please keep us posted if this works. Tempted to true this too.

 

[Jl330]

It has been about two weeks now since the first combatants in the aiptasia wars went into the 150g. Sadly the 2 copperbands died in quarantine, despite that they were eating. The Klein's butterfly is robust and active. I have not seen it eating much aiptasia, though and it appears to be nipping on LPS, unlike the other Klein's I have in a 75 g tank. The peppermints went into the tank, followed by another 10 the next week and I have seen a great decline in the aiptasia population - even some very big ones. There are still plenty left, but there is definite progress. I have been out of town for all this week and will report back on Saturday when I return. Overall, I'd say the verdict is the AlgaeBarn peppermint shrimp are doing a very good job, perhaps assisted by the Klein's butterfly, but hard to be sure about the latter conclusion.

Have they touched your lps? I have a ton of lps in my tank and I do not want to lose it.

I currently have no aiptasia in my display but it's in my sump so I know it will be back. I thought about getting a few peppermints and tossing them in the sump to try to permanently end it but it will be back again.

 

[bblumberg]

The Klein's was definitely munching on a favia so I moved that coral to a different tank. I have not seen it eating other corals yet, but have not been home much either. A total of 15 peppermint shrimp went in to the 150 but have disappeared into the rockwork. I have not seen the peppermints since putting them into the tank (even at night with a flashlight). Every day I look, there are fewer aiptasia (and there were quite a few very big ones) so I infer that it most likely the peppermints doing the job. The LPS seem to be ok, but I am keeping an eye on the few acans I have. If the Klein's munches on them, it is going into the sump or to someone with a FOLR tank. I hhve never seen

You are correct that once you have aiptasia, you will likely always have them. This is why I feel that biological control is best, whether it is filefish, butterflies, scats or peppermint shrimp. I have tried all of those with some success and some failures. The Algae Barn peppermints are the first ones I have purchased in a long time that had any effectiveness so I am happy about that. Let's hope that once they are eradicated, the combination of Klein's and peppermints will keep them in check.

 

[mmw64]

It has been about two weeks now since the first combatants in the aiptasia wars went into the 150g. Sadly the 2 copperbands died in quarantine, despite that they were eating. The Klein's butterfly is robust and active. I have not seen it eating much aiptasia, though and it appears to be nipping on LPS, unlike the other Klein's I have in a 75 g tank. The peppermints went into the tank, followed by another 10 the next week and I have seen a great decline in the aiptasia population - even some very big ones. There are still plenty left, but there is definite progress. I have been out of town for all this week and will report back on Saturday when I return. Overall, I'd say the verdict is the AlgaeBarn peppermint shrimp are doing a very good job, perhaps assisted by the Klein's butterfly, but hard to be sure about the latter conclusion.

Thanks. Do you have any wrasses? I'm afraid the shrimp would just be dinner but have to try something. Please keep me posted.

 

[bblumberg]

Thanks. Do you have any wrasses? I'm afraid the shrimp would just be dinner but have to try something. Please keep me posted.

No, I don't have any wrasses. If you do, can you move it to your sump or an isolation container such as those that OctoAquatics sells to acclimate fish? I am headed home tomorrow and will report on the aiptasia load since I last saw the tank on Monday.

 

[bblumberg]

Tuesday update: aiptasia still present but many fewer. The Klein's butterfly is definitely munching on my sps so it needs to be out of the tank as soon as I can catch it...

 

[bblumberg]

OK, an update after many months of trying. Aiptasia continues to exist in my tank, but mostly in relatively hidden regions. I have since added another 15 peppermint shrimp from Algae Barn which also disappeared into the rockwork. I can see the occasional one - they seem to like to hang out under the rocks in areas dug out by the diamond goby that lives there. One of these areas still has large visible aiptasia so it is clear that they are not very interested in eating aiptasia. I see the Klein's butterfly occasionally picking at aiptasia, same with the matted file fish. I tried 3 more copperbands from an online retailer but all died in quarantine, despite that they were eating live brine shrimp. Very sad. I will try a LFS who claims to have a supplier that does not use cyanide and introduces healthy copperbands.

One bit of good news is that the Kleins' butterfly has apparently stopped munching on corals, or at least I have not seen it in action...