Got Aiptasia? Check out our Aiptasia eating filefish chowing down!

[BeltedCoyote]

Welp. Another fish on the stock list. Woot woot

 

[MW319]

.....yea.... everything we try seems to either do nothing (nudibranchs) or make them worse (F-Aiptasia and Aiptasia-X)
And we’ve held off on the shrimp since sometimes they eat LPS but at this point if we don’t do something I’ll end up tearing down the tank

About every other month I find one or two and I hit them with F-aiptasia. It may work but I know they will be back. You guys are living my nightmare.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

About every other month I find one or two and I hit them with F-aiptasia. It may work but I know they will be back. You guys are living my nightmare.

The problem is with a big tank with alot of rockwork they reproduce faster than you can take care of them and the majority of them are where you cant see or reach. I even have them in my pipes and overflows where you couldnt get them even if you tried. I was really hoping the berghia nudis would take off but it just doesnt seem like itll happen. They did work wonders in my 75g though where i dont have any wrasse

 

[GlassMunky]

The problem is with a big tank with alot of rockwork they reproduce faster than you can take care of them and the majority of them are where you cant see or reach. I even have them in my pipes and overflows where you couldnt get them even if you tried. I was really hoping the berghia nudis would take off but it just doesnt seem like itll happen. They did work wonders in my 75g though where i dont have any wrasse

I’m guessing the same thing happened to our nudis as we have 3 wrasses

I’m almost to the point of tearing down the tank and starting fresh

 

[Biota_Marine]

I’ve got an INFESTATION of aiptasia in my 210G tank.... I’ve tried a laser, 25 nudibranchs, countless bottles of F-Aiptasia and nothing has worked so far. There’s probably a thousand of them, no exaggeration, the rocks look fuzzy and some are quite large, almost the size of euphyllia heads.
Do you think a combo of the shrimp and filefish would do any good in this situation?
Or am I just a lost cause LOL

We had a pretty decent infestation when we first set up out 300G office tank and let it go for a few months with aiptasia. I wish we grabbed before and after photos but we threw in 4 aiptasia files and 12 of the cleaner shrimp and it took them about 2 months to get the bulk of it. We learned they work well together because one will damage the anemone and the other will finish it off. We also helped out with a laser every few days but that was more for fun.

We did have to catch 2 of the filefish out of the tank because they started going after our poccillapora but they're not the fastest swimmers.

 

[GlassMunky]

We had a pretty decent infestation when we first set up out 300G office tank and let it go for a few months with aiptasia. I wish we grabbed before and after photos but we threw in 4 aiptasia files and 12 of the cleaner shrimp and it took them about 2 months to get the bulk of it. We learned they work well together because one will damage the anemone and the other will finish it off. We also helped out with a laser every few days but that was more for fun.

We did have to catch 2 of the filefish out of the tank because they started going after our poccillapora but they're not the fastest swimmers.

Good to hear. I’m most likely be placing an order within the next week. Thanks for the info.

 

[GlassMunky]

ordered 3 filefish and 9 shrimps. Will report back in a mont or 2 with any progress

 

[Mocha_Storm]

I ordered a yellow tang and forgot to add one of these to my box? Any way to get that added?

 

[TCoach]

@Biota_Marine Ordered 2 of these filefish last night! Can't wait until they come in. Also ordered a peppermint shrimp, but was limited to 1. Is there a way to get more? I have a 92 corner, and really wanted ~6 peppermints to help with aptaisia and assist the CuC.

 

[Biota_Marine]

Thanks for the order, I just sent you over an email to get you some more peppermints, we ran out on the site but I just restocked for you.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I tried the Biota file fish a couple times through Algae Barn. Both came in about the size of a quarter and never touched Aptasia. The first disappeared in a few days. The second survived about two weeks and I got him eating some other food if I dropped it right in front of his nose. I think it’s pure hit or miss if they will actually eat Aptasia. At their size, they might be better for nanos.

 

[tehmadreefer]

I’ve got an INFESTATION of aiptasia in my 210G tank.... I’ve tried a laser, 25 nudibranchs, countless bottles of F-Aiptasia and nothing has worked so far. There’s probably a thousand of them, no exaggeration, the rocks look fuzzy and some are quite large, almost the size of euphyllia heads.
Do you think a combo of the shrimp and filefish would do any good in this situation?
Or am I just a lost cause LOL

Nudi’s do work since their one and ONLY source of gods are aiptasia. My infestation was worse then that and it took 20 nudi’s in a 180 3 months to clear them out. Just an FYI

 

[beesnreefs]

@Biota_MarineIve got a pretty bad aiptasia infestation in my 65 gallon mixed reef. With my current fish population I could add one of your aiptasia eating filefish.

Two questions:

1) How many peppermint shrimp do you recommend I get to partner with the fish on eradicating these aiptasia?

2) Are your filefish put through any sort of QT process to ensure they are disease free?

 

[Biota_Marine]

@Biota_MarineIve got a pretty bad aiptasia infestation in my 65 gallon mixed reef. With my current fish population I could add one of your aiptasia eating filefish.

Two questions:

1) How many peppermint shrimp do you recommend I get to partner with the fish on eradicating these aiptasia?

2) Are your filefish put through any sort of QT process to ensure they are disease free?

I recommend something like 4-6 peppermints for a tank that sizing especially if there's a ton of aiptasia. All of our fish are at our biosecure facility for at least a few weeks so they can be conditioned and healthy for shipping. I don't run any medications prophylactically but we are confident in our ability to keep our facility biosecure.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

ordered 3 filefish and 9 shrimps. Will report back in a mont or 2 with any progress

Any update on the progress

 

[GlassMunky]

Any update on the progress

They didn’t do anything for me. Ended up tearing down the tank.
It’s sitting dry now, and will get restarted in a few months.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

They didn’t do anything for me. Ended up tearing down the tank.
It’s sitting dry now, and will get restarted in a few months.

Yea I was afraid of this. I’ve been holding off on any wrasse so I can let some nudis do the work.

 

[beesnreefs]

Yea I was afraid of this. I’ve been holding off on any wrasse so I can let some nudis do the work.

This has been my struggle. I got a melanurus long before the aiptasia problem started. He's a big time sleeper....last to wake up when the lights turn on, first to bury himself before the lights go out.....so I thought maybe berghia will work.

Put 15 berghia in the tank a couple months ago. Haven't seen one in at least 2 weeks and the aiptaisa keep increasing in population. Sigh.

So now I'm gonna try a Biota filefish.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

This has been my struggle. I got a melanurus long before the aiptasia problem started. He's a big time sleeper....last to wake up when the lights turn on, first to bury himself before the lights go out.....so I thought maybe berghia will work.

Put 15 berghia in the tank a couple months ago. Haven't seen one in at least 2 weeks and the aiptaisa keep increasing in population. Sigh.

So now I'm gonna try a Biota filefish.

How big is your tank? And how many aptasia are we talking about that you have? And yes pretty much any wrasse will hunt them looks like a Biota filefish might be the best way to go for you

 

[beesnreefs]

How big is your tank? And how many aptasia are we talking about that you have? And yes pretty much any wrasse will hunt them looks like a Biota filefish might be the best way to go for you

It's a 65 gallon. And at this point, I'd guess somewhere between 50-100 aiptasia of various sizes.

Biota filefish arrives today! I was hoping to also add 4 of their Lysmata wurdemanni peppermint shrimp as well but they are out of stock.

I'm also thinking of trying this "Aiptasia Death Juice" concoction: https://www.ultimatereef.net/thread...orks-well-on-nuisance-coral-and-algae.817613/

As I understand it, the death juice can't be applied in large amounts (the original poster suggests no more than 5 mL at a time). So, I'm thinking once a week right before my weekly water change I'll use a small amount of the death juice to kill off 2 or 3 of the bigger aiptasia and let the filefish go after the smaller ones and/or the ones in spots I can't see or reach.