How to kill aiptasia effectively

[BryanM]

After reading a lot I’m trying f-aptasia… we shall see how it goes

 

[Salty_Northerner]

After reading a lot I’m trying f-aptasia… we shall see how it goes

F-aptasia works like a charm. Smother it and it's dead shortly afterwards. Just let the mixture slightly harden then turn your pumps back on. I personally leave the paste on till I feel like blasting it off a few days later, but otherwise just hold the syringe just over the top center of it to basically surprise it so it doesn't have a chance to release any babies, squeeze it onto the aptaisa and it'll retract so fast and just make sure you add enough to build a bit of a mound on top then move onto the next one. If you have a bunch of them spread out the treatment as it'll raise the pH pretty quickly.

 

[Hendrix]

I prefer a natural predictor vs a chemical every time

Copper Banded Butterfly and Berghia = No

Side note:
I rotate a Filefish or my rocks in need of a cleaning from tank to tank to eliminate Aptasia & Majano Anemone’s. The filefish will eat Zoa’s but is master pest eater!

 

[BryanM]

F-aptasia works like a charm. Smother it and it's dead shortly afterwards. Just let the mixture slightly harden then turn your pumps back on. I personally leave the paste on till I feel like blasting it off a few days later, but otherwise just hold the syringe just over the top center of it to basically surprise it so it doesn't have a chance to release any babies, squeeze it onto the aptaisa and it'll retract so fast and just make sure you add enough to build a bit of a mound on top then move onto the next one. If you have a bunch of them spread out the treatment as it'll raise the pH pretty quickly.

fortunately I do not have a lot.

Unfortunately most are on a vertical face. So I'm either using coral gum w/F-aptasia pooled in it to cover them, or I'm changing orientation of big rocks, which I don't like, but a couple of these guys are pretty big.

 

[Shooter6]

Copper band butterfly keeps them out of my 400g displays. 1 per display. Plan to drop a kliens butterfly in the sump to clear them out of there as well. The copperbands are beautiful, peaceful and don't bother any of my Alan's, torch,hammers or blastos either. I'm 95%sps so not a huge amount of soft corals. No effort put into the copperband beyond qt and meds when they first came in.

 

[Tamberav]

Everyone has or will have these buggers if you don't QT everything. They have adopted to living in our tanks quite well and are really good at survival.

I have used many ways to kill aiptasia I still find them. I have only seen one in my system in the past couple years until a couple days ago. I probably have a dozen since trying to kill that one a couple months ago.

There are several ways to kill aiptasia but I have never found any to be 100% effective.
Not even the Berghia nudibranch is 100%, they eat what they can find and die. Others have success with shrimps and certain fish but if they leave the system certainly the aiptasia will return.

Kalk paste, lemon juice, and commercial remedies at the LFS, all the same. If not used correctly they don't kill 100%. Most likely they lead to the aiptasia getting worse.

I came across this article today and it's the first I've seen it so I wanted to share.
This method says it's about 90% effective. It will burn the aiptasia as long as it's gets onto the target.

This is NOT to be taken lightly by any means. This is a chemical that can do some damage if you don't take your precautions. Wear your personal protective equipment (PPE).

Happy Reefing

aiptasia control

I boil water on the stove, suck it up with a syringe (no needle) and blast them, flood the hole with the boiling water. They never come back from that, they turn into soup, you can sometimes pull back on the plunger after boiling them and you will suck up their soupy remains.

Have to keep up on any new ones that pop up. If you have a few then you probably have tiny ones you can’t see until they grow bigger.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

fortunately I do not have a lot.

Unfortunately most are on a vertical face. So I'm either using coral gum w/F-aptasia pooled in it to cover them, or I'm changing orientation of big rocks, which I don't like, but a couple of these guys are pretty big.

I hear ya, how about just dropped some of F-aptasia so they retract and then add your gum mixture ? That would work for sure I'm betting!

 

[A-10reefer]

fortunately I do not have a lot.

Unfortunately most are on a vertical face. So I'm either using coral gum w/F-aptasia pooled in it to cover them, or I'm changing orientation of big rocks, which I don't like, but a couple of these guys are pretty big.

You can also entomb them with superglue or putty.

 

[Dude64]

Does no one else use boiling water in a syringe? It's been very successful for me with zero spreading and almost 100% success rate.

YES... I have always had success "managing" aipstasia with boiling RO. "Managing" isn't eliminating though, so if time-in-the-tank isn't a nuisance for you. Otherwise the Filefish champ is quite ugly, but effective.

 

[Dude64]

Does no one else use boiling water in a syringe? It's been very successful for me with zero spreading and almost 100% success rate.

YES... I have always had success "managing" aipstasia with boiling RO. "Managing" isn't eliminating though, so if time-in-the-tank isn't a nuisance for you. Otherwise the Filefish champ is quite ugly, but effective.

 

[Jaden9933]

personally, i stick a tube of ICP Glue (the glue i use for rock work and frag plugs) in the tank and squeeze a bit out. i position it over the aptasia and, as i decend the tip into the aptasia’s mouth, i squeeze out a good glob of glue so the aptaisa grabs onto it and tries to close up with the glue already in its mouth. if its on rockwork, i cover at least a 1”x1” area with superglue and leave it there. algae will eventually grow over it so no need to remove it. if it’s in the sanded, keep squeezing the glue and going down until the entire aptasia (foot and all) along with the surrounding sand is in the glob of glue, then pull it from the tank. so far, this is the best i’ve got

 

[Dburr1014]

Since using sodium hydroxide 2 months ago, I have not seen any aiptasia. I know it's too early to call but so far I'm pleased.
I'll update in a couple more months.

 

[DucRacer1199]

Great and helpful thread!

 

[Singspot]

Will Aiptesia die if I squirt Hydrogen Peroxide with a pointy needle straight on it?

I recall, the algae dies with this method ... wonder anyone has tried on Aiptesia?

I had an old jar with 6% H2O2 from Walgreens ... did not do any thing to aiptesia (though the 2 square inch area on the rock got cleaned up of any algae or cyano ... I was not sure if the H2O2 had lost it potentcy or does H2O2 does not affect Aiptesia?

 

[taricha]

Will Aiptesia die if I squirt Hydrogen Peroxide with a pointy needle straight on it?

Nope.

 

[MUTiger]

I bought a file fish last week. Within the first few days he had eliminated all the aiptasia from one small rock. I was elated and convinced he would eliminate the rest over time. Unfortunately, after the first successful few days I noticed my prize scoly shriveled up. I sat and watched and sure enough the file fish was nipping at the scoly. After chasing it around for an hour, I caught it and put it in the sump/refugium. I hope to return it to the LFS. DON’T GET A FILE FISH!!!!!!!!!

 

[MUTiger]

Why not just keep an aptasia eating file fish in there? When they see them they eat them. When they have cleaned them up, they eat any food you feed the rest of the tank. Plus, they might not have amazing colors but are fun to watch swim around.

I bought a file fish last week. Within the first few days he had eliminated all the aiptasia from one small rock. I was elated and convinced he would eliminate the rest over time. Unfortunately, after the first successful few days I noticed my prize scoly shriveled up. I sat and watched and sure enough the file fish was nipping at the scoly. After chasing it around for an hour, I caught it and put it in the sump/refugium. I hope to return it to the LFS. DON’T GET A FILE FISH!!!!!!!!!

 

[Schulks]

I bought a couple different peppermints before I purchased one and the aptasia disappeared. Now I keep that shrimp in my sump and move him to wherever I see aptasia. A true soldier for the cause.

 

[BryanM]

I bought a file fish last week. Within the first few days he had eliminated all the aiptasia from one small rock. I was elated and convinced he would eliminate the rest over time. Unfortunately, after the first successful few days I noticed my prize scoly shriveled up. I sat and watched and sure enough the file fish was nipping at the scoly. After chasing it around for an hour, I caught it and put it in the sump/refugium. I hope to return it to the LFS. DON’T GET A FILE FISH!!!!!!!!!

Sadly I learned the same lesson.

 

[Singspot]

I bought a couple different peppermints before I purchased one and the aptasia disappeared. Now I keep that shrimp in my sump and move him to wherever I see aptasia. A true soldier for the cause.

Same here, the Peppermint shrimp I get from Reefco does the job in my tank.