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Ok, we all know that there is no magic spell we can cast Aiptasia out with. Before I lost most my vision I was able to keep Aiptasia at bay. Yeah, yeah, I know I’ll hear about how bad a reefer I am for even letting Aiptasia in my tank to begin with. I draw similarities to my motorcycle days. There are two types of motorcyclists, those that have gone down, and those that have yet to go down. I was vigilant about removing frag plugs, dipping, and checking every single frag before being placed in the display. Where did I go wrong you say. Well, it came time to start up the Refugium and I did a stupid…I got a nice plump ball of chaeto from my LFS. It looked clean and was loaded with brittle stars, so call me a dummy.
First was Aiptasia X, which for those of you that breed Berghia and complain about keeping enough Aiptasia on hand, this is the ticket. If you want Aiptasia to spread, this works great. I only had a couple Aiptasia and I thought this was working as those few disappeared for a few days. Well, they came back, and so did their offspring!
After that was Kalk paste, superglue and putty. This worked well for me. I knocked down most of them. Occasionally a few babies would appear. I got a few peppermint shrimp which, when placed in the tank with the pumps off, attacked those little vermin like crazy. Once the pumps were turned on (high flow bare bottom) the shrimp just hid under rock ledges. Never again to touch Aiptasia. Even with that, I was able to keep things in check manually.
I was hit with several medical issues all in a short time period. Way too much to talk about, but the short of it is that I lost most all of my functional vision and have motor control issues with action tremors (meaning no tremor at rest, but when I perform tasks like trying to write, the tremors kick in). So, with losing the ability to do most anything (driving, working, socializing, etc.) I became a hermit and locked myself at home (the pandemic didn’t help as getting treatment or getting into any help groups was practically impossible). I knew I was headed for disaster, so I got an Aiptasia eating filefish for good measure. Well, let’s just say that didn’t work out well at all. He seems to love to nip at Aiptasia and then spit them out causing them to take over the tank.
Once I started getting back into the swing (I still have a long way to go), I ordered a few medium sized Berghia (10 total, tank is 200g,160 display and 40g sump). I do have known Berghia predators which I isolated to one side of the tank using plastic eggcrate that is too small for any one to get through. I placed the berghia on the other side of the tank. Four months later, nothing and the Aiptasia got much worse. I ordered 25 more Berghia and lowered the flow in my tank thinking it was too much for them to handle. Another four months, nothing and the Aiptasia is even worse! So, yet again, another four months and I ordered 50 medium sized berghia. I placed 44 in the tank, still with all inhabitants on the other side of the divider, and 6 in a 1 gallon tetra tank with bubbler, filter and a few Aiptasia. Once there were a slew of egg spirals in the tetra tank I placed the three now much larger berghia in the display. It’s been a few weeks now. I’m waiting for the egg spirals to hatch. I have a ten gallon tank growing Aiptasia and change the water every so often on both the berghia and Aiptasia tanks. The display now has one small patch, I’m guessing 6”x6” with absolutely no Aiptasia! Finally, just a glimmer of hope! Well, that’s where I’m at today. Wish me luck. This is the last hobby I have left and I want to ride it out as long as possible. It has not been easy by any means. It doesn’t help that I haven’t found any other reefers in my area as I’m sure they would be very willing to lend a hand.
First was Aiptasia X, which for those of you that breed Berghia and complain about keeping enough Aiptasia on hand, this is the ticket. If you want Aiptasia to spread, this works great. I only had a couple Aiptasia and I thought this was working as those few disappeared for a few days. Well, they came back, and so did their offspring!
After that was Kalk paste, superglue and putty. This worked well for me. I knocked down most of them. Occasionally a few babies would appear. I got a few peppermint shrimp which, when placed in the tank with the pumps off, attacked those little vermin like crazy. Once the pumps were turned on (high flow bare bottom) the shrimp just hid under rock ledges. Never again to touch Aiptasia. Even with that, I was able to keep things in check manually.
I was hit with several medical issues all in a short time period. Way too much to talk about, but the short of it is that I lost most all of my functional vision and have motor control issues with action tremors (meaning no tremor at rest, but when I perform tasks like trying to write, the tremors kick in). So, with losing the ability to do most anything (driving, working, socializing, etc.) I became a hermit and locked myself at home (the pandemic didn’t help as getting treatment or getting into any help groups was practically impossible). I knew I was headed for disaster, so I got an Aiptasia eating filefish for good measure. Well, let’s just say that didn’t work out well at all. He seems to love to nip at Aiptasia and then spit them out causing them to take over the tank.
Once I started getting back into the swing (I still have a long way to go), I ordered a few medium sized Berghia (10 total, tank is 200g,160 display and 40g sump). I do have known Berghia predators which I isolated to one side of the tank using plastic eggcrate that is too small for any one to get through. I placed the berghia on the other side of the tank. Four months later, nothing and the Aiptasia got much worse. I ordered 25 more Berghia and lowered the flow in my tank thinking it was too much for them to handle. Another four months, nothing and the Aiptasia is even worse! So, yet again, another four months and I ordered 50 medium sized berghia. I placed 44 in the tank, still with all inhabitants on the other side of the divider, and 6 in a 1 gallon tetra tank with bubbler, filter and a few Aiptasia. Once there were a slew of egg spirals in the tetra tank I placed the three now much larger berghia in the display. It’s been a few weeks now. I’m waiting for the egg spirals to hatch. I have a ten gallon tank growing Aiptasia and change the water every so often on both the berghia and Aiptasia tanks. The display now has one small patch, I’m guessing 6”x6” with absolutely no Aiptasia! Finally, just a glimmer of hope! Well, that’s where I’m at today. Wish me luck. This is the last hobby I have left and I want to ride it out as long as possible. It has not been easy by any means. It doesn’t help that I haven’t found any other reefers in my area as I’m sure they would be very willing to lend a hand.
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