The BEST eradicator of the evil Aiptasia Anemone!

[TheGerm]

i am currently in this war, and its a multifaceted approach. This has been my approach, which each step having its own function:

• I tried Kalk paste at the first sight of one
• which then lead to buying Aiptasia-X (since one lead to many)
  • ----- ^ dropped these two methods ^ -----
• Then I tired Nudi's, which i can neither confirm or deny if they are still alive, havent seen a single one (~20) of the now in 4mo
• Then i found aiptasia in my sump, so i got some peppermint shrimp for that (cleaned up in about a week). Moved one to the display where they were spreading like wildfire, and the peppermint ate everything within a radius of its hide out, didnt touch anything else, peppermint is still there by the way.
• Biggest improvements towards success:
  • Filefish. Hands down is the single source of being able to watch aiptasia get eaten
  • 1ml Syringe w/ needle full of white vinegar, directly inject the base of the aiptasia with 0.5ml (pending size) and watch them wither away and dissolve. (max is 4mls for my ~110g tank as you have to be careful of the vinegar and the tank params dropping out)

So far, its a battle. After ~8mo of fighting, i am finally feeling like I (and the crew) can win the war .

 

[Morbo]

I've tried:

- AptasiaX: Initially seems like it works, but then more and more just pop up. I think it's more an annoyance to them, and if you get lucky it might kill them.

- Biota Aptasia Eating Filefish: Loved this fish, but I never saw it go anywhere near any Aptasia. I did catch it eating my favorite Duncan coral (which it ended up killing completely). It was sumped and then traded in at the LFS.

- Berghia Nudibranch: I bought 14-15 of these for my 125G DT. It took a couple months but I think our Aptasia problem is now resolved. I haven't seen the Nudis since I put them in the tank... but now I don't see any Aptasia either. And there were a couple YUGE ones that you couldn't miss.

I feel bad that they Nudis will die off once the Aptasia is really gone, but I never see them so it's not like I can try and catch and rehome them.

 

[James_O]

I had one on a rock that my Cinnamon Palythoa grandis was one. I used superglue and it worked like a charm. As soon as I coated it in the glue, it shriveled up died.

—-

Getting livestock to solve an problem in the tank, usually creates more than it solves.

If you were going to go ahead and get peppermint shrimp or a filefish, then it’s a win win. But if you are getting the fish/shrimp just to take care of the issue, I don’t recommend that.

 

[mvbrandt]

I've found CB Berghia work best, if you get quite a few of them and "install" them near your known bigger aiptasia [but not in them]. Have noticed it's best to not just try one or two and hope it works. Rationale for dealing with Aiptasia in general is dealing with the ones you can't see and the microbabies.

 

[Treefer32]

I usually type my stories, but pictures are worth a thousand words. I post a before and after copperband. I haven't seen an aiptasia since. These pictures are about 4-6 months a part... It's a picture of the same spot. Just as an FYI, sandbed, rocks, even my glass were covered in so much aiptasia I was to the point of a complete tear down of my 350 gallon display. My CBB a $100 fish, saved me thousands of dollars in starting over..... They just kept appearing hidden in my rocks all over... Until it was too much to control....

My entire 350 gallon display is barren, void of any aiptasia now.. There were most likely in the tens of thousands before the CBB.

Before CBB


After CBB:

 

[Eggs]

Klein’s Butterfly.
Not a looker but easy to keep and will wipe out aiptasia

 

[tehmadreefer]

Considering Berghia’a one and ONLY food source is aiptasia, then obviously they are best lol Once aiptasia is gone, unfortunately the Berghia die.

 

[kaylajoy]

I had one in my tank the first two weeks? I put a glob of superglue on my tongs to cover it up, it got covered/stuck to the superglue and I pulled it out lol, haven't seen one since but maybe they're just waiting.

 

[evil4g63]

I think to beat them you need various methods. Personally i did aiptasia x, peppermints and a filefish on a 25g frag tank that was crawling with them. I hit everyone one i could with the aiptasia x and i think when the small new ones from the dead ones where trying to come back where eaten. I think peppermints and filefish do eat them but only the small ones so if you get rid of the big ones the new ones won’t be so much of a problem. And all this was done 2 weeks ago and i haven’t seen one in the last 3 days. Going to be doing it next on my main display but have to get rid of my hawkfish first, he really loves fresh shrimp. My cleaner didn’t last a day when i added him.

 

[chemisfun11]

I used to use vinegar, lemon juice and even tried a filefish. The filefish did a good job of keeping the aiptasia at bay, but developed a preference for my polyps so he had to go. Besides being a bit more vigilant about what I put in my tank (180 gallon display) I have been on a mission to eradicate aiptasia ever since I removed the filefish. Aiptasia always seemed to return...I was on a mission to eradicate it.

Since F*Aiptasia requires some mixing and turning off of all pumps/powerheads etc. I use this first to attack all of the large polyps of aiptasia that were noticeable and easily attacked (not near or in danger of harming coral). If I could physically remove rock or coral rubble that the little anemones were attached I removed them. I had some that were hanging out in the sand bed too which I siphoned out. All others that were noticeable and positioned closer to corals I chose to use Aiptasia X.

I have been on the lookout over the past month spotting one or two aiptasia which inevitably turn into trying to kill 4-6 more. Some may have returned or survived my initial attack, but you must stay diligent. Everyone has to do what works for them, but I'm thankful to say that I'm no longer killing aiptasia on a daily basis. I still look out for them, but I am not spotting them in new locations or old with the same frequency. I feel like I've managed their population, not sure If I can say I truly eradicated them from my tank, but I'm always on the lookout. The key for me now is to not wait, delay or put it off until later. As soon as I see an aiptasia anemone I look to remove it immediately.

 

[ZoWhat]

IMO Best Practices for eradicating Aiptasia is what I've stumbled into over 15yrs.

IME best fish to eat aiptasia is the CBB. But you need to buy one that you can watch its behavior at the LFS and its actively picking at LR.

CBB will actively eat baby aiptasia but will leave the ones alone that can sting the CBB past its long snout.

Plan of attack is to get Aiptasia X and squirt and kill the med-large aiptasia knowing the aiptasia will spew thousands of spore to create new baby ones in 2 weeks.

The CBB will actively eat baby aiptasia while you handle the med-lrg ones.

Takes about 45 days but eventually you will win the game.

 

[FishyDP]

Nudibraches are 100% effective ime, IF you dont have predators that will eat them..such as wrasses. I think the biggest challenge using livestock to eat aiptasia is if you have alot of other livestock/coral that may not mix well with eachother. Due to this I have started using Aiptasia x which does a great job at killing visible aiptasia..although this appears to require ongoing treatment as you will never get all the babies, especially in larger tanks. I have tried a copperband, but of course my yellow tang did not approve, and getting a cbb to eat is another challenge. I own a majano wand as well, which makes aiptasia multiply like crazy, but works very well on majanos. Kalk past works well ime, unless you are treating aiptasia within zoa colonies or close to other corals, which will get irritated quickly. Any shrimp will get destroyed quickly in my tank due to a fairly large porkfish..which I am not willing to part with (otherwise I would try peppermint shrimp). Aiptasia x treatment once a month is the winner for me currently.

 

[burningmime]

I've hear differing opinions -- can Berhia handle high (SPS-level) flow?

(obviously CBB and Filefish don't have this problem, but there are other reasons you might not want them or not be advanced/dedicated enough hobbyist for them)

 

[HughJazz]

File fish. Best method I've found

 

[burningmime]

Nudis all day

I will say they *look* awesome. Who wouldn't want to see a giant one of those slither into your bedroom at 3AM?

 

[NashobaTek]

Guess I've been very lucky so far. I ordered some macro algae from gulf coast ecosystem and it had a couple of aptaisia in it. The biggest one I saw and removed before it was put in the tank, however a tiny one did get in the tank and it took a week for it to get big enough to really see. When I did see it,it was on the dead sea fan skeleton on a small branch. I cut the small branch off with the aptaisia attached and threw it in the garbage. Haven't had any since.

 

[Skibum]

Nudi's. And, occasionally when they pop up, vinegar and a small hypodermic needle.

 

[andrecr]

I've only had issue with aiptasia in my sump, I put a Wundermani there took care of the problem in a week

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Not a fair question.

Between Copperband, File Fish and the correct species of Peppermint Shrimp, on any given Sunday, any of them can be the best. Haven’t tried nudis, but hear they can be hit or miss.

The only product ive tried, is Aptasia X, which seems more like Aptasia Fertilizer.

Glue works, but becommes a PIA, because only gets the ones you can see, then becomes another maintenance on the tank. Plus, goes against keeping your hands out of the tank.

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Lots of replies here that involve repetitively putting your hands in the tank.

Why not manage your problems in your little ecosystem, the way it works in original ecosystem? Mother nature seems to work it out til man puts their hands in her tank.