The BEST eradicator of the evil Aiptasia Anemone!

[PhreeByrd]

Yeah, I tried all of the Joe's Juice/Aiptasia X/kalkwasser paste options, and the aiptasia always came back within a few days. Four Peppermint shrimp completely ignored the aiptasia. I bought 4 Berghia, bred them for about 3 weeks until I had about 40 and put half of them into the display. I kept that up for about 2 months and no more aiptasia, ever. That was more than 15 years ago.
I kept breeding the Berghia for about a year (I was also having to culture aiptasia, which probably seems crazy to some people), and sold them to the LFS. Nature almost always has the answer.

And, can we PLEASE stop referring to them simply as "nudis"? A less descriptive and less accurate name is hard to imagine.

 

[WVNed]

or use nuds. Nudis is too hard

 

[gerard_zzz]

At first I used Aiptasia X; works very good but there came lots of new ones. Since I have a Chaetodon burgessi I did not see an aiptasia again in my tank. There are many in the overflow and some in the sump, but never again in the tank itself.

 

[glb]

I just tried something new and it seems to be working. I took some Aquastik epoxy putty and totally covered each aptasia with it (I had 4-5 in my tank). It really helps with tough to reach areas because I covered the aptasia and a small area around it instead of having to aim for the mouth with aptasia x, which is impossible in parts of the tank and they always seem to come back. So far I haven’t seen any new ones so I’m hoping this works. The nice thing is that the putty is solid, so it can be applied anywhere and covers completely and quickly. I’ll keep everyone posted on how it works!

 

[michaelb]

Lots of work. Peppermint shrimp work for me and just staying on them. It can take weeks. My bigger tank has a tang and a angel fish, that tank has no problem. The smaller tank with only a clown fish had a huge problem. ‍

 

[Tony7912]

Australian Stripey fish. Came recommended by my lfs and got them as babies. They devoured every aiptasia in a few weeks and never saw any more. Plus are a great addition to the tank and friendly but eat like pigs! Used aiptasia x originally but I think only good if you have a few and not dozens and dozens.

 

[austibella]

I had the worst outbreak of mojano EVERYWHERE. I have no idea where they came from. Also apitasia and biopsies all came at once. Been a nightmare I tried Aiptasia-X ,then tried the wand took months, then mojano came back with a vengeance Aiptasia, started popping up again.So I bought a file fish. He liked mojano and Aiptasia cooked! Would only eat them after I used the wand and they were cooked.bought a copperband no luck. Got a foxfire , 20 peppermint fish, no luck. Then got a seahare for biopsies . I was at my wits end. Then I heard about the raccoon butterfly fish but was worried about my corals but I got him anyway, because my tank was out of control.. he ate every aiptasia ate every mojano!! Wow he's a winner.. now he will only eat frozen fish and will not eat flake or pellet food. Now here is the problem he is eating my coral colonies, and I cant catch him to re home him. My tank is to big he hides when he sees a net and is so fast when he sees im trying to catch him. But he was the only thing that work for me.

 

[cperry7467]

Reviving this from the dead... I've had success with something this week I thought I'd share. I've seen where people suggest a syringe with vinegar but I don't have a syringe so I decided to try with a 5ml pipette that came with one of my test kits and just spray vinegar directly on an aiptasia. Oddly enough it seems to be working really well. I apply about 1ml per aiptasia and only do a max of 6ml of vinegar a night just to avoid it impacting my nutrients. The ones I target instantly shrivel up and look melted. I've had to hit some big ones twice but after a few days they just disappear. I would imagine high flow areas it would help to shut off your flow. Super simple and cheap method. I've tried nudibranches, peppermint shrimp, aiptasia eating filefish but they just pop up in other areas like the overflow or sump.

 

[Paul B]

I always keep copperbands and filefish. I don't really care about aiptasia and just like copperbands and filefish so I don't get aiptasia as they eat them as soon as they appear.

 

[Llyod276]

It's simple really: neglect!!

 

[aquabubby]

What do you do for breeding the Aptasia to keep them fed? Just mash up some that you see so they keep reproducing?

How do you collect them from the tank in order to sell if you have regular rocks with lots of nooks & crannies?

Interested in purchasing if your breeding them

 

[mchans]

Australian Stripey fish. Came recommended by my lfs and got them as babies. They devoured every aiptasia in a few weeks and never saw any more. Plus are a great addition to the tank and friendly but eat like pigs! Used aiptasia x originally but I think only good if you have a few and not dozens and dozens.

Yep. I just added three and have had the same experience. Aptasia all gone in a week. Love these little fish.

 

[Karliefish]

I use a laser, but I got a pair of Singapore Angels that seem to love them too

What kind of laser do you use and where did you purchase it?

 

[KyleC]

Lysmata Seticaudata , never saw any Aiptasia ever again..

Been trying to find True Peppermint shrimps here (Northern Ireland) and having no luck. One shop sell lysmata seticaudata, but my research keeps stating wurdemanni are the ones to get. Gave up on shrimp, so going to get nudis instead

 

[KrisReef]

Been trying to find True Peppermint shrimps here (Northern Ireland) and having no luck. One shop sell lysmata seticaudata, but my research keeps stating wurdemanni are the ones to get. Gave up on shrimp, so going to get nudis instead

Can you get copperband butterfly?
(Chelmon rostratus) once they find out how good they taste can clear them out fairly easily. They also will eat frozen food so they can be around if you get them again.

this tank was clean a few months ago so I put the copperband in another tank where he has knocked them out. I moved him back in yesterday and took the picture to see how long it takes him to clean it up Again. I will probably leave it in here from now on just to keep them out of this sps space.