The Devil AIPTASIA 😈 - **Support Thread**

[au_saltwater]

Hi All,

I’ve had quite the journey with Aiptasia & I decided to start this thread as a thread of support, for people currently overwhelmed by this demonic entity….

I am currently in the process of setting up a new tank - due to Aiptasia being in the old one.

Instead of seeding my new tank with live rock from my existing tank, I decided to bleach all of my live rocks & equipment before transferring them over to the new tank.

Purchased a new tank, filled it up & off I went to my LFS to purchase a small piece of live rock for seeding my new tank….
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG, RIGHT?

Came home, put the new live rock in the new tank & proceeded to watch it very closely for the next 4 days….
DAY 2 - noticed two small Aiptasia’s on it

No biggie I thought, I’ll just try one of these treatments.
Started looking into Aiptasia X, Franks Aiptasia & Aiptasia RX.
I decided to try Aiptasia RX.
My reason for trying Aiptasia RX, was because the instructions said I did not have to get the product into its actual mouth.

** I have a shaky hand & I didn’t believe I could actually take out this demon spawn - if it required me to make a really precise injection under water. **

Before the Aiptasia RX even arrived - I started to notice more & more on this piece of live rock…
As the days went on, it seemed there was an Aiptasia in every single nook & every single cranny, of this piece of live rock.

The rock was filled with so much other life aswell though (nudibranches, baby snails, stomatella snails, pods, bristle worms).

After having it in my new tank for 4 days, I made the extremely hard & heartbreaking decision to take the newly aquired piece of live rock out of the tank….. I had to bleach it.

I DID NOT TAKE THE DECISION LIGHTLY.
What it came down to, was this:

1. For the last 5 years I’ve been dealing with Aiptasia in my current tank.

2. The whole reason I set up a new tank & decided to bleach all the live rock from my existing tank, was because I’m sick of looking at Aiptasia.

3. If I didn’t kill those c**** now, I knew I would never ever be TRULY happy with my new tank.

That rock was bleached, dried & added back to the tank, while it was cycling.

Fast forward to now…..
Diatoms appear, cycle is finished & I decide to buy a few frags of softies, to liven it up……

Got Xenia, ricordia, Rhodactis & a hot pink shroom for the tank - I added them yesterday.

Then I’m staring at the tank last night, lo and behold…
A f****** Aiptasia on one of the frags!!!

Stared a bit more…. Another one!
LORD HAVE MERCY!!!!

Woke up thismorning, remembered I have Aiptasia RX in the cupboard, which I had ordered during the previous incident.

Soooo……. GAME ON!
Whipped out my Aiptasia RX, sucked a bit into the needle, turned the pumps off & had a crack.

The two photos attached are of my melted aiptasias 30 mins after treatment.
To say I am stoked, is an understatement.

I decided to make this post to hopefully inspire others to share their stories relating to their own journeys with Aiptasia over the years.

While researching, I did come across a lot of threads where people are like “just use this” or “just use that”…

I decided to share my story as I’m starting to believe it’s never a one off.
In trying to escape Aiptasia, I ended up with even more Aiptasia - not once, but twice, in a brand new tank where I had bleached everything to escape it.

I appear to be Aiptasia free for the moment…
I may have won the battle this time, but I know I definitely haven’t won the war.
I am aware of the fact they have been in my tank now & will likely rear their ugly UGLY heads again at some point - as such, I will remain vigilant.

My advice for anyone fed up enough to start again is this:
Put a bottle of Aiptasia RX in your cupboard before you even start the process, as you will 100% be needing it at some point..
Maybe not today & maybe not tommorow, but
no matter how much you bleach & sterilise - THESE ****ERS ARE COMING FOR YOU, FROM ANY ANGLE THEY POSSIBLY CAN..
And through any LFS that hasn’t completely dedicated their lives, to eradicating them.

Stay vigilant & have faith

 

[JoJosReef]

I feel for you. It really is a race once they come in. The very worst thing you can do is look ok at them and say "I'll get to that tomorrow."

I could not keep up with them using F Aiptaisa and Aiptasia X or even kalk paste or boiling water. My tanks are in my office, and seems like they always took the weekend to redouble their numbers!

In the end I upgraded tanks to get a copperband who has been teaming up with a couple of peppermint to slowly work the horde down. Problem is that they are still ransacking my sump...

 

[au_saltwater]

I feel for you. It really is a race once they come in. The very worst thing you can do is look ok at them and say "I'll get to that tomorrow."

I could not keep up with them using F Aiptaisa and Aiptasia X or even kalk paste or boiling water. My tanks are in my office, and seems like they always took the weekend to redouble their numbers!

In the end I upgraded tanks to get a copperband who has been teaming up with a couple of peppermint to slowly work the horde down. Problem is that they are still ransacking my sump...

Oh my god they are just horrendous aren’t they!!

It’s like a hidden mission in every reef tankers life - but you can’t actually complete it & your just never allowed to cross the finish line.

Even if you managed to get rid of the whole lot from the sump - you’d just know one is lerking!

Right now I feel like none are visible to me in my new tank…. but there’s definitely some kind of pinhead sized nightmare, hiding somewhere, which will eventually pop up & kill my joy.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thank you for sharing how you dealt with them! Luckily, I have never had to deal with them except for my pico tank, but my pico is a hitchhiker tank, so I let them stay in there.

 

[Reefer1978]

Do you peeps have Berghia in Australia?

 

[Naso180!]

Aptasia are terrible for sure. However, I now just look at them similar to pest algae. I use biological control when possible.( Peppermint shrimp, aptasia filefish) Algae with herbivores in a similar way(Snails,urchins,fish for specific types). Then if any show up I use Kalk paste to kill easily. I do this as part of my maintenance schedule. Viewing it as a necessary part of maintenance like cleaning pumps or scraping the glass. This change in perception has made it way less stressful on a day to day basis. Just knowing that on Saturday when I change water, I have to kill 2 in the 40g and 5 in the 90g makes it almost a non issue. Ive been through every possible way to avoid them getting in a new system. As well as the headache of removing infestations. Over a long enough period they ALWAYS return. May be people that say I've never had one. I say, you haven't yet. Leave the tank up for the better part of a decade. You will. I guarantee if you haven't had an Aptasia in your tank. You put way more time and energy into prevention or elimination than a few extra minutes of enjoyable Aptasia killing on maintenance day.
Happy Hunting

 

[au_saltwater]

Thank you for sharing how you dealt with them! Luckily, I have never had to deal with them except for my pico tank, but my pico is a hitchhiker tank, so I let them stay in there.

You are a lucky lucky human

 

[au_saltwater]

Do you peeps have Berghia in Australia?

No, I did try to look for them previously but couldn’t find a single supplier

 

[Reefer1978]

No, I did try to look for them previously but couldn’t find a single supplier

If the species is not restricted in Australia (check CITES) maybe you can import some and start growing them out for local reefers?

 

[au_saltwater]

Aptasia are terrible for sure. However, I now just look at them similar to pest algae. I use biological control when possible.( Peppermint shrimp, aptasia filefish) Algae with herbivores in a similar way(Snails,urchins,fish for specific types). Then if any show up I use Kalk paste to kill easily. I do this as part of my maintenance schedule. Viewing it as a necessary part of maintenance like cleaning pumps or scraping the glass. This change in perception has made it way less stressful on a day to day basis. Just knowing that on Saturday when I change water, I have to kill 2 in the 40g and 5 in the 90g makes it almost a non issue. Ive been through every possible way to avoid them getting in a new system. As well as the headache of removing infestations. Over a long enough period they ALWAYS return. May be people that say I've never had one. I say, you haven't yet. Leave the tank up for the better part of a decade. You will. I guarantee if you haven't had an Aptasia in your tank. You put way more time and energy into prevention or elimination than a few extra minutes of enjoyable Aptasia killing on maintenance day.
Happy Huntin

Aptasia are terrible for sure. However, I now just look at them similar to pest algae. I use biological control when possible.( Peppermint shrimp, aptasia filefish) Algae with herbivores in a similar way(Snails,urchins,fish for specific types). Then if any show up I use Kalk paste to kill easily. I do this as part of my maintenance schedule. Viewing it as a necessary part of maintenance like cleaning pumps or scraping the glass. This change in perception has made it way less stressful on a day to day basis. Just knowing that on Saturday when I change water, I have to kill 2 in the 40g and 5 in the 90g makes it almost a non issue. Ive been through every possible way to avoid them getting in a new system. As well as the headache of removing infestations. Over a long enough period they ALWAYS return. May be people that say I've never had one. I say, you haven't yet. Leave the tank up for the better part of a decade. You will. I guarantee if you haven't had an Aptasia in your tank. You put way more time and energy into prevention or elimination than a few extra minutes of enjoyable Aptasia killing on maintenance day.
Happy Hunting

That does sound less stressful….

And yeh I agree, my first 2-3 years with a saltwater tank I never had a single one & I used to think to myself “they must not be as common as people say”…
5 years later - I’m eating my own words, because I’ve realised its an actual plague out there

 

[au_saltwater]

If the species is not restricted in Australia (check CITES) maybe you can import some and start growing them out for local reefers?

I just checked on reddit, apparently the Australian government doesn’t allow importing species which don’t exist in the local waters.

It’s probably for the best, I wouldn’t want to end up with full tanks of Aiptasia in my house anyway, just to be able to feed them.
They are my arch nemesis in this hobby

 

[larrysaltisfun]

No, I did try to look for them previously but couldn’t find a single supplier

If the species is not restricted in Australia (check CITES) maybe you can import some and start growing them out for local reefers?

Aiptasia is like ich May be ever present in a system. I’m a reefing novice, but ive had FOWLR Tanks for 2 decades. Im a firm believer that management is maybe more important than treatment. One lousy ***** hitched into my tank13 years ago. lol I had no clue what it was and thought it was cool. The rest of the story can be abbreviated. I wish coral and anemones flourished like aiptasia, but then reefing would be easy. Spent years with aiptasia X ……the tank looked good for a week then those buggers returned twice as bad. Asexual reproduction is unexciting but effective. I believe this product made it worse. I followed all instructions, but as they involuted spores(right word?) would be ejected. Finally after years of no treatment then started management with nudibranches I believe the last 2 or three villains have died. I went From 1 hitchhiker to hundreds in a few months then took years to eradication.

 

[au_saltwater]

Aiptasia is like ich May be ever present in a system. I’m a reefing novice, but ive had FOWLR Tanks for 2 decades. Im a firm believer that management is maybe more important than treatment. One lousy ***** hitched into my tank13 years ago. lol I had no clue what it was and thought it was cool. The rest of the story can be abbreviated. I wish coral and anemones flourished like aiptasia, but then reefing would be easy. Spent years with aiptasia X ……the tank looked good for a week then those buggers returned twice as bad. Asexual reproduction is unexciting but effective. I believe this product made it worse. I followed all instructions, but as they involuted spores(right word?) would be ejected. Finally after years of no treatment then started management with nudibranches I believe the last 2 or three villains have died. I went From 1 hitchhiker to hundreds in a few months then took years to eradication.

Oh wow congrats & are the nudibranches still alive? What are they eating now?
Or are you growing another tank of Aiptasia for them?

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Aiptasia is like ich May be ever present in a system. I’m a reefing novice, but ive had FOWLR Tanks for 2 decades. Im a firm believer that management is maybe more important than treatment. One lousy ***** hitched into my tank13 years ago. lol I had no clue what it was and thought it was cool. The rest of the story can be abbreviated. I wish coral and anemones flourished like aiptasia, but then reefing would be easy. Spent years with aiptasia X ……the tank looked good for a week then those buggers returned twice as bad. Asexual reproduction is unexciting but effective. I believe this product made it worse. I followed all instructions, but as they involuted spores(right word?) would be ejected. Finally after years of no treatment then started management with nudibranches I believe the last 2 or three villains have died. I went From 1 hitchhiker to hundreds in a few months then took years to eradication.

Oh wow congrats & are the nudibranches still alive? What are they eating now?
Or are you growing another tank of Aiptasia for them?

They die sadly because they only eat aiptasia when food is gone so are they . Sincerely, Good luck if Aiptasia wasn’t so hideous to look at and so proliferative we wouldn’t care.

 

[au_saltwater]

They die sadly because they only eat aiptasia when food is gone so are they . Sincerely, Good luck if Aiptasia wasn’t so hideous to look at and so proliferative we wouldn’t care.

So sad hey…. Same to you
I just can’t stand it, the way the tentacles stick up like the claw - I just feel uneasy around it.

 

[Reefering1]

So sad hey…. Same to you
I just can’t stand it, the way the tentacles stick up like the claw - I just feel uneasy around it.

It's easier than you think...
The Berghias might only get to 3/4" long and disappear on day one, many never see them again. Then, sometimes months, later the aiptaisia start disappearing, it's a happy time... until a year later you realize they're all gone...

 

[Reefering1]

Then a year or 2 after that, you see another one..

 

[au_saltwater]

It's easier than you think...
The Berghias might only get to 3/4" long and disappear on day one, many never see them again. Then, sometimes months, later the aiptaisia start disappearing, it's a happy time... until a year later you realize they're all gone...

Yeh I wish I could get them in my country just to see them in action

 

[Reefering1]

I hear good things about these fish...

 

[larrysaltisfun]

That’s very true about the nudibranches. I put them in my tank, maybe six or eight of them never ever saw them again. I thought they succumbed to the filtration, but then the Aiptasia began collapsing almost as quickly as they populated.