What does it take to kill Aiptasia

[EHerbert]

Aiptasia X seemed to double my population... I threw the bottle away. The Peppermint shrimp just waited for me to feed the tank and the amount of Berghia I figured I'd need would have been out of my budget. My last ditch effort was a Matted File fish. And within a couple of weeks the entire aiptasia population was gone. Make sure it's the Matted File fish as there are several kinds. If that doesn't work...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Just recently tried s Klieni butterfly. Took an infestation down in 4 days and now chows down regular food.
Best $30 I spent. Also very peaceful

 

[SuncrestReef]

I had at least 100 aiptasia in my Reefer XL 425 over a period of several months. They were on rocks, on the sand, in my sump, refugium, and probably in my overflow but I didn't bother to check there. At first I used a laser to zap them, which was fun and gratifying, but I couldn't get a direct line of sight on several that were behind rocks or corals. Over time I realized the laser would never be able to fully rid the tank of aiptasia.

On Feb 12 I put 10 berghia nudibranchs in my tank. They immediately went into hiding in the rocks and I didn't see them for weeks. I also didn't see any improvement in my aiptasia infestation. Then one night I managed to see a nudibranch crawling around the rocks and it was about 10 times larger than when I first added them.



Again, it quickly went into a hole in the rock and disappeared, but at least I knew they were alive and growing. After about 2 months I realized there were far fewer aiptasia, and several that had been annoying me that I couldn't hit with the laser were gone. After 3 months, I can't find a single aiptasia anywhere in my tank, sump, or refugium. They have been completely eradicated by the nudibranchs. I feel bad for the nudibranchs because they have probably starved to death, but they completed their mission admirably.

I highly recommend berghia nudibranchs, but just keep in mind you need to have patience as they quietly work on eating the aiptasia at night. You'll rarely ever see them, but over time you'll see the improvement.

 

[thedasher]

Peppermint shrimp work like a dream

 

[Florida Sunshine]

The most recent set of Berghia were put in the tank about 3 months ago.
Anyway, I know this will be a continual battle but I need to take out a lot of them relatively quickly. By removing the rock I am at least eliminating the aiptasia on that rock from the tank. I just want to be sure when I add the rock back to the tank (after treating it) I am not adding aiptasia back into the tank with the rock.
Anyway, I know this will not lead to total elimination but it will help. Trust me. I also have a lot of rock in my tank so taking a piece out and re-setting it isn't that difficult except where I have corals attached.

 

[jpas]

I have tried various things over the years, but nothing works like a file fish. Sometimes they take a couple of months to start, but once they do they wipe out the apitasia in a few days. My tank is pretty big, so I cant reach them with Ap-x like i did on my 90gal. I always keep an apitasia eating file fish in my tank.

 

[MartinWaite]

Hello,

Sure be nice if we could use some gamma rays to wipe them out, but knowing my luck it will modify them into something like the Incredible Hulk.

I used a laser to burn them to hell and I've only had one in the 3 years since I lasered them all and it came in between a frag and the frag holder so I covered the hole with superglue gel. Back to being aiptasia free again. Long live the laser!

 

[KenO]

I used a laser to burn them to hell and I've only had one in the 3 years since I lasered them all and it came in between a frag and the frag holder so I covered the hole with superglue gel. Back to being aiptasia free again. Long live the laser!

I too use a 5W laser. I love the snap, crackle and popping noises the aiptasia make. You can almost hear the the aiptasia screaming, "I'm Melting". The laser along with peppermint shrimp worked for me. I ordered my peppermint shrimp from KP Aquatics. They went to town on the aiptasia, but didn't seem as fond of the larger aiptasias until I burned them with the laser. I guess the peppermint shrimp prefer their aiptasia well done.

 

[Mark Novack]

Lysmata Wurdenami have always worked for me. They took about 6 months for the worst I have dealt with, eradicated the aiptasia, then I guess starved. Have not seen an aiptasia since. Nor a Wurdenami. I guess it's been 8 months since the last aiptasia was seen.

Mark

 

[JasPR]

Question: will any of the natural methods ( peppermints, file fish , nudies) harm rock flower anemone?

 

[tehmadreefer]

The most recent set of Berghia were put in the tank about 3 months ago.
Anyway, I know this will be a continual battle but I need to take out a lot of them relatively quickly. By removing the rock I am at least eliminating the aiptasia on that rock from the tank. I just want to be sure when I add the rock back to the tank (after treating it) I am not adding aiptasia back into the tank with the rock.
Anyway, I know this will not lead to total elimination but it will help. Trust me. I also have a lot of rock in my tank so taking a piece out and re-setting it isn't that difficult except where I have corals attached.

I did that as well and it didn't work like I had imagined. If you had nudi's and they didn't do anything then there is a FAR worse condition going in your tank if they all die . Again they have ONE food source, aipatsia, nothing else....

 

[Ferrell]

Exactly

 

[Ferrell]

Beat me to it Ned lol.

Me too but they worked. Took some time and was painful to leave the DT alone but one day poof they were gone

 

[Ferrell]

I put 10 nudibranchs in my 60 gallon reef two weeks ago and still nothing about how long does it take?

My 75 took about 3 months, 3 painful months

 

[lapin]

I am going to take this now dry rock (That is covered with aiptasia) and I am going to soak it in Clorox water 1:10 ratio for 24hrs then scrub rinse and re-soak in Clorox water. I am then going to leave it in the sun to dry at least a week.
Ultimately I want to put this rock back in my tank and let it gain some life and then take other pieces out selectively until fingers crossed they are all gone.
Do you think drying out, 2 Clorox soaks, Thorough rinse, lay in the sun to dry for two weeks will kill the aiptasia and all of their spores?
If not, what do I have to do to this rock to destroy any part of any aiptasia left on it to be sure not to re-introduce them to the tank.

Since you have no luck with any natural way in your tank. Chemicals in the tank rarely work on getting rid of them. Its my belief you wont get rid of them. They will always be in the sand, in your equipment and places you cant get to. Do date my best solution is a lot of peppermints and I mean a lot. They will eat the small aiptasia. You will have to nuke the big ones. They will always be there but the shrimp will keep them at bay. The downside is the shrimp will also find some of your corals very yummy.

 

[Wh00pS32]

I did that as well and it didn't work like I had imagined. If you had nudi's and they didn't do anything then there is a FAR worse condition going in your tank if they all die . Again they have ONE food source, aipatsia, nothing else....

I added 6 to my 14g nano over a year ago, they disappeared never to be seen again.
I later found out from a berghia breeder that bristleworms can kill them, they arn't a natural predator but if a berghia wonders into a bristleworms hole the worm will kill it in defence.
I purposely keep a large bristleworm population as i believe they are the best clean up crew out there.
Aiptasia X and other chemicals just causes them to multiply.
Peppermints are the spawn of the devil and ate over a grands worth of LPS in my tank before i could get them out.
No room for a filefish.
So after 4 years of battling them i have admitted defeat and fish will be moved over to the new tank in about 2 weeks everything else will be binned.
The nano currently looks like this.

 

[siggy]

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I would sell that to the Nudi Breeder he was asking for rocks like that..Or get a swap of clean rock. All the best in your new system

 

[cnseekatz]

One more testimonial for nudis. They are awesome, and will eradicate the issue. If they're not "working" it means they're dead. Something is eating them or your chemistry is off.

File fish did nothing for me.

Peppermints are hit or miss. If you get hungry ones with a taste for aiptasia, you're good to go, but like any shrimp, they're opportunistic and will eat tasty fish food first. Then if they do eat the aiptasia, they're likely to go after other stuff too. I had a couple eat the skirts off a bunch of zoanthid colonies. Had to trap and remove them.

 

[cnseekatz]

One more testimonial for nudis. They are awesome, and will eradicate the issue. If they're not "working" it means they're dead. Something is eating them or your chemistry is off.

File fish did nothing for me.

Peppermints are hit or miss. If you get hungry ones with a taste for aiptasia, you're good to go, but like any shrimp, they're opportunistic and will eat tasty fish food first. Then if they do eat the aiptasia, they're likely to go after other stuff too. I had a couple eat the skirts off a bunch of zoanthid colonies. Had to trap and remove them.

 

[cnseekatz]

One more testimonial for nudis. They are awesome, and will eradicate the issue. If they're not "working" it means they're dead. Something is eating them or your chemistry is off.

File fish did nothing for me.

Peppermints are hit or miss. If you get hungry ones with a taste for aiptasia, you're good to go, but like any shrimp, they're opportunistic and will eat tasty fish food first. Then if they do eat the aiptasia, they're likely to go after other stuff too. I had a couple eat the skirts off a bunch of zoanthid colonies. Had to trap and remove them.

 

[Swoody]

Only one thing will completely eradicate them unless they are reintroduced.

Berghia Nudi's....

This has been the only method that I found to work as advertised. Little by little each day less and less and then gone. I would have liked to re-home them to my LFS but once introduced, I never saw them again.... but they did their job!!

 

[ajhudson15]

Question for anyone who may know. What would be the effect on the bacteria should someone take out a rock and do it into hydrogen peroxide long enough to lol the aiptasia and then put it back in the tank. Possibly rinsing it off in rodi before adding it back to the tank