What Would You Do? - Aiptasia Tank Takover

Jmunk

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Tank is almost 8 years old. To be honest, I'm not buying any new fish and kinda letting it run its course so that I can do away with it. It's gorgeous and can be a lot of fun, but over the years, it's just problem after problem that I can't be bothered with now.

Anyway, here we are today. I still want the tank to look good for as much time left I'm gonna have it running, but the aiptasia is just out of control. I've tried the following:

  • Peppermint shrimp (they died)
  • F Aiptasia (seemed to do really nothing and/or made the problem worse)
  • Berhgia Nudibranch. I might've not bought enough? Again, they just died after a month or so with plenty of aiptasia left.
  • Aiptasia RX
Honestly, if you were in my position, what would you do? Use F Aiptasia and hope I get every single one without any of them spawning new ones? Buy a CBB? Buy more Berghias (this time like 20 of them)

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mehaffydr

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I would buy a Kliens Butterfly, They are hardy fish and they love aptasia. Sometime it takes a little while for them to get started but then they mow them down. The Kliens is also not expensive and when done you can take to LFS or give to a local reefer
 

Miami Reef

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I would try multiple types of predators (filefish, and nidibranchs) and the boiling water in needle syringe method.

This should get them under control. Manual removal + biological removal is such a good method for this tank.
 
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Jmunk

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I would buy a Kliens Butterfly, They are hardy fish and they love aptasia. Sometime it takes a little while for them to get started but then they mow them down. The Kliens is also not expensive and when done you can take to LFS or give to a local reefer
I would try multiple types of predators (filefish, and nidibranchs) and the boiling water in needle syringe method.

This should get them under control. Manual removal + biological removal is such a good method for this tank.
I hear you. Is the Kliens better than the Copper?

Thing is, I know I could just get the fish and return him after a month or so if he does the job, but IDK - I'm just not really sure I want to go through having to catch the fish and return him.
 

mehaffydr

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I hear you. Is the Kliens better than the Copper?

Thing is, I know I could just get the fish and return him after a month or so if he does the job, but IDK - I'm just not really sure I want to go through having to catch the fish and return him.
Kliens is more hardy and easier to get eating CBB often is hard to get to eat. Also you don't ave to return it you could just keep it. They also cost less than the CBB
 
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Jmunk

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Kliens is more hardy and easier to get eating CBB often is hard to get to eat. Also you don't ave to return it you could just keep it. They also cost less than the CBB

Yeah, like I said, I'm fading this tank out. When these current fish I've had for 8+ years die, that's it for me. I'm not looking to add any new fish into the tank since I'm trying to get out of the hobby lol
 

mehaffydr

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Yeah, like I said, I'm fading this tank out. When these current fish I've had for 8+ years die, that's it for me. I'm not looking to add any new fish into the tank since I'm trying to get out of the hobby lol
Were are you located I could give that nice looking Foxface a nice home in my 1100 gallon tank. If your looking to get out. I have seen fish live 20 years you may have plenty of time.
 
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Jmunk

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Were are you located I could give that nice looking Foxface a nice home in my 1100 gallon tank. If your looking to get out. I have seen fish live 20 years you may have plenty of time.
NJ. Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe I'll get "lucky" and it won't be 20 years though lol. Love these fish, but just time for me to get out.
 

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If you don't have any RFAs, a molly miller blenny would make short work of the little ones, and you can inject the big ones with lemon juice. I hope that this helps!
 

NatJones

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When I bought my Red Sea Max650 it was absolutely overrun with aiptasia, some of them were massive! there must have been a thousand at least, it's one of, if not the main reason I got such an amazing deal on the tank and fish. I used two bottles of AiptasiaX, knocking down all of the larger ones, and then added a filefish. I haven't seen a single aiptasia in many months. Be aware, that the filefish will nip, I just move things he likes to a different tank.
 

Nanojoe

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Scott Anderson “Mile High Reefers” just did a video on I think it was sodium hydroxide injection. Melted the aiptasia. Real caustic stuff. Cheap too.
 

Spicy Reef

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Tank is almost 8 years old. To be honest, I'm not buying any new fish and kinda letting it run its course so that I can do away with it. It's gorgeous and can be a lot of fun, but over the years, it's just problem after problem that I can't be bothered with now.

Anyway, here we are today. I still want the tank to look good for as much time left I'm gonna have it running, but the aiptasia is just out of control. I've tried the following:

  • Peppermint shrimp (they died)
  • F Aiptasia (seemed to do really nothing and/or made the problem worse)
  • Berhgia Nudibranch. I might've not bought enough? Again, they just died after a month or so with plenty of aiptasia left.
  • Aiptasia RX
Honestly, if you were in my position, what would you do? Use F Aiptasia and hope I get every single one without any of them spawning new ones? Buy a CBB? Buy more Berghias (this time like 20 of them)

image1 (1).jpeg

image0 (2).jpeg
Remove any zoa's gorgonians - place them in quarantine, add a couple filefish watch them and be prepared to remove any other tasty treats you don't want eaten. Filefish will take care of them... u might need to help them out with F-aiptasia :)
 

Starganderfish

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Tough decision time. You say you don't want to add fish, but you also want to wind down the tank because it's fiddly and a lot of work. To solve this you really either need to add a fish, or do some manual, fiddly work!

Given the size of some of those Aptasia and you not wanting to add more fish, I'd use manual methods - hot water, lemon juice, aptasia X etc to get rid of the big large clusters - space it out over a couple of weeks so you don't muck up the water too much, but nuke as much as you can see.
Once you've hammered the really big infestations, add some Peppermints or Berghia and let them take care of any small ones and all the new little ones that will inevitably crop up.
The problem is those Aptasia are large and numerous which is too much for little critters, but most manual methods will end up releasing spores that will spread and regrow, so you want something small that can stop them coming back.

But honestly, the easiest would be a Filefish or CBB and just let them do the work. That's what I would do. Manual Aptasia treatment is a pain.
 

YOYOYOReefer

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i use kalk paste and syringe, how big is the tank and how much rock do you have, could you pull the rocks , trash the sandbed and then manually eradicate the remainder ... good luck
 

Biokabe

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NJ. Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe I'll get "lucky" and it won't be 20 years though lol. Love these fish, but just time for me to get out.

Honestly? You want to get out of the hobby, so stop fussing with the band-aid. Rip it off.

Find a good home for your livestock and liquidate the rest of your tank. Getting an aiptasia infestation that size under control is going to take a lot of work, and why do that work for something that you're trying to wind down because it's already too much work?
 

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