What would you do in this situation? *Video* (about to tear down tank)

[GlassMunky]

What would you do in this situation?
I'm out of ideas, and at the end of my rope.....
My 210G tank is COVERED in aiptasia.... i mean literally Thousands of them. and some of them are LARGE, like larger than my hammer corals polyps, and in every corner, on almost every coral, and they seem to be getting worse and all i can think to do is tear down the tank and start completely over. (Or not start over and take a break from reefs)
We've tried 25 Berghia nudis, Nothing. (not sure if wrasse ate them or the aiptasia ate them, but never saw them after being added months ago)
Tried Aiptasia-X and F-Aiptasia (went through 4 entire bottles of the large size, and it seems that only made it worse) with zero results.
We've tried using a 5W laser, nope, that doesn't work either.
The most recent attempt is 3 Filefish and 9 Peppermints from @Biota_Marine that just got here, but the more i look at the tank the more I'm losing hope Im not sure if these filefish and shrimp will be able to deal with aiptasia that are 2-3X their size, and SOOOOO many of them.

Do i just say "F-It!" and tear everything down?
Im so at a loss with this tank, it hasn't brought me much if any joy (only thing that has has been watching the pipefish we have) in a long time because every time i look at it all i see is all the issues, and the time and money wasted, and nothing getting better and things just getting worse since the start over a year ago. the only reason its still going is that its just so much work to actually tear down and try and find homes for all the fish and corals, but it might be time....


What would you do in this situation?

 

[ReefJCB]

I had a similar issue, though not this bad.

I tried file fish, Aiptasia x (definitely made it worse), peppermint shrimp, and nudibranchs. None of them worked for me.

I ended up starting over with all new live rock and sand. I was able to redo my rock scape to a NSA that I love and cycle it in a brute can for about 2 months.

After it was cycled I cleaned my tank and all my equipment, added the new sand and rock, then added back my livestock.

It was a ton of work, but was happy with how it all turned out.

 

[MaxTremors]

I guess my question is are they keeping you from keeping the corals that you want and are they affecting the corals that you have? From what I can see in your video, it seems like you have quite a few but that your corals seems pretty unaffected. They’re not the prettiest, but IMO, they’re not ugly either. If they’re bothering you or your corals, take rocks out one at a time and scrub them clean, and then add them back, do one decent size rock a week and you’ll be able to at the very least lessen their numbers (they’ll likely always be in the tank).

 

[GlassMunky]

I had a similar issue, though not this bad.

I tried file fish, Aiptasia x (definitely made it worse), peppermint shrimp, and nudibranchs. None of them worked for me.

I ended up starting over with all new live rock and sand. I was able to redo my rock scape to a NSA that I love and cycle it in a brute can for about 2 months.

After it was cycled I cleaned my tank and all my equipment, added the new sand and rock, then added back my livestock.

It was a ton of work, but was happy with how it all turned out.

My concern is that i wouldn't be able to restart the tank without the same thing happening..... how to you remove the aiptasia from the living corals? or just trash everything and start with new livestock other than fish??

This whole tank started out as having EVERYTHING fully QTed before going in, we even QTd all snails and everything for a full 76 days, and yet SOMEHOW we still ended up with aiptasia (and vermiteds) even though we literally scrubbed every single coral before going into the tank. Im convinced that microscopic larva or something are how they ended up in the system or something???

 

[DanConnor]

Impressive! I would keep trying biological controls, as breaking down is a huge pain. Based on your fish- I assume you are feeding a lot? They love that. I have a copperband that wiped out mine. I had a filefish too, but it was too destructive to other corals. Is there any way you can move your anthias etc to another tank so the aiptasia eaters will not enjoy the tanks feeding?

 

[GlassMunky]

I guess my question is are they keeping you from keeping the corals that you want and are they affecting the corals that you have? From what I can see in your video, it seems like you have quite a few but that your corals seems pretty unaffected. They’re not the prettiest, but IMO, they’re not ugly either. If they’re bothering you or your corals, take rocks out one at a time and scrub them clean, and then add them back, do one decent size rock a week and you’ll be able to at the very least lessen their numbers (they’ll likely always be in the tank).

Yes, they are actively killing every coral they encounter.... Blasto colones are now filled with them and dont open, countless dead acans and others line by garage.... the only corals that dont seem effected are the Euphyllia

 

[GlassMunky]

I guess my question is are they keeping you from keeping the corals that you want and are they affecting the corals that you have? From what I can see in your video, it seems like you have quite a few but that your corals seems pretty unaffected. They’re not the prettiest, but IMO, they’re not ugly either. If they’re bothering you or your corals, take rocks out one at a time and scrub them clean, and then add them back, do one decent size rock a week and you’ll be able to at the very least lessen their numbers (they’ll likely always be in the tank).

My entire rockscape is cemented together in 1 piece and also cemented to the bottom glass pane, so removing individual rocks isnt possible.... id have to tear the whole tank down.

 

[GlassMunky]

Impressive! I would keep trying biological controls, as breaking down is a huge pain. Based on your fish- I assume you are feeding a lot? They love that. I have a copperband that wiped out mine. I had a filefish too, but it was too destructive to other corals. Is there any way you can move your anthias etc to another tank so the aiptasia eaters will not enjoy the tanks feeding?

weve actually cut feeding down ALOT, the tank only gets 1 cube in the morning and 1 ate night now..... the fish arent happy about it thats for sure

 

[GlassMunky]

Impressive! I would keep trying biological controls, as breaking down is a huge pain. Based on your fish- I assume you are feeding a lot? They love that. I have a copperband that wiped out mine. I had a filefish too, but it was too destructive to other corals. Is there any way you can move your anthias etc to another tank so the aiptasia eaters will not enjoy the tanks feeding?

no, we dont have another tank that could house the fish.

 

[windemerejack]

Have a read of this and see if it helps.
With thanks to Eyore - Holy grail of aiptasia control (also works well on nuisance coral and algae) | Ultimate Reef

 

[GlassMunky]

Have a read of this and see if it helps.
With thanks to Eyore - Holy grail of aiptasia control (also works well on nuisance coral and algae) | Ultimate Reef

i havnt tried that exact stuff, but reading the instructions, it says dont use alot at once as it will raise your ALK and PH..... which ive already had issues with by using F-Aiptasia...... for the past month, my PH has constantly been above 8.5 because i used so much F-Aiptasia....

And with how many of these guys i have, theres no way to NOT use alot of it....... so not sure how helpful it really is in application if i cant use it.

 

[GlassMunky]

Have a read of this and see if it helps.
With thanks to Eyore - Holy grail of aiptasia control (also works well on nuisance coral and algae) | Ultimate Reef

according to their instructions, i shouldnt use more than 20ml at one time.... thats not even enough to cover a 2" square in my tank because there are so many aiptasia

 

[windemerejack]

You asked what people would do, I would try everything possible, then if nothing works restart from scratch. Good luck with whatever you do and hope you can get back to enjoying the hobby.

 

[GlassMunky]

You asked what people would do, I would try everything possible, then if nothing works restart from scratch. Good luck with whatever you do and hope you can get back to enjoying the hobby.

I guess i just dont see that as a viable option.
Maybe for someone with a small tank, but a 72x30 tank is way to big for that if i can only use 20ml at a time. i dont think id cover half the tank in 3 months that way.
I appreciate the idea, just dont think its viable for this situation.

 

[DanConnor]

weve actually cut feeding down ALOT, the tank only gets 1 cube in the morning and 1 ate night now..... the fish arent happy about it thats for sure

How about a copperband? It's a nice fish anyway

 

[GlassMunky]

How about a copperband? It's a nice fish anyway

its been considered..... just cant find any locally at the moment, and i HATE buying fish online if it can be avoided......

you know of any reputable vendors who have them in stock if i decide to go the online route?

 

[GlassMunky]

these Filefish were actually the first fish ive ordered online in probably over 5 years....... But Biota has a pretty good reputation so i gave it a shot. Was happy with how quickly they shipped and how they were packaged though, def better than some of the vendors i dealt with in the past, thats for sure.

 

[Biokabe]

When did you add the filefish and the peppermints? They take time to work, but I can attest to the effectiveness of filefish... the only reason I don't have one still is because they go after corals once the aiptasia is gone.

If you want to go the butterfly route, I would go with Dr. Reef or TSM Aquatics - they'll put them through quarantine ahead of time, so by the time you get them they should be transitioned to captive feeding, which is the biggest challenge with them. TSM doesn't have any at the moment, but Dr. Reef lists them on his site.

And I'd reconsider the chemical methods... if your concern is the size of the aiptasia, use the chemicals to kill the big ones. Yes, they'll release babies, but then you'll have small anemones instead of the large ones. So, keep your biological controls in place (file fish, maybe peppermints, maybe add a copperband or other aiptasia-eating butterfly) and go headhunting for the biggest aiptasia. Knock them out and let your biological controls take care of the small ones.

When you added the berghia, how did you add them into your tank? What livestock do you have in your tank?

 

[Daftendire]

I would set up some containers to breed berghia nudis and feed them the larger of the aptasias cut from your display. Then continually add the nudis to the display tank as they multiplied.

 

[desagon]

its been considered..... just cant find any locally at the moment, and i HATE buying fish online if it can be avoided......

you know of any reputable vendors who have them in stock if i decide to go the online route?

Have you ever dealt with Nyaquatic.com? He has some Copperbands on his site for $50.