What's your preferred method for eradicating aiptasia? Or do you just manage it?

Mastiffsrule

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$29.99 filefish worked great for me and I can honestly say they numbered close to 100. Plus got a cool fish after the invaders were gone. I love watching my fish change colors and pattern. He’s eating nori with the tangs now.
 

tony'stank

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I tried injecting Aiptasia with lemon juice but the grew too fast to keep up. I then tried beghia Nudibranches with no discernible results after three months. I tried two matted Filefish (one after the other) .Each was in the tank about a month without ever going after The aiptasia. They both died by getting sucked onto my Gyre and MP40 ( despite a foam sleeve on the MP40) and I didn’t get to the in time. When my Red Flame hawk passed I put 6 peppermints shrimp in the tank and the Aiptasia was gone in a month. So far three months later they haven’t touched my Zoas
 

Cully

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I’ve tried it all. Berghia nudibranchs. I put 6 in my over run 120. Then for 3 weeks I thought I had Just peed away the money. All of a sudden the aiptaisia numbers appeared to dwindle. At 4 weeks...zero aiptaisia. Zero since. It’s been almost a year.


Do it.
 

maroma

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The Best that I have seen work for me is Berghia nudibranch..... I have a 13.5 Fluval the got infested with Aptasia and I tried Perpermint Shrimp, they work but started destroying my acans. Used Aptasia X its cool when they blow up but messy. Tried the wand.

Berghia nudibranch
Are good but now worried that they will be dying they reproduce started with 3 now I have counted about maybe 16 I still have aptasia and they go to town at night.

Her is a pic on my small 13.5 tank

20190911_184731.jpg
 

CherryStReef

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One experience with those critters in my quarantine tank was enough for me. Now I will only add corals to my display tank from one supplier, and even then, only rarely.
 

MARK M. DAVIS

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I use 10 to 15 peppermint shrimp. The hunt in packs. Don’t get the camelback shrimp since they don’t touch aptasia but do eat coral. They look very similar and often get passed as peppermints.
 

madcanary

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So I used to used aptasia-x found it worked best with no flow for about 10 mins after. Kept the ones I could see at bay. Matted file fish same thing then he ate a 6 year old elegance. Peppermint just laughed at me. Couldn’t try nudis because my wrasse would decimate them.
I got caught up in school work neglected tank lost entire contents of frag tank and a few colonies.
Just got a Majano wand and so far it working wonders.
Will report back in a few days.
1637C877-8A9C-4048-89B9-873B4D0B1DC4.jpeg
 

mattzang

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made it about a year where the only aptasia i found was on the backside of a rock so i just left it alone. i finally removed that rock due to aptasia fear and, sure enough, i got a couple others to pop up. i tried a couple peppermints, but nothing on that front. so i did aptasia x and now they multiplied by 10. i just did the aptasia x again.. but hopes are low.
 

Ferrell

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I’ve always got them too. Every try with peppermint shrimp has resulted in corals getting ate too... i hate sticking my hand in for the aipstasia x every time i see aipstasia. And sometimes I just don’t have time.
Try some berghia Nudibranchs. They take a little time to build their army but once they do... here today gone tomorrow, sorta. Took mine about two months
 

carmodpg

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Well where do I start...
-Tried pepermints 25 total my purple tang hunts them down and gets all my fish in a frenzy. Even if I add them lights out 1am when the lights come on the carnage immediately ensues.

-berghia’s worked well only until my wrasses ate them.
All my wrasses jumped out or died from old age which sucks lol. I’m probably going to get more berghias I’ve had great success with them on my clients tanks!
-Added a filefish as a last resort within a week he ate my whole collection of zoas (sunny d’s, kraks, ultra ommpa loompas, utter chaos, tubs blues, Scrambled eggs, orange oxides, pink mauls, spitfires, CB disco infernos, amour of gods, WWC gobstoppers just to name a few and continuously nipped on my orange plate and acans). Then after all the zoas he worked on the aiptasia. The day he went carpet surfing I was extremely happy I know that’s horrible. But It took me forever and lost a ton of money/zoas to get the collection I had. They just wouldn’t acclimate well since my tanks shallow lighting super intense.

-Aiptasia x and kalk just make them spread so I refuse. Works great if you have a couple no doubt not a viable solution if there are a decent amount no matter there’s always some that are impossible to get to anyways.....

I continue to live them and have done so for nearly two years.

Carpet surfing...that got me pretty good!
 

vanisher187

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I gotta say i fought aptasia for years and years. Tried just about everything beside the wand and laser route. I lost many shrimp, some of them were big enough to eat the peppermints. Aptasia x worked great for awhile until the hidden ones reproduced. I was thinking of killing the tank and starting fresh until i decided to try the filefish, i never saw him eat the aptasia,but after 2 weeks noticed they were rapidly disappearing. Ive had him now 3 month took about a month and im aptasia free. He now eats whatever i feed the tank..mostly frozen food. I would say if you really want to put an end get the filefish. He has been a model citizen i know people say they eat coral but havent seen that yet. Trouble is if you leave just one in a small crack or hole in your rock they will always come back.
 

SimonHP

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I don't think that you ever eradicate Aiptasia but I have had excellent results with the Matted Filefish. I've had two in the last five years or so, the last one has been with me for probably 4 years. As well as being great for Aip control, they are extraordinary cool fish to watch, hovering around effortlessly like they have some sort of electro-magnetic propulsion engines!

There is a caveat to share however. My first Filefish, after more than a year, suddenly started nipping the tips of my SPS and sadly died shortly thereafter with a stomach full of small coral pieces. My SPS recovered very quickly so mixed feelings all round.

When the Aiptasia returned I realised that the Filefish had indeed been doing its job and so I got another one. This one has adapted very well to Nori, frozen Mysis and flake food and has kept the DT free of Aip for the last few years. I know I still have Aip as I still find it in the sump. Here he is;

IMG_4965.jpg
 

Daveyy

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This is a personal secret i just super glue the F out of them. Make sure you have a good seal. Those sucker will die and sealed forever.
 

CWMorrow

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F-Aiptasia encapsulates the aiptasia. It leaves a hard blob that you must clean up. It tends to run off the aiptasia if the point of attachment is at an angle. The jar has the warning "do not get on coral".
 

Neoalchemist

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Never had a problem with them reproducing using it, once in a blue moon I’ll find an aptasia somewhere.
Then you are skilled my friend. I can never seem to cover the oral disk completely which is what aiptasiax says will stop the clones from surviving. I probably manage to kill half of the ones I attack. The other half morph into at least 5 more.
 

TVV

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I believe in attack in as many directions as possible but with a 32 biocube the arsenal is limited. I had a pretty good outbreak that kept multiplying. I have none now for some time:

1. aiptasia away chemical - worked well
2. peppermint shrimp - must have helped but they ate a few hermit crabs until they died or were eaten themselves
 
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