Aiptasia battle

Crooked Reef · 02/26/2018, 07:26 PM

I have graduated to aiptasia-x in my battle against the unholy buggers. Just finished treating my tank and now waiting the 15 minutes before I turn my pumps back on. It was surprisingly easy to use, just hoping it works as advertised.

Sohal Tang Tim · 02/26/2018, 08:29 PM

The aptasia x will look like it killed them all but tommorow there will be more back.... you have to continuously nail the tank every week until they are down to only a few every week then it is a 2 min job every week to control them but that stuff will NOT get them all simply because they will grow where you cant see them to kill them.. I friend of mine who was an extremely good reefer said one time he does not worry about them...he injects once a week and understands that they really are part of the reef and they are an animal also...so he does not worry about them..just like killing dandilions on the grass..dont panic just understand they are part of the reef ...
Having said that..I had a wack in my 300 gallon and a copper banded butterfly ate every single one between him and the filefish they never came back but injecting will NEver kill them completely off ..rare if it does...

Tim

Crooked Reef · 02/26/2018, 08:42 PM

Unfortunately I’m aware it’s just a bandaid. I just recently had an explosion of them. I used to keep them at bay with peppermint shrimp but my wrasses one day decided they the peppermint shrimp tasted better than mysis. I also have a rock wall so there are probably many tiny ones hiding considering how many small ones I did find. I honestly didn’t realize how many were in there until I started injecting today. I’m going to try some more peppermints as my vroliks wrasse unfortunately passed a couple of weeks aho, but my dusky wrasse May have been eating them too. Both are, or were in the case of the vroliks about 5 inches.

Sohal Tang Tim · 02/26/2018, 09:09 PM

The peppermints never did bugger all for me against an infestation....
Injecting every week is fine and you WILL easily catch up on them
then it will be a cakewalk as long as you nail them *every* week.

best of luck

Tim

lionfish300 · 02/26/2018, 10:35 PM

Why don't you try filefish? My took care of all the aptasians

Sohal Tang Tim · 02/26/2018, 10:37 PM

Filefish are a hit or miss..the one I had did bugger all....when I added
the CBB then the aptasia disappeared so fast I could not believe it....
But I am sure there are filefish that eat the aptasia for sure....and if you
get a good one you should be off to the races.

Crooked Reef · 02/27/2018, 06:02 AM

I have too many corals and a clam to go to a filefish at the moment. The risk just wasn’t worth the possible outcome. My next step if this doesn’t keep on top of them is to secure some berghai nudibranchs. There is a place locally that breeds and sells them so I have a close source.

Frogmanx82 · 02/27/2018, 07:11 AM

Peppermint shrimp have always worked for me. I hated to see all the tube worms disappear but its worth it not to have deal with aiptasia in the tank. I have to squirt in the refugium but its a much smaller job.

I have seen many posts about rouge filefish, moreso than rouge peppermints who can get a taste for zoas.

Jekerry · 02/27/2018, 07:55 AM

I bought two peppermint shrimp. They ate them, then moved on and started to eat my pocillopora coral, so out they came. Fortunately they attacked the pocillopora while we were watching we distracted them with food until we could capture them in a coke bottle. They were so cute. I wish they didn’t have a taste for coral.

rjjr1963 · 02/27/2018, 03:54 PM

I have had 3 matted filefish and everyone mowed down the aiptasia within weeks. I have a tank that I let the aiptasia go wild and then put the fish in for a big feast. Never had one that bothered any coral. Maybe I'm lucky.

skimjim · 02/27/2018, 04:03 PM

FileFish?

I have a 6ft 180g with some 5+ inch tangs that intimidate the heck out of the FileFish I tried.
The Tangs never bothered the FileFish but the FileFish is sooooooo shy, it was very overwhelmed by big fish in a 6ft glass box.

I've always had great luck with either a Copperband or a Klein BF. Both will eat the tiny Aiptasia b4 they grow too big.
Once Aiptasia grow to the size it can sting the eyes of a Klein or Copperband neither one will touch em bc of the sting.
I've never seen any shrimp eat Aiptasia.
Moreover, I've never seen any shrimp live for more than a year.
Moverover, I've never seen any snails, shrimp or crab live more than a year.

Just all based on my 15yrs of reefing....

rjjr1963 · 02/27/2018, 04:50 PM

Each one I've had has had a different personality. My yellow tang did dominate the one I have now but he had a good hiding spot and still mowed down the aiptasia.

Crooked Reef · 02/27/2018, 04:59 PM

Peppermints are predominately nocturnal. I haven’t actually seen them, but they went in and the aiptasia started to disappear.

LauraGreenImp · 02/27/2018, 05:08 PM

My lfs ‘lent’ me a Filefish 2+ yrs ago as an Aiptasia antidote - I was *supposed* to give him back if/when he ate the A.

He’s still here. He demolished all the Aiptasia in a couple weeks. The big guys (tangs, foxface) don’t phase him, he’s actually slightly aggressive, which makes no sense ‘cause he’s only 2”+ sized.

And... he ate my clam, my acans...

But he’s a really cool fish, and now I’m attached. I’m literally building my rockscape/corals around the Filefish! I’m stupid, learn from me. sigh

Pet Detective · 02/27/2018, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjjr1963

I have had 3 matted filefish and everyone mowed down the aiptasia within weeks. I have a tank that I let the aiptasia go wild and then put the fish in for a big feast. Never had one that bothered any coral. Maybe I'm lucky.

This^^^

& just for shoots & giggles....the File Fish does waaaaaaaaay less damage to corals from nipping than the aiptasia did, every coral they touched receded in that area, now I never kept clams, so I don't know, but it only nipped LPS for a short while, they are all still alive and I haven't seen him touch a coral for a long time, it eats almost everything I feed the tank, including Nori.

skimjim · 02/27/2018, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LauraGreenImp

And... he ate my clam, my acans...

why did you allow him to eat those coral? filefish are super easy to catch with a net. very slow swimmers and very little ability to "dart" away from a net

Crooked Reef · 02/27/2018, 06:49 PM

Found six small ones left today. I’m sure there are more in there on the back of the rockwork and on the rock wall. Seems to have worked so far. As long as they didn’t release their offspring this stuff works. I’ll post occasional updates if anyone is interested.

HBtank · 02/27/2018, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crooked Reef

As long as they didn’t release their offspring this stuff works.

I will go out on a sturdy limb and say, yes they did. Manual removal almost always begets more manual removal... but you can control them that way, with persistence and elbow grease.

Or you can get a file fish (or berghia if you have a ton) if it ever gets tiresome.

Crooked Reef · 02/27/2018, 09:09 PM

Control is what I’m going for. Eradication would be nice but they were already reproducing so there were a bunch of small ones. I’m going to keep hitting them weekly with my water changes. Have you tried the aiptasia-x? I see in your dig line that you have an issue with them.

Lsufan · 02/27/2018, 09:29 PM

AptasiaX will kill them but in my experience they always come back. Usually in the same spots. I get lazy with it & don’t use it until I have a outbreak & get tired of looking at them. It works a lot better to use it as soon as u see one pop up & not let it get out of hand like I tend to do before using it.

FoxFace Fish · 02/28/2018, 09:20 AM

that sad moment when a long time ago people actually would try to keep these in tanks

jmm · 02/28/2018, 09:54 AM

I've controlled them with peppermint shrimp for a while. I've reduced their number with Berghia Nudibranch (very, very expensive), again, for a while. Any tank I've had with butterflies or angels don't have them until you remove the butterfly or angel and they come back. I've had them just die out with no effect on anything else in the tank.

I believe that the extermination crew, including the angels just mow them down to a point where you don't see them. They're not gone just like your grass is not gone from mowing.

soulpatch · 02/28/2018, 11:52 AM

I am currently breeding berghia for mine. I have berghia producing in a 10 gal tank that I drop aiptasia into while I await capturing my melenarus wrasse and then will split my population into the DT as well as my 10 gal. That way I can sell some to other local reefers struggling as well...

HBtank · 02/28/2018, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crooked Reef

Control is what I’m going for. Eradication would be nice but they were already reproducing so there were a bunch of small ones. I’m going to keep hitting them weekly with my water changes. Have you tried the aiptasia-x? I see in your dig line that you have an issue with them.

In the past yeah (just ones about to hurt corals), but my tank was "worst case scenario" when I really went after them with berghia.

IMO berghia are the best solution for some, particularly really bad infestations. They need to have enough aptasia to reproduce, berghia eradicating aiptasia are not about the ones you actually add, but the 2-3 generations after that ensure you have so many that the odds just guarantee success. People with little success probably only saw the ones they added actually do any work, and did not have enough for them to really reproduce significantly.

rocsec1 · 02/28/2018, 08:45 PM

Aptiasia x did the job for but it was a month long campaign because they kept showing up. I kept at and they’ve finally went away.

02/26/2018, 07:26 PM	#1
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Aiptasia battle I have graduated to aiptasia-x in my battle against the unholy buggers. Just finished treating my tank and now waiting the 15 minutes before I turn my pumps back on. It was surprisingly easy to use, just hoping it works as advertised. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

02/26/2018, 08:29 PM	#2
Sohal Tang Tim Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Collingwood , ON, Canada Posts: 928	aptasia The aptasia x will look like it killed them all but tommorow there will be more back.... you have to continuously nail the tank every week until they are down to only a few every week then it is a 2 min job every week to control them but that stuff will NOT get them all simply because they will grow where you cant see them to kill them.. I friend of mine who was an extremely good reefer said one time he does not worry about them...he injects once a week and understands that they really are part of the reef and they are an animal also...so he does not worry about them..just like killing dandilions on the grass..dont panic just understand they are part of the reef ... Having said that..I had a wack in my 300 gallon and a copper banded butterfly ate every single one between him and the filefish they never came back but injecting will NEver kill them completely off ..rare if it does... Tim __________________ "My God Reefs are Gorgeous!" Current Tank Info: 25 gallon reef

02/26/2018, 08:42 PM	#3
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Unfortunately I’m aware it’s just a bandaid. I just recently had an explosion of them. I used to keep them at bay with peppermint shrimp but my wrasses one day decided they the peppermint shrimp tasted better than mysis. I also have a rock wall so there are probably many tiny ones hiding considering how many small ones I did find. I honestly didn’t realize how many were in there until I started injecting today. I’m going to try some more peppermints as my vroliks wrasse unfortunately passed a couple of weeks aho, but my dusky wrasse May have been eating them too. Both are, or were in the case of the vroliks about 5 inches. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

02/26/2018, 09:09 PM	#4
Sohal Tang Tim Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Collingwood , ON, Canada Posts: 928	peppermints not me The peppermints never did bugger all for me against an infestation.... Injecting every week is fine and you WILL easily catch up on them then it will be a cakewalk as long as you nail them every week. best of luck Tim __________________ "My God Reefs are Gorgeous!" Current Tank Info: 25 gallon reef

02/26/2018, 10:37 PM	#6
Sohal Tang Tim Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Collingwood , ON, Canada Posts: 928	filefish hit or miss Filefish are a hit or miss..the one I had did bugger all....when I added the CBB then the aptasia disappeared so fast I could not believe it.... But I am sure there are filefish that eat the aptasia for sure....and if you get a good one you should be off to the races. __________________ "My God Reefs are Gorgeous!" Current Tank Info: 25 gallon reef

02/26/2018, 10:35 PM	#5
lionfish300 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Las Cruces, New Mexico Posts: 795	Why don't you try filefish? My took care of all the aptasians

02/27/2018, 06:02 AM	#7
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	I have too many corals and a clam to go to a filefish at the moment. The risk just wasn’t worth the possible outcome. My next step if this doesn’t keep on top of them is to secure some berghai nudibranchs. There is a place locally that breeds and sells them so I have a close source. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

02/27/2018, 07:11 AM	#8
Frogmanx82 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 1,515	Peppermint shrimp have always worked for me. I hated to see all the tube worms disappear but its worth it not to have deal with aiptasia in the tank. I have to squirt in the refugium but its a much smaller job. I have seen many posts about rouge filefish, moreso than rouge peppermints who can get a taste for zoas. __________________ Exodus 8:2 Check my homepage for tank pics and details. Current Tank Info: 90 gallon, 2x maxspect R420R LED, 4 Ocellaris Clowns, Yellow Eye Kole Tang, Flame Angel, Foxface Rabbitfish, Banggai Cardinals, Azure Damsel, rock flower anemone, cleaner shrimp, serpent star

02/27/2018, 07:55 AM	#9
Jekerry Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Rochester NY Posts: 205	I bought two peppermint shrimp. They ate them, then moved on and started to eat my pocillopora coral, so out they came. Fortunately they attacked the pocillopora while we were watching we distracted them with food until we could capture them in a coke bottle. They were so cute. I wish they didn’t have a taste for coral.

02/27/2018, 03:54 PM	#10
rjjr1963 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Nebraska/Missouri Posts: 770	I have had 3 matted filefish and everyone mowed down the aiptasia within weeks. I have a tank that I let the aiptasia go wild and then put the fish in for a big feast. Never had one that bothered any coral. Maybe I'm lucky. __________________ 72x24x16 115 gallon under construction Current Tank Info: 40 gallon reef

02/27/2018, 04:03 PM	#11
skimjim Registered Member. Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 513	FileFish? I have a 6ft 180g with some 5+ inch tangs that intimidate the heck out of the FileFish I tried. The Tangs never bothered the FileFish but the FileFish is sooooooo shy, it was very overwhelmed by big fish in a 6ft glass box. I've always had great luck with either a Copperband or a Klein BF. Both will eat the tiny Aiptasia b4 they grow too big. Once Aiptasia grow to the size it can sting the eyes of a Klein or Copperband neither one will touch em bc of the sting. I've never seen any shrimp eat Aiptasia. Moreover, I've never seen any shrimp live for more than a year. Moverover, I've never seen any snails, shrimp or crab live more than a year. Just all based on my 15yrs of reefing.... Last edited by skimjim; 02/27/2018 at 04:11 PM.

02/27/2018, 04:50 PM	#12
rjjr1963 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Nebraska/Missouri Posts: 770	Each one I've had has had a different personality. My yellow tang did dominate the one I have now but he had a good hiding spot and still mowed down the aiptasia. __________________ 72x24x16 115 gallon under construction Current Tank Info: 40 gallon reef

02/27/2018, 04:59 PM	#13
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Peppermints are predominately nocturnal. I haven’t actually seen them, but they went in and the aiptasia started to disappear. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

02/27/2018, 05:08 PM	#14
LauraGreenImp Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Nashville Posts: 131	My lfs ‘lent’ me a Filefish 2+ yrs ago as an Aiptasia antidote - I was supposed to give him back if/when he ate the A. He’s still here. He demolished all the Aiptasia in a couple weeks. The big guys (tangs, foxface) don’t phase him, he’s actually slightly aggressive, which makes no sense ‘cause he’s only 2”+ sized. And... he ate my clam, my acans... But he’s a really cool fish, and now I’m attached. I’m literally building my rockscape/corals around the Filefish! I’m stupid, learn from me. sigh __________________ No glass box turns into a beautiful reef tank quickly. Current Tank Info: 150gT Mixed Reef - help me trap/remove/destroy my hateful Molly Miller Blennys!

02/27/2018, 06:49 PM	#17
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Found six small ones left today. I’m sure there are more in there on the back of the rockwork and on the rock wall. Seems to have worked so far. As long as they didn’t release their offspring this stuff works. I’ll post occasional updates if anyone is interested. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

02/27/2018, 09:09 PM	#19
Crooked Reef Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 1,765	Control is what I’m going for. Eradication would be nice but they were already reproducing so there were a bunch of small ones. I’m going to keep hitting them weekly with my water changes. Have you tried the aiptasia-x? I see in your dig line that you have an issue with them. __________________ “In wine there is wisdom; in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” - Benjamin Franklin Current Tank Info: 90 gallon reef. Biocube 29 lionfish tank. Mantis tank.

02/27/2018, 09:29 PM	#20
Lsufan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Baton Rouge Posts: 1,410	AptasiaX will kill them but in my experience they always come back. Usually in the same spots. I get lazy with it & don’t use it until I have a outbreak & get tired of looking at them. It works a lot better to use it as soon as u see one pop up & not let it get out of hand like I tend to do before using it.

02/28/2018, 09:20 AM	#21
FoxFace Fish Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2017 Posts: 435	that sad moment when a long time ago people actually would try to keep these in tanks __________________ FoxFace RabbitFish For Life Everyone in this hobby has made a mistake at least once. Be smart and learn from others mistakes Current Tank Info: Reason I am broke as a joke

02/28/2018, 09:54 AM	#22
jmm Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 569	I've controlled them with peppermint shrimp for a while. I've reduced their number with Berghia Nudibranch (very, very expensive), again, for a while. Any tank I've had with butterflies or angels don't have them until you remove the butterfly or angel and they come back. I've had them just die out with no effect on anything else in the tank. I believe that the extermination crew, including the angels just mow them down to a point where you don't see them. They're not gone just like your grass is not gone from mowing.

02/28/2018, 11:52 AM	#23
soulpatch Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Downingtown, PA Posts: 4,017	I am currently breeding berghia for mine. I have berghia producing in a 10 gal tank that I drop aiptasia into while I await capturing my melenarus wrasse and then will split my population into the DT as well as my 10 gal. That way I can sell some to other local reefers struggling as well... __________________ 150 SC tank build: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2550948 Some have bar tabs. I have a coral tab at my LFS. Life goals.

02/28/2018, 08:45 PM	#25
rocsec1 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Medina oh Posts: 1,782	Aptiasia x did the job for but it was a month long campaign because they kept showing up. I kept at and they’ve finally went away.