Aiptasia Attack!!!!!!

[fish clown]

Their are aiptasias in every corner of my 75G tank and at least a few of every rock. Their are at least probaly around 15 in my fuge. I purchased 5 peperment shrimp for this proplem from premium aquatics 2 weeks ago and so far they have only stayed in liitle holes in the LR. What do I do???

 

[pathfinder1048]

Copperband Butterfly

Copperband Butterfly

It took a medium sized copperband butterfly 1 month to completely clean up my 120 and I have not seen another one since 0 over a year.

 

[Ron Reefman]

BEWARE!!! The copper banded butterfly is a very difficult fish to keep. They would MUCH rather have live food than frozen and WAY TOO OFTEN starve to death in a couple of weeks or even a few months! They are beautiful fish and they do eat aiptasia, but I've tried 2 and they both died within a few months and I was even feeding it live food. Just my experience, for what it's worth.

Oh, and I got rid of the aiptasia using a 1.2w blue laser! Do a search here on RC. There are a couple of really good threads.

 

[Lorenz725]

Give it some time with the peppermint shrimp. I had 200 lbs of LR covered with aiptasia and it took 6 them about a month to clean it all. I did use aiptasia X on the bigger ones I think they like to eat the smaller aiptasia. Also I think the shrimp only come out as night so I dont think you will see them much. If I were you I would just give it some time and try and kill the bigger ones.

 

[Reeferz412]

+1 on aiptasia X. I used that on the big ones. I purchased two Peppermint Shrimp and they destroyed the rest of it. It plagued my entire tank. Within a month and half, none were left. Peppermints will explore the whole tank at night. During the day you are lucky to see its foot out in the light. I purchased mine when my tank was only about 4 months old, and now it is about a year and 5 months, and one of the peppermints is still kicking. its the biggest peppermint I have seen.

 

[Pimentel]

Same problem here, had 3 copperbands and a file fish.
Aiptasia 4, fish 0

 

[Humuhumunuku]

aptasia x on any you can see, and just hope the shrimp get some of the ones you can't, very difficult to eradicate, but control is possible.

 

[fish clown]

BEWARE!!! The copper banded butterfly is a very difficult fish to keep. They would MUCH rather have live food than frozen and WAY TOO OFTEN starve to death in a couple of weeks or even a few months! They are beautiful fish and they do eat aiptasia, but I've tried 2 and they both died within a few months and I was even feeding it live food. Just my experience, for what it's worth.

Oh, and I got rid of the aiptasia using a 1.2w blue laser! Do a search here on RC. There are a couple of really good threads.

It sounds like aptasia x is the best as far as getting rid of it but still has a good chance on coming back. As a beggener I am not sure I want to try the butterfly fish. I took a look at your video of the laser killing the astasia and I may have to try that just because its probaly the coolest way to get rid of them. MAN that thing could start a campfire!!! Ill give the shrimp some more time but I think I still have to try the laser.

 

[Humuhumunuku]

If you use aptasia x, turn off your return pump and any powerheads. Then use the aptasia x on any anemones you can find. Let it sit for 15min or untill they look nice and dissolved. Then do a water change and suck up the extra aptasia x and any dead anemone pieces!

 

[agruetz]

aptasia x and the peppermint shrimp did it for me. They got all the smaller ones and I aptasia x'ed everything else.

 

[Reeferz412]

Yea it ain't pretty when you apply Aptasia X, but it goes away in due time. Looksl like tooth paste all over your rock.

 

[KatyMunoz]

Peppermint shrimp will work, but you cannot feed anything else to the tank. if you are adding any other food for fish, they would rather eat that then aiptasia. I also think you could use more peppermint shrimp, because unlike some of the other species mentioned, they aren't picky eaters and they can survive off many types of food once the aptasia is gone.

I also have the "zapper" if you hear people mention that, this isn't the laser one, but the voltage one, and so far, I have not been impressed. I have tried it on multiple aptasia, and the ones that are in any type of crevice seem to be able to get away from the voltage enough to not be killed. Considering I have very porous rock, they are usually able to get away.

 

[fish clown]

Now astsias are starting to get in to my fuge even more and are strating to get on the sea grass stuff so what do I do with that because I think the sea grass is sopposed to help in some way so what now???

 

[omerojs]

Try the cooper and fish or thre is another angel dis I think, a black and white one... Those 2 will eliminate your aptaisa for good.. I used them and I had way over 100 of those bugger anemones... Another way to help is to reduce the salinity of your tank..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ah_notty]

There really is a lot of ways to get rid of them. The one I really had great success with is putting boiling hot RO water in a medicine syringe and blast them. GONE. :0)

 

[JBM0676]

The file fish I have worked a miracle, I had so many I could barely see any rock. My tank has zero of them now and I never once saw him eat any. They are easy to keep and don't cause any trouble with other fish, before trying a chemical try the file fish.

 

[noj3333]

I'm new to this hobby and I've just found my second aiptasia on live rock I have. I have a smaller tank (45 gallon cube)... is there a way to just kill them physically (crush them with my fingers???)?
...and to think I thought they were a good hitch-hiker!

 

[fish clown]

Ill give the shrimp a a few more weeks and try to make sure they dont eat any coral/fish food. IMO apstasia x isnt worth it if it is only going to come back any way but I may use it if it gets extremly bad. Not sure I want a file fish because of the coral. Ill keep a look out for some kind of 1 watt laser on craigslist because that is just awsome!!! Thanks for all the imput

 

[johnike]

The file fish I have worked a miracle, I had so many I could barely see any rock. My tank has zero of them now and I never once saw him eat any. They are easy to keep and don't cause any trouble with other fish, before trying a chemical try the file fish.

Amen.

 

[06bug]

If you go with a Filefish, make sure to remove him after the aptasia is gone. He will go after your polyps. You should look into Berghia Nudibranches if they are available to you. Aptasia is all they eat and do a great job eradicating the pest. They are a bit spendy, but are easy to breed if you start with two like I did.