Aiptasia Control

[woodworker1959]

I was wondering who has had Aiptasia and what methods were successful to control or hopefully eliminate. I was told by someone to use a product called Stop Aiptasia but I am reluctant to use as I fear it may kill desiriable life (shroom, zoos ect.)
I was wondering if biological controls work, and if so what was successful with others.

 

[eboonaman]

I have peppermint shrimp, which don't seem to do anything, I've used "joe's Juice" with success. Now I use kalc mixed to a paste and it seems to work as well and it's much cheaper.
chuck

 

[Spracklcat]

YGPM

 

[Easily Distracted]

peppermint shrimp worked well for me when I had them a while ago. I haven't had any since. I think an important trick is to cut back on feeding for a while. If there is readily available food, they will go for that first.
I originally had a few rocks I wanted to target so I would pull a rock out and put it in an in-line specimen tank I had that the shrimp were in. That was the only food source so they readily went after the aptasia.

 

[terranova]

Joe's Juice works for me as long as you do it right. Or kalk paste.

 

[Julio]

the only thing have i had great success with were nudibranchs. Joe's juice works but they dont' seem to kill the aptasia all the way since they come back after a while. Also Copperbands don't seem to do much work either, nor do the peppermint shrimps.

 

[DgenR8]

IMO, Kalk paste and a syringe are your best line of defense. a big old glob of Kalk dropped on their face will kill them, many times with the first try.
I also used a Copperband Butterfly, and although I never saw any Aiptasia in the tank once he cleared it out, when I lost the fish, the Aips started to come back.
Although a 120 gallon tank is suitable size for a Copperband, I recommend against it. They don't usually ship very well, the ones that do survive shipping may or may not actually eat Aiptasia, they are actually likely to not eat ANYTHING, and just waste away. Those that do eat, are at least as likely to eat clams and corals as anything else.
Personally, I recommend trying the Kalk, just don't do too many at once, Kalk will raise your PH, and too much of it will raise your PH dangerously.

 

[cb747]

I had a Racoon Butterfly that ate Aptaisa with a vengance. After that he ate zoos and nibbled at my softies LOL Peppermint shrimp are useless IMO.