Aiptasia Control

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Fishchronicles

New member
I have a 60g display that is loaded with Aiptasia. I have tried kalkwasser and Aiptasia x injections and there's too many of them at this point to even make a dent in the population. I looked into getting peppermint shrimp but I have a dwarf fuzzy lionfish and I am worried he may think they're his dinner. I have tried copperband butterfly fish to no avail. I have a clown that harasses the crap out of them. I was looking into filefish but I am worried that they will pick at the coral in the tank. This being said.. would be berg his nudibranch work? I have a melanaurus wrasse that I fear may eat them. I am at a loss as to how I can contain this Aiptasia! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I have considered moving the clown to the 40g frag tank that I have and trying a copperband again in the display. There are no fish in the frag tank now so he would have the lay of the land.
 
Matted filefish is my suggestion for your specific situation...give it a couple weeks min and you should start to see a change... Quite often outbreaks are due to poor water parameters...too much food basically... So address that too if thats going on..
 
mcgyvr said:
Matted filefish is my suggestion for your specific situation...give it a couple weeks min and you should start to see a change... Quite often outbreaks are due to poor water parameters...too much food basically... So address that too if thats going on..
Click to expand...

I have very little waste in the tank. I feed light once a week now that I no longer have my copperband in the tank.

I'm going to try the filefish out. At least if it picks at my corals I can take it back to the LFS. Thank you!
 
+1 for the filefish. When I had one it was extremely effective at eating aiptasia, and left all my corals alone.
 
I had customer tanks with outbreaks of aiptasia. For 75 and smaller tanks, I simply removed the infested rocks one at a time, soaked them in scalding water, and repeated the process until they were gone. I would soak one rock every couple of days. I never had an ammonia or nitrite spike.

I assume you have corals attached to your rocks, so this may be a no go. But you may be able to pour hot water on areas where no coral is present, if you are careful.

This was before I discovered the joys of Copperbands. I kept a CBB in each tank after that, and never had aiptasia again. They used to be very hardy. But in the past few years, many people have told me CBBs are become increasingly hard to keep alive.
 
I've had luck with a laser. Bought some berghia nudibranchs and I think my McKosker's wrasse ate them. The laser has been pretty good at controlling them.
 
I have had good luck with berghia in the past with major outbreaks. I was curious if I could cover up 1 aiptasia with some putty and leave it like that for a week or so and kill it??? I literally have 1 on a rock right now and though about shoving a glob of putty of it and leave it there a week or so???
 
steallife904 said:
I have had good luck with berghia in the past with major outbreaks. I was curious if I could cover up 1 aiptasia with some putty and leave it like that for a week or so and kill it??? I literally have 1 on a rock right now and though about shoving a glob of putty of it and leave it there a week or so???
Click to expand...

Leave it there permanently.

Kevin
 
Green files work every time. They cryptically clean out the small ones first, and then eventually work their way through the larger ones. After the aiptasias are gone, they seem to switch readily to normal foods that are offered. I’ve never seen one go after other inverts. But...never say never.

The good news is that if they ever were to go after something else, they’re about the easiest fish in the world to catch.
 
Peppermint shrimp work really well, but my Hawkfish ate them.

The boiling water sucked into a 10mL syringe with large needle (18 gauge) then shoot it at the aiptasis works really well. After you squirt it a few times, remove the needle and reverse suction it out with just the syringe tip. Its a pain if you have a lot of them, but the process does work well.

I don't really recommend something like Aip-X or whatever it is called. If makes contact with corals, it basically discolors them.

Stick with lemon juice or hot water.

BTW, in regards to the peppermint shrimp. It doesnt happen overnight. In my case, it took about 2 weeks then it happened. They might not last that long in your tank. Can you put your "dwarf fuzzy lionfish" in the smaller tank for 2-3 weeks. Add some peppermint shrimp to do their job, then put him back in the main tank?
 
Because of certain fish in my tank and the vulnerability of the Berghia Nudibranch to predation I was skeptical. Took a chance anyway and 3 months later no more Aptasia.
 
The natural control for aiptasia is the Caribbean banded butterfly and berghia. In nature that is pretty much all the banded butterflies eat. In your tank they may take other foods and may turn on your corals.
Berghia eat only aiptasia. When they cant find any more aiptasia they will starve. Generally you need enough of them so they can find one other in your tank and mate and produce more Berghia. A few berghia will not wipe out an infestation but a few can make hundreds in months time.
Copper banded butterflies do not eat aiptasia in the wild. They will eat them in your tank and they also will tubeworms and featherdusters.
Certain filefish usually will eat aiptasia but not always.
Caribbean peppermint shrimp will eat aiptasia if there is not an excess of other things like fish food for them to eat.

Most non reef safe butterfly fish will eat aiptasia but they will also eat your corals
 
I have been struggling with this too. I lave tried
Laser- works ok but takes a lot of time and is dangerous. My naso zipped from across the tank one time when I was workin on a big one and it blinded him in one eye. I only use it for very short distances in the water now like on the top of the rocks or edges.
Matted Filefish- My filefish could care less about the aiptiasia bit at least he is a cool addition.
Berlgia- I think they are slowly making a difference but they will only go after stuff on the rock work. I added 16 to a 180g tank. I think I should have added more and I question if my wrasses have picked some off.
Aiptasia X- works well on larger ones that you can reach and can see well, but not a self managing solution and there are always ones you can’t see or reach.
This is what I have done so far. I’m thinking of buying a second filefish, anything like powerheads I pull and soak in vinegar which works well.
 
The Berghia will get it done once their population grows to a sufficient number then psssst, they will all disappear quickly. I’ve done this three times over a seven year period and each time it was successful with zero problems. I would add 6 to a 80G reef and in about 40-60 days their history, until the next outbreak. I’m fixing to do it again on my 13G AIO now.
 
I have been very successful with berghia. My problem is they are hard to find. None of my LFS have them right now and when they do they are not cheap.
 
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