schryvertime
New member
I had great luck with taking the rock out and burning what I could and then put 3 peppermint shrimo in and they ate everything that I have missed. They have continued to eat any pop ups very quickly.
Aiptasia issues
- Thread starter frbrd84
- Start date
Seems like I cannot eradicate aiptasias completeley.
Bergia nudis wiped out one infestation, but they are expensive, and don't survive when AAs are gone.
Pep shrimps (8) did another one, but only one survived once the AAs were gone.
Aiptasia X worked for me for the occasional pop-up AA.
Never tried filefish.
Ironically, I have a copperband butterfly fish (my all time fave fish) on order for one of my tanks for reasons unrelated to aiptasias, and now find myself searching tank every morning hoping to find some aiptasias.
Mike
Bergia nudis wiped out one infestation, but they are expensive, and don't survive when AAs are gone.
Pep shrimps (8) did another one, but only one survived once the AAs were gone.
Aiptasia X worked for me for the occasional pop-up AA.
Never tried filefish.
Ironically, I have a copperband butterfly fish (my all time fave fish) on order for one of my tanks for reasons unrelated to aiptasias, and now find myself searching tank every morning hoping to find some aiptasias.
Mike
clsanchez77
Member
That's because unlike the filefish, butterfly's and peppermints, aptasia is the ONLY thing these guys eat. So as I understand it.
clsanchez77
Member
I'd have to agree with you on the theory. No different from mushrooms and xenia from the way I see it. I cant speak highly enough of using the berghia to control them. Seem to be complete coral safe from my experience and from everything I read. My tank was LPS at the time.
Absolutely correct, they don't eat anything but aptaisia. As a matter of fact, they will die without it.
Pet Detective
New member
Matted File Fish, wiped out literally 100's of aiptasia in under 3 weeks, it's a nipper but has not caused any real issues with my corals as of yet, I wasted $100's of dollars on berghia, they do eat the aiptasia but they are so vulnerable to pumps, filters, shrimp, pods etc. their eggs get consumed before they can hatch & ultimately they never achieve zero aiptasia, I only wish I was smart enough to take before & after pictures to show everyone, but trust me the infestation was severe, file fish are model citizens with my other fish & they love brine, mysis, pods etc. I highly recommend these as opposed to other expensive, eventually ineffective methods, just my experience.
clsanchez77
Member
I cannot disagree with your overall assessment here. My tank was wiped out with a 10 day power outage so I did not get to see the conclusion. My experience with the berghia was better than yours; reproduction was clearly not a problem, even with the peppermint shrimp in the tank.
Now that I know my LFS has a matted filefish they issue out as a loaner, I would try this method instead. But I do think regardless of the method, or even using both, I would try to QT the infested rock in a separate tank if possible. This would help limit spread and feed the predators focused on the end game sans the hazards and distractions (powerheads, shrimp, coral, etc)
Pet Detective
New member
The Matted File Fish maximum size is 3-4 inches, minimum tank would be around 30g, my reef is 90g & it is one happy fish, it blends in nicely with my rock work, sometimes it will be right out front & hard to spot. I don't disagree with being able to isolate rocks with aiptasia, but in an established tank such as mine, 10+ years on this one, the corals & rock are basically one big reef, I would never be able to remove any without destroying my formation, also aiptasia are equal opportunity squatters, they were attached to many of my larger sps corals & there was no way to remove them manually, the berghia never seemed to eradicate those aiptasia that were embedded in my coral colonies.
cloak
New member
I just looked it up on Liveaquaria and man, that is one ugly fish. You never had any problems with it nipping at any of your corals or anything?
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+30+2562&pcatid=2562
Pet Detective
New member
Like others here I pulled out all he stops when it came to aptasia. First I thought I'd go the methodical way and get berghias. Problem was that I have a lot of wrasses. So after 3 weeks and no results I went to my lfs and bought a file fish 6 peppermints and a copperband. Not sure who did it and when but I'm have no visible aptasia. Babies pop up every now and then but quickly dissapear. That's why I hesitant to say any 1 method will eradicate. But all natural methods will keep them I. Check
reefbroao
New member
My melanurus eats aptasia. I got back from actually buying aptasia X because some lr i got had it, and as I was getting ready to hit it he came up and gobbled 3-4 heads of it. told my lfs and was actually offered money by another customer for him. But id rather have him in my tank than the money.
This was a day or two after I got him, all of it is gone now. He eats literally everything so it may be a coincidence but he leaves corals alone so i'm glad for that.
This was a day or two after I got him, all of it is gone now. He eats literally everything so it may be a coincidence but he leaves corals alone so i'm glad for that.
I have tried a number of things. Burning worked, when I was willing to remove a rock. But most recently I bought some peppermint shrimp from Petco. They were rather smallish. Several days after they were in my aquarium the little aptasia started disappearing. We stirred one up out of the sump a few days ago. Little bigger landed on the glass. Gone the next morning. I have 3 in a 65 gallon. I do feed my peppermint shrimp. But they still eat aptasia. My new display tank has a CBB. I bought it before I realized how well the shrimp would work. Lol
Shelley
Shelley
BrianKC
New member
Hiring workers (shrimp, fish, etc) is pretty hit and miss. Sometimes they don't have the taste for what you want to control, sometimes they get a taste for other things you want in your tank. Easy solution is to get a small syringe, mix up a thick paste of kalkwasser, and drop it on the mouth of the aiptasia. It will close up around it, and then dissolve.
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