Aiptasia

[Pet Detective]

One last remark here on the Aiptasia "control", the problem with any store bought or man made remedies are that they will sort of work for the anemones that you can SEE but they say, and correctly so, for every anemone you can see, there are 10 more lying in wait or just too small to observe, so just when you think they are under "control" or gone, boom, more appear. I just can't stress enough how long I battled and how many aiptasia I had and how stressful it was for most of my corals being stung relentlessly, so you can see how I feel like the Matted File Fish was a miracle cure.....for me, I just want to convey this to all of you who have this issue and hope your results are as good as mine were, on the issue of the File Fish nipping at LPS, I'll just say that the Aiptasia did far more damage than the fish did, especially considering they attached themselves directly on to the coral skeleton in a lot of the cases.

 

[HBtank]

One last remark here on the Aiptasia "control", the problem with any store bought or man made remedies are that they will sort of work for the anemones that you can SEE but they say, and correctly so, for every anemone you can see, there are 10 more lying in wait or just too small to observe, so just when you think they are under "control" or gone, boom, more appear. I just can't stress enough how long I battled and how many aiptasia I had and how stressful it was for most of my corals being stung relentlessly, so you can see how I feel like the Matted File Fish was a miracle cure.....for me, I just want to convey this to all of you who have this issue and hope your results are as good as mine were, on the issue of the File Fish nipping at LPS, I'll just say that the Aiptasia did far more damage than the fish did, especially considering they attached themselves directly on to the coral skeleton in a lot of the cases.

Do you still have the filefish?

My concern is that they are limited to only control (albiet great control) and not elimination. Similar to peppermits, they can only eat what they can get to, which leave much of the interior of rocks, holes, piping, overflows, sumps, and everything else not visible untouched, and when removed the aiptasia typically come back after some time. I guess for me I do not want either a filefish or peppermints to be permanent residents to control the display.

But berghia can go anywhere an aiptasia can, and seek them out in every crevice. I am at the tail end of a 3+ month war against aiptasia and my berghia have decimated them. And they got to the hidden ones first since they are naturally reclusive, it is amazing to watch them.

 

[Pet Detective]

HBtank....I do still have the File Fish, he regularly eats mysis, brine, flakes and nori, he is a model citizen, gets along with my Tangs and Falcula.

I can tell you this, he rarely nips any coral anymore, no more than any of my fish do, I have not seen a single Aiptasia in my display since, I have spent close to $1,000 over the years on Berghia, they did eat the Aiptasia, but never to the extent of the File Fish and being totally blind they are so susceptible to predators, power heads, filters, over flows etc. I certainly wouldn't say "THIS" is the only way to combat Aiptaisa, but for me, "THIS" was the only thing that worked in earnest.

 

[HBtank]

Yeah, I think it depends on the tank. The shear number of aiptasia I had, and using my refugium to feed/breed them in addition to the display, ensured success.

I started with propbably 1000+ aiptasia and 16 berghia. But I knew I could grow a population large enough that it would well overshoot the aptasia, and I would end up where I am now, with 100s of berghia and now 10s of aiptasia. Maybe less than 10 now, I think this is the last week before I will not be able to see them anymore.

About a month ago I stopped even caring about them getting sucked into powerheads and started up my turkey basting again, there are so many, it just doesn't matter anymore.

 

[Pet Detective]

Yeah, I think it depends on the tank. The shear number of aiptasia I had, and using my refugium to feed/breed them in addition to the display, ensured success.

I started with propbably 1000+ aiptasia and 16 berghia. But I knew I could grow a population large enough that it would well overshoot the aptasia, and I would end up where I am now, with 100s of berghia and now 10s of aiptasia. Maybe less than 10 now, I think this is the last week before I will not be able to see them anymore.

About a month ago I stopped even caring about them getting sucked into powerheads and started up my turkey basting again, there are so many, it just doesn't matter anymore.

Awesome, that's cool that you could get your Berghia to colonize so well, I never could achieve that, hopefully you can sell your Berghia after it's all over and actually make $

 

[Anemone]

Awesome, that's cool that you could get your Berghia to colonize so well, I never could achieve that, hopefully you can sell your Berghia after it's all over and actually make $

Be careful with that. I had a tank with hundreds of aiptasia. Bought a half-dozen berghia. Three months later I'm buying every aiptasia filled rock I can find. Sold dozens of berghia, bought thousands of aiptasia (literally - found a maintenance guy who had an account with the worst infestation of aiptasia I've ever seen - a single rock could have over a hundred aips). Eventually, the berghia population crashed (tank was in my un-air-conditioned garage and got over 85 degrees), and I ended up with a tank with a moderate amount of aiptasia in it (a tank that had, at one point, been completely cleared!).

Kevin

 

[HBtank]

Be careful with that. I had a tank with hundreds of aiptasia. Bought a half-dozen berghia. Three months later I'm buying every aiptasia filled rock I can find. Sold dozens of berghia, bought thousands of aiptasia (literally - found a maintenance guy who had an account with the worst infestation of aiptasia I've ever seen - a single rock could have over a hundred aips). Eventually, the berghia population crashed (tank was in my un-air-conditioned garage and got over 85 degrees), and I ended up with a tank with a moderate amount of aiptasia in it (a tank that had, at one point, been completely cleared!).

Kevin

Always back to square one it seems in this hobby!

I have contemplated selling the extra berghia, but frankly I do not know if want to be bothered collecting, keeping them, coordinating selling, etc..... always sounds easier than it is with so little time anyway.

AND part of my plan is that by keeping them in there until the bitter end (sorry nudis) I will more likely have them get every crevice in search for food. But don't worry, I already get mocked by my family that I have some sort of god complex with this biological war I started, so I already feel bad enough having a plan that includes letting them starve.