Aptasia arggggggggg!

[slajiness]

I have a aptasia problem that I cant seem to contain. I have tried about 10 peppermint shrimp, file fish (commited suicide after 3 weeks), Mojano wand
(works but you have to be fast before they go into their hole) and aptasia X to no avail.

I pulled 2 rocks and there were about 20 on the back of each rock. Anybody have any other options as to contain these mofos. Right now I have a file fish who picks at the rocks but haven't seen him actually eat the aptasia and they are not slowing down at all. I was thinking maybe a copper band butterfly to eradicate them but I don't want to keep him.

Any ideas?

 

[Sagz70]

I had a horrible problem as well.. I used Aptasia-X and it worked very well for me. You gotta make sure you spray the center of it quickly BEFORE they retract, make sure you don't touch it with the metal tip. I did it to my tank once and got rid of about 20-30 of them and no sign of them after about 8 months now.

 

[slajiness]

I have used 2 bottles in a months time. I think there are just to many in the back of the rocks to make a dent. Ill probably just end up pulling them all out and cleaning them somehow.

 

[rovster]

You can try a berghia bidi branch if you can find them.

 

[rps3]

You can try a berghia bidi branch if you can find them.

Tried that, they disappeared. LOL

 

[ERivera65]

a friend was saying that he was successful with those matted filefish. they eat aiptasia but they can also eat coral once they eat the aiptasia.

 

[slajiness]

a friend was saying that he was successful with those matted filefish. they eat aiptasia but they can also eat coral once they eat the aiptasia.

I have had 2. One jumped out the tank and the second don't seem to like them.

 

[ERivera65]

i wonder if you dip the rock where the aiptasias are in high salinity water if they will get tortured enough to fall off. of course remove any corals from the rocks.

 

[slajiness]

It looks like im going to start a 30g tank and place about 3-4 rocks in at a time to eradicate them then move them to a trash can tell I can get them all.

 

[GatorAlum05]

the problem with using aiptasia X is it still leaves the spores floating in the tank.

have you been over feeding lately? high nutrients will cause an explosion of aiptasia. Good luck. My method was take all the live rocks and cook the mofo to death. I had an explosion when i started feeding more and couldn't control it worth squat.

 

[r2odie]

Try the Copper band butterfly!

 

[rovster]

I had like 3 aiptasia, added a peppermint and they're gone. This doesn't help, but thought I'd share this experience. GL.

 

[docdlo]

I dropped a copperband into a tank that was covered and in two weeks they were gone.

 

[slajiness]

I went lights out for 3 days to take care of some algae. Turned the lights back on yesterday and only saw 2. Not sure what happened but im thinking my filefish likes to eat in the dark? Who knows.