Aiptasia take over, what to do?

[jezzeaepi]

When I moved my tank a few months ago i noticed I had a few aiptasia. I injected them all with kalkpaste, and weeks later I had even more. I tried the same process, and weeks later I had even more. Now I really have a lot and don't know what to do!

What should be my plan of attack?
I have heard that there are nudi's that eat them, but don't know anyone who carries them.
I tried some peppermint shrimp, but they ended up being too small and getting eaten. Should I try some more of those? Anyone know a shop that has big ones in stock?
I have heard that the CBB will eat them, but I have lots of LPS in the tank, so that probably wont work =\
I think that using more kalkpaste or joes juice is just going to make things worse =(

Oh well, hopefully someone has some good news for me.

Peace,
Jesse

 

[returnofsid]

Berghia Nudibranchs will eat Aiptasia, but you need a group of them. They "hunt" in a "pack," so there needs to be enough of them to do the job. When one finds Aiptasia, they kinda send out a signal to the rest...then they gang up on a single Aiptasia and wipe it out, within minutes. The recommended number is 1 per every 10 gallons.

Dew2Loud, Kyle, here on RF has them available. Last time I checked, they ran $10.00 each, which is about $5.00 each cheaper than anywhere else I've ever seen them. If you order 40 or more, shipping is free. Once Berghia run out of Aiptasia, they die. However, IF you can find them, they're quite easy to resell. Finding them is the problem. Also, a lot of times, they don't find ALL of the aiptasia, die of starvation, and leave a small amount of aiptasia in the tank. Another issue with Berghia is some Wrasses will hunt and eat them.

Some CBB work well, and leave corals alone. Some CBB die because they never "learn" to eat prepared foods. Some CBB eat corals. It's really hit and miss.

Peppermint Shrimp are the same way, very hit and miss, but some people have great luck with them.

You could also try injecting boiling water. This WILL kill them. The problem is, getting to them all!!

 

[jezzeaepi]

Berghia Nudibranchs will eat Aiptasia, but you need a group of them. They "hunt" in a "pack," so there needs to be enough of them to do the job. When one finds Aiptasia, they kinda send out a signal to the rest...then they gang up on a single Aiptasia and wipe it out, within minutes. The recommended number is 1 per every 10 gallons.

Dew2Loud, Kyle, here on RF has them available. Last time I checked, they ran $10.00 each, which is about $5.00 each cheaper than anywhere else I've ever seen them. If you order 40 or more, shipping is free. Once Berghia run out of Aiptasia, they die. However, IF you can find them, they're quite easy to resell. Finding them is the problem. Also, a lot of times, they don't find ALL of the aiptasia, die of starvation, and leave a small amount of aiptasia in the tank. Another issue with Berghia is some Wrasses will hunt and eat them.

Some CBB work well, and leave corals alone. Some CBB die because they never "learn" to eat prepared foods. Some CBB eat corals. It's really hit and miss.

Peppermint Shrimp are the same way, very hit and miss, but some people have great luck with them.

You could also try injecting boiling water. This WILL kill them. The problem is, getting to them all!!

Hmm the berghia method could be expensive for me seeing as I have powerheads in the tank. That is certainly an option though.

I guess sitting around for 3 hours injecting things with boiling water is an option too... Gah, I know what I am doing on Thursday...

Thanks for the quick response.

 

[returnofsid]

Berghia do well in high flow, as long as you place them in the tank right. Once they're on the rock, they have a pretty good grip, so don't get blown around. It's just important to place them on the rockwork after lights out, when fish are sleeping. Place them high in your tank, and all together. They're nocturnal so crawl inside the rock during the day and hunt aiptasia at night. When placing them, you use a lil' pipette and make sure they grip the rock before you remove pipette. After that, they're safe.

Hmm the berghia method could be expensive for me seeing as I have powerheads in the tank. That is certainly an option though.

I guess sitting around for 3 hours injecting things with boiling water is an option too... Gah, I know what I am doing on Thursday...

Thanks for the quick response.

 

[mfinn]

I bought some berghias from Kyle and it has been fairly successful due to the fact that I setup a small tank to keep the berghias in and transferred the aptasia infected pieces over to it.
This kept the amount I had to buy down and I don't have to worry about my very aggressive melenarus wrasse going after them.

 

[mfinn]

Peppermint Shrimp are the same way, very hit and miss, but some people have great luck with them.

True.
I've read that one reason is because the Peppermints are actually camel shrimp.

 

[returnofsid]

If the Aiptasia infested rock can be removed, Finn's method is very successful. Setting up a container to place the rock in works great.

True.
I've read that one reason is because the Peppermints are actually camel shrimp.

Peppermint and Camel Back Shrimp are 2 different species, but easily confused. It's important to make sure you get Peppermints. Camel Back shrimp won't eat aiptasia and are likely to eat some corals.

 

[ajnweb]

Have you tried Aiptasia-X? I have used it with great results.

 

[mfinn]

Peppermint and Camel Back Shrimp are 2 different species, but easily confused. It's important to make sure you get Peppermints. Camel Back shrimp won't eat aiptasia and are likely to eat some corals.

Yep......

 

[jhampton_wsu]

I added 10 Berghia to my 90 some months ago and I haven't seen one in a while. I do have 4 large aiptasia in my tank but I'm afraid if I use the Kalk again they will kinda disinigrate and pop up elsewhere like before so I think I'm going to try super glueing them.

Jason

 

[roscoe]

I feel the pain!!!! Good luck ridding of them. The only way I figured to completely rid of them was to start off my new system with all dead rock LOL. IMO once you have them you will always and killing them off mechanically only make things worse.

 

[jezzeaepi]

Yah I was so careful for over 3 years, never had any =\ Now they are taking over because they enjoy the feeding regiment that my fish are on. I can't in good concience starve my own fish to rid a problem that I created, so I guess I am stuck, lol.

 

[brandyrb]

I tried boiling water and it didn't work. I have aiptasia x and it does kill some, but they also seem to multiply more when I use aiptasia x. We used to have two large peppermint shrimp that ate them, our emperor angel eats the large ones, but stimulates them at the same time too. My next approach is going to be a CBB for the sps tank and berghia nudibranchs for the mixed reef, then keep my fingers crossed.

We did break down one tank and leave the rock out in the sun for about a week to start over with dead rock in one tank, but that's not an option in the 300. Aiptasia are the devil. We've lost a few colonies to them already

 

[spongebob lover]

i bought 2 peppermint shrimps from Barrier Reef and they did an awesome job .