Aptasia invading my life...Berghia Nudi?

[Piper]

I believe the butterlies I had were heniochus acuminata. I didn't have any zoas at the time, i don't believe. Still don't. I'll add them eventually.

[Djplus1]

Simple, my tank is infested with aptasia. I have had my 55 up for almost 1.5yrs, I have been battling these things for about 1 year to no avail. It started when I bought some live rock from someone on craigslist that was obviously infested. So my battle begins with researching these things and how to kill them. So after trying aptasia x & lemon juice it seemed that they just would multiply after each attempt. My next option was nuking all my live rock, which i was very apprehensive about but I did it anyways because it was getting out of hand. I made a 1:10 solution of hydrogen peroxide and dipped the rocks for 15 minutes, when I started seeing all my critters living in the rock bubbling up and dying I couldn't take it anymore. Maybe that was my mistake I should have killed all my live rock to exterminate these monsters. So long story short, I have aptasia and I can't win. I have many SPS, monti, staghorn, softies like frogspawn and hammers, mushrooms and zoas. Everything is doing fine, especially the aptasia.

 

Here is my plea, I would like to try the berghia nudibranch to begin another slow battle, but hopefully with better results. Does anyone have any b. nudi's that they would be willing to sell. Or an option that doesn't involve killing all my rock. If I can't obtain any nudi's then I will order online, and become one with the nudibranch...

Did you ever figure out how to get rid or your aptasia? I'm experiencing some issues too. I bought 2 peppermint shrimp, but they immediately disappeared.

[Djplus1]

Aiptasia eliminating critters and their associated difficulty:

 

1) Copperband. Eats any small anemones/tube worms/feather dusters in the wild. Better than a 50% chance it will die in captivity. Not recommended for noobs.

 

2) Raccoon Butterfly/Auriga Butterfly. Both eat Aiptasia and fare better than the Copperband.

 

3) Berghia Nudis. Eats Aiptasia well. Delicate. Avoid powerheads. You need lots of them- 24 or more in a 4' tank.

 

4) Peppermint Shrimp. Atlantic types eat Aiptasia, Pacific types do not. You need lots of them- 24 or more in a 4' tank.

 

5) Tassled filefish. Aiptasia Destroyer. 1 or 2 per 4' tank.

So basically, you don't recomend the Copperband since everyone apparently will kill them. The other fish you mentioned are not reef safe. Or purchase $200 + dollars worth of inverts that will die when their food source runs out. Do you have any reasonable advice?

[trockafella]

Honestly aiptasia is a nightmare.. Rob is pretty accurate in what hes saying.. Sure you can add 2 peppermint shrimp and hope it works, but personally I think your odds are slim.. Ive been battling aiptasia myself, and I currently have a filefish. Shrimp are not an option, they will get eaten. Copperbands have a horrible survival rate, and in my opinion shouldnt even be sold. I tried Nudis, put them in and never saw them again. Theyre tiny and can become food for a lot of creatures. The filefish, which i have does definitely eat aiptasia, but corals are very risky. Mine has bothered to much, but I do see it occassionally nipping on things. I put 2 Elegance corals in and it attacked them causing me to remove the coral. There are options but none that are a definite, or 100% safe. AipX will make them go away for a while, but they always come back.... So, as I said, Rob was actually just being brutally honest about it IMO.. Goodluck.

[Djplus1]

Honestly aiptasia is a nightmare.. Rob is pretty accurate in what hes saying.. Sure you can add 2 peppermint shrimp and hope it works, but personally I think your odds are slim.. Ive been battling aiptasia myself, and I currently have a filefish. Shrimp are not an option, they will get eaten. Copperbands have a horrible survival rate, and in my opinion shouldnt even be sold. I tried Nudis, put them in and never saw them again. Theyre tiny and can become food for a lot of creatures. The filefish, which i have does definitely eat aiptasia, but corals are very risky. Mine has bothered to much, but I do see it occassionally nipping on things. I put 2 Elegance corals in and it attacked them causing me to remove the coral. There are options but none that are a definite, or 100% safe. AipX will make them go away for a while, but they always come back.... So, as I said, Rob was actually just being brutally honest about it IMO.. Goodluck.

Have you tried the kalk paste technique? That's one I'm willing to try, but there is no way I can get all of them isolated. Most are on one rock that is shared by my RBT Anenome. If I can get the RBT off, I can just boil the one rock outside and kill most of them, right?

[mling]

 

Also Kleins Butterfly fish will eat them and alot hardier.

 

Tried the File fish but it did not touch the Aiptasia and died in about a week. Then I got a Klenis and the Aiptasia's have been gone for months. The Klein is also not bodering my corals, though I hear that is not always the case.

In my experience, I find that Peppermints only work with the smaller Aiptasia. I had Aiptasia that had grown to over an inch and the peppermints never touched those.

[Djplus1]

Tried the File fish but it did not touch the Aiptasia and died in about a week. Then I got a Klenis and the Aiptasia's have been gone for months. The Klein is also not bodering my corals, though I hear that is not always the case.

In my experience, I find that Peppermints only work with the smaller Aiptasia. I had Aiptasia that had grown to over an inch and the peppermints never touched those.

That's my problem. I have aiptasia that is bigger than my RBT right now;)

[BigWyll]

_{I had the same problem in a 55 gallon tank. What I did was use boiling water to kill all the aiptasia I could see. Especially the larger ones. Then I put 8 pepperment shrimp to eat anything that may spawn from what I killed. My display has been clean every since. But then I noticed aiptasia growing in my sump. So now I do the same in the sump. Kill what I see. Let the shrimp handle the rest.}

 

_{The some of the shrimp in my display ended up in my sump so it worked out well.}

 

_{Another option is to cycle each rock in a qt tank with pepperment shrimp. Kill what you see and let them take care of the rest. I believe this is recommeded for using Nudibranch also. This will keep the shrimp or nudi safe while eating aiptasia}

Edited March 1, 2013 by BigWyll

[zygote2k]

So basically, you don't recomend the Copperband since everyone apparently will kill them. The other fish you mentioned are not reef safe. Or purchase $200 + dollars worth of inverts that will die when their food source runs out. Do you have any reasonable advice?

first of all, everyone won't kill a Copperband. they're delicate fish with a poor track record in captivity. I have one in a 500g and it does just fine.

Kleins and raccoon b-fly's are not 'reef safe' by someone who classified fish in 1970. If you keep certain types of corals, then you'll know what types of butterflies are compatible. Read up.

Peppermint shrimp don't die when they eat all of the Aiptasia- they just eat other things. Same goes with all of the other things on the list with the exception of the Berghias which will die when the Aiptasia is gone.

[Tracy G]

I would get maybe 4 peppermint shrimp and give it a week and see if it declines. I have 2 in my 40 and I have not seen any come back yet and I had a huge problem with them. I would also poke and prod the aptasia while to have them because they seem to go after an injured one much faster.

[Tracy G]

I would get maybe 4 peppermint shrimp and give it a week and see if it declines. I have 2 in my 40 and I have not seen any come back yet and I had a huge problem with them. I would also poke and prod the aptasia while to have them because they seem to go after an injured one much faster.

if you see a decline add more shrimp till the problem is gone.