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I need help with my Aiptasia


raulsreef

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Peppermint Shrimp. 

 

They're the only solution I found that are just kind of annoying when they're done cleaning up aiptasia. Filefish can much on your softies/lps, and other fish that will eat them are probably too big for your tank. 

 

Reefcleaners is what I've always used for my CUC's, you can grab them there. 

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Most of the topical approaches, which include kalk paste (AiptasiaX, Joe's Juice, etc.), lemon juice or vinegar, etc.  rely on your ability to see and reach the target pest. Obviously, there's a lot of spaces where you can not do either. Unless you get them all, they will come back.

 

There are line-of-sight approaches, including the Majano Wand, high-powered lasers, etc. but they suffer from the same shortcoming listed above.

 

Biological controls such as Peppermint Shrimp, Berghia Nudibranchs, Filefish and various other butterfly fish are effective but can't always reach all places where Aiptasia can set up (unfortunately). In many cases, Aiptasia can set up in your overflows, your sump and even in your plumbing, making total eradication very difficult.

 

Instead, unless you start completely over, you're probably looking at a future where you minimize and control the pest rather than eradicate it. Whether you choose a topical or line-of-sight or biological method is up to you. If choosing a biological control, be aware that Berghia are an obligate predator of Aiptasia - that is, they only feed on Aiptasia (that they can get to) and when that's gone, they die off. The other options in this class are not obligate predators and will eat away at the Aiptasia when available, and will eat something else when that supply is gone. Thus, they remain available until the next one sprouts up sometime later.

 

 

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You could dry out and re-cure all your liverock. I had to do that to get rid of some stinging stuff that was growing all over the place. Took me several months but it was worth it to not have to spend hundreds of dollars on new liverock.

 

 

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I use peppermint shrimp and filefish in many tanks.

If you put 25-50 shrimp in a heavily infested tank, they’ll wipe them all out in a week.

Multiple filefish as well. As mentioned by Isaac- they eat other things if they run out of Aiptasia. Generally they eat things that look like Aiptasia- maybe they did you a favor and ate all your brown zoas...

 

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