Eradicating aptasia

[Lazyreefer]

So I have a good amount of aptasia in my little lagoon tank, what were some successful ways you guys got rid of your issues when it had gotten pretty bad? I know of berghia nudi’s and I was thinking about the fact I have a good sized wrasse that eats like a pig in there should I worry about the wrasse eating the nudi’s too much from what I’ve seen maybe they would just get munched. Thanks for any input 👌🏻

[mytshall]

I have a Tahitian butterfly that ate all of mine quickly.

[chewie]

Small army of peppermint shrimp(3+ in your case) and don’t feed anything for a week. feed fish heavily for a few days prior and if they’re healthy, they’ll be fine without food for a week. 
 

 

[spectra]

34 minutes ago, mytshall said:

I have a Tahitian butterfly that ate all of mine quickly.

I have one and worked great also..............but it did nip at corals...........thats the issue with butterflys..........

 

I have had peppermints work in the past.........but my wrasses love shrimp so they become snacks........and yes those little nudis would be gone quick with my fish........

[Lazyreefer]

51 minutes ago, mytshall said:

I have a Tahitian butterfly that ate all of mine quickly.

Love this idea because they’re cool fish but wouldn’t work well in my little tank unfortunately. 

 

28 minutes ago, chewie said:

Small army of peppermint shrimp(3+ in your case) and don’t feed anything for a week. feed fish heavily for a few days prior and if they’re healthy, they’ll be fine without food for a week. 
 

 

 

15 minutes ago, spectra said:

I have one and worked great also..............but it did nip at corals...........thats the issue with butterflys..........

 

I have had peppermints work in the past.........but my wrasses love shrimp so they become snacks........and yes those little nudis would be gone quick with my fish........

I think I will try the shrimp route next time I head to cuttlefish jorge had mentioned that to but it’s obviously hit or miss I just hate shrimps in this tank because I feed corals. Thanks for the input though I’ll see how it works 👌🏻

[obrien.david.j]

I've fought Aptasia at least 6 times of major outbreaks over the years.

• Peppermint shrimp were worthless.  (it's species dependent, and there's a bunch of peppermint species)
• Berghia work great, but take a while and need a dozen or more to make a dent - and they're slow.  but mowed them down in time.
• Aptasia Eating Filefish (google it, then buy local) worked GREAT for me in my display tank.  Caveat, after eating aptasia it developed a taste for LPS.  (ignored my SPS).  
  • I let it finish off the aptasia, stay an extra month or two and hurt my lps, removed Filefish and now hursing LPS back to health.

Haven't tried butterflies. Filefish just worked.

[Gumby]

I had hundreds of aptasia. I had a pearlscale butterfly take care of everyone but draw is it liked tentacle of acans. So no acans for me. It was more than fair trade off.

[Snappy]

I struggle with this too. Hoping to find an inexpensive route as the Berghia might be a $50-100 fix for my little 29 gallon tank. I’ve had peppermint shrimp, but they seem to always go after the weakest corals and pick them apart. Currently I inject them with boiling water and turkey baste the carcass away as best as possible. It takes time and many rounds to make any real progress. 

[Lazyreefer]

16 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

I've fought Aptasia at least 6 times of major outbreaks over the years.

• Peppermint shrimp were worthless.  (it's species dependent, and there's a bunch of peppermint species)
• Berghia work great, but take a while and need a dozen or more to make a dent - and they're slow.  but mowed them down in time.
• Aptasia Eating Filefish (google it, then buy local) worked GREAT for me in my display tank.  Caveat, after eating aptasia it developed a taste for LPS.  (ignored my SPS).  
  • I let it finish off the aptasia, stay an extra month or two and hurt my lps, removed Filefish and now hursing LPS back to health.

Haven't tried butterflies. Filefish just worked.

Nice I appreciate the different looks at methods. I tend to agree actually that most of what I’ve heard shrimps don’t work... I know in my previous comment I said I was trying shrimps but the more I read the more a filefish seems like the answer. The one problem is I don’t think the fish in there currently would get a long so I would have to rehome them and I love the fish in there already... so decisions need to be made. 

 

34 minutes ago, Snappy said:

I struggle with this too. Hoping to find an inexpensive route as the Berghia might be a $50-100 fix for my little 29 gallon tank. I’ve had peppermint shrimp, but they seem to always go after the weakest corals and pick them apart. Currently I inject them with boiling water and turkey baste the carcass away as best as possible. It takes time and many rounds to make any real progress. 

I have been using aptasia X and squirting it in the middle of the anemones each water change and manually removing the pieces of sand that have the aptasia attached to them. This has cleared the sand but rocks still have a bunch. I am curious if anyone else has used aptasia x with success it seems like it takes a while for it to actually kill the anemone like 15 minutes is not enough and the dead anemone is hard to siphon out still after the treatment of aptasia x and you can’t just leave the aptasia x because it will kill other corals it touches so cant get blown around the tank. 

[chewie]

Peppermints only eat aptaisa when they’re hungry...

[obrien.david.j]

Sounds like you're worried other fish will beat up the new Filefish... It's cheap enough, might be worth Just Try It.

I forgot about chemical options.  I used AptasiaX for a while, but have found F-Aptasia works better.   I can't do it En-Mass application, but can use it as a spot hit.   And I *DO* just leave it.  No vaccuming.

https://saltwateraquariumstore.franks-tanks.com/

https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/frank-s-tanks-f-aiptasia-10397.html

[Blue Z Reef]

I’ve had peppermints work in the past. It always seemed like there was a threshold for them to work well, I usually hit about 5 or 6 and then all of a sudden the aptaisia would disappear.

 

Another thing I’ve injected them with was the Alk solution from 2 part. Makes them harden up weird and usually die. Worth a try in small quantities, I always had larger tanks so it wouldn’t any significant swings injecting them. 

just be glad it’s Aptaisa, majanos are a billion times worse!

[xxkenny90xx]

Kalk paste is definately the cheapest option. Fwiw I owned an aiptasia eating filefish for 2 years and it never touched an aiptasia. 

[Lazyreefer]

3 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

Sounds like you're worried other fish will beat up the new Filefish... It's cheap enough, might be worth Just Try It.

I forgot about chemical options.  I used AptasiaX for a while, but have found F-Aptasia works better.   I can't do it En-Mass application, but can use it as a spot hit.   And I *DO* just leave it.  No vaccuming.

https://saltwateraquariumstore.franks-tanks.com/

https://www.aquariumspecialty.com/frank-s-tanks-f-aiptasia-10397.html

Yea exactly, filefish seem like kind of frail fish too in general. I checked out f aptasia and seems a little too good to be true but you’ve used it and have just left it over the anemone? If so for how long? Thanks I appreciate it 👌🏻. 

 

2 hours ago, Blue Z Reef said:

I’ve had peppermints work in the past. It always seemed like there was a threshold for them to work well, I usually hit about 5 or 6 and then all of a sudden the aptaisia would disappear.

 

Another thing I’ve injected them with was the Alk solution from 2 part. Makes them harden up weird and usually die. Worth a try in small quantities, I always had larger tanks so it wouldn’t any significant swings injecting them. 

just be glad it’s Aptaisa, majanos are a billion times worse!

yea my aptasia x definitely gets a big reaction out of the anemone but it still stays attached and isn’t easily siphoned out and I feel like I’m making it worse trying to suck up the almost dead anemones and jacking them up in the water. I have 2 part so that is something I could try as well. Will look into this more thanks for your help! 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Lazyreefer

[albertareef]

2 hours ago, Blue Z Reef said:

just be glad it’s Aptaisa, majanos are a billion times worse!

This right here!  At least there are a few potential ways to address the aptasia (as discussed here), majanos are pure, indestructible evil in a reef tank.

[obrien.david.j]

1 hour ago, xxkenny90xx said:

Kalk paste is definately the cheapest option. Fwiw I owned an aiptasia eating filefish for 2 years and it never touched an aiptasia. 

People are different, individual fish are different.  How many times has a copper banded butterfly been recommended for Aptasia too - and I know people who got one who wouldn't touch them.    If first Filefish doesn't munch, try a different one.  (I'll bet there's an equal chance of different species of FileFish, and someone labeling one "Aptasia Eating" at random.)   

30 minutes ago, Lazyreefer said:

Yea exactly, filefish seem like kind of frail fish too in general. I checked out f aptasia and seems a little too good to be true but you’ve used it and have just left it over the anemone? If so for how long? Thanks I appreciate it 👌🏻. 

F-Aptasia is thicker than AptasiaX and seemed to stay in place better, even after my pumps came back on.   I would apply and let the pumps kick back in 10mins later.   I simply never siphon after use.  Just let it do what it can, and if the aptasia dies, it eventually leaves the system in my skimmer as dissolved organics. 

[Lazyreefer]

Does anyone know where I can get some f-aptasia locally or does someone have some they don’t need anymore? 

[obrien.david.j]

If you find it locally, let me know. (so I can buy local in the future)  I've had to order it online in the past.

[CuttleFishandCoral]

2 hours ago, Lazyreefer said:

Does anyone know where I can get some f-aptasia locally or does someone have some they don’t need anymore? 

We carry it. Also have some tiny aquacultured filefish. 

[SaltyJay]

I typically use peppermint shrimp. I think the big problem is they will not touch the bigger ones but do a good job at keeping the smaller or new ones at bay. My experience. 

[Lazyreefer]

27 minutes ago, CuttleFishandCoral said:

We carry it. Also have some tiny aquacultured filefish. 

Always comin through👌🏻 Going to come check it out today 

[albertareef]

1 hour ago, CuttleFishandCoral said:

Also have some tiny aquacultured filefish. 

Saw these - super cute!

[jferrier]

On the subject of aiptasia. Outside of their rapid proliferation and appearance, what harm do they do? My bta's have expanded and moved over time and  the aiptasia have retreated out of the way, my soft corals xenia and kenya tree grow right in the midst of them, and my star polyps just grow right over them. They don't seem to be effecting my frogspawn or hammer. I've not yet had a coral/fish suffer from aiptasia stings and I have a bunch of them.  I have used peppermint shrimp in the past which do an ok job but don't seem to live long in my system. I'm considering a separate setup with a filefish that I can put rocks in and remove when aiptasia is gone. Just curious what kind of corals do they actually bother, or is everyone else  just wanting them gone because they are kind of ugly?

[Lazyreefer]

5 hours ago, jferrier said:

On the subject of aiptasia. Outside of their rapid proliferation and appearance, what harm do they do? My bta's have expanded and moved over time and  the aiptasia have retreated out of the way, my soft corals xenia and kenya tree grow right in the midst of them, and my star polyps just grow right over them. They don't seem to be effecting my frogspawn or hammer. I've not yet had a coral/fish suffer from aiptasia stings and I have a bunch of them.  I have used peppermint shrimp in the past which do an ok job but don't seem to live long in my system. I'm considering a separate setup with a filefish that I can put rocks in and remove when aiptasia is gone. Just curious what kind of corals do they actually bother, or is everyone else  just wanting them gone because they are kind of ugly?

I definitely have seen my corals being effected by the aptasia. If the flow switches angles and causes the tentacles to touch the coral it will retract. I tend to think of it like with a bubble tip anemone. Some hardier corals can become “immune” to the sting or the anemone stops being aggressive and doesn’t sting the coral because it feels no threat from the coral. That is my opinion on why sometimes it will not effect corals and sometimes it will. For the most part though I have seen my corals get stung and close up so I have to move them away from that part of the rock with the aptasia on it. 

[jferrier]

15 hours ago, Lazyreefer said:

I definitely have seen my corals being effected by the aptasia. If the flow switches angles and causes the tentacles to touch the coral it will retract. I tend to think of it like with a bubble tip anemone. Some hardier corals can become “immune” to the sting or the anemone stops being aggressive and doesn’t sting the coral because it feels no threat from the coral. That is my opinion on why sometimes it will not effect corals and sometimes it will. For the most part though I have seen my corals get stung and close up so I have to move them away from that part of the rock with the aptasia on it. 

What kind of corals ?