Aiptasia eradication method while transferring tanks

[jimmypencil]

currently have a evo 13.5 with a billion trillion aiptasia everywhere, alot of them are big now. most are in the sand and refugium. im upgrading to a IM 50 lagoon in a few days. heres my plan, please make suggestions.

Current relevant livestock:
six line wrasse
yellow candy hog fish
fire shrimp
3 peppermint shrimp (two are missing for months, found 1 trapped in my in tank media basket recently)
BILLIONS of bistle worms, some of them are very big.

been over researching this topic and this is like my third post but heres my plan. first - capture the peppermints with the bottle trick, then leave the six line and the hog fish in the old tank when transferring everything. im ditching my sand bed and fuge and EVERYTHING from the old tank except the rocks, corals, inverts and fish other than the wrasse and hog.

I plan on buying like 10-12 berghia nudis and putting them in the new tank. if there are no predatory fish or shrimp in the tank i will have some peace of mind that the berghia can reproduce BUT now im reading that bristle worms are one of their main predators. GIVE ME A BREAK. i have tons of big bristle worms that i see at night and i even see some during the day when i feed. are the worms gonna be a big problem? The more i read on this topic the more aggravated and hopeless i feel. but if i got through dinos after months of battling, i can get through this. NEVER GIVE UP!!

PLEASE speak from experience only, if you have used berghia with the live stock i mentioned please let me know your experience. there are so many conflicting views on here and it has always been easy for me to read something on here from a few people and accept it as law until i see a few other people say the exact opposite. THAT GOES FOR EVERYTHING ON THIS TOPIC!! f aiptasia keeps it at bay vs f aiptasia makes it even worse.... peppermint shrimp work great vs ive have a billion peps and they've never touched an aiptasia..... wrasse are fine with berghia vs the berghia have no chance.... i love this hobby so much but dear god when you have an issue it is the most stressful and confusing experience ever. feel like im reliving dinos all over again.

 

[brandon429]

from experience

everything you're naming requires hope and is a secondary/indirect action

what's primary/in your control/needed on polyp #1 is surgical removal of the anemone from the system totally. you take the rock out, remove them a certain way without variation from the way. most don't agree to do this, and the challenge continues


I recommend none of those steps above. I recommend what will have your tank free of aiptasias by friday. judging by the degree of pre-planning for indirect means, I'm not positive we'd be up to the task/most simply refuse manual removal/name your reason they want to keep the anemones. aiptasia battling is fascinating reef psychology, the anemones themselves are easy to beat its the keepers that take all the coaxing. you can only get someone to manually fix their aiptasia in three days .01% of the time, the trending is definitely to hold onto them for one reason or another.

your tools would be a towel you set on the counter

a lump of rock with corals stuck to it sitting on that towel, we do surgery in the air not the water

a cleaned off flathead screwdriver, medium size

a small tap hammer.

and with that, and willingness to take initiative, you have no more aiptasia issues by friday. most will not opt for this: be prepared for internal resistance lol. my bet if in vegas is five thousand bucks says surgery declined, keep the anemones/fight another way later on. in my experience folks will usually not let go of the invasion, that's why I bet

 

[brandon429]

when we rip clean your system/that's how you move tanks safely/your aips in the sandbed are done in one pass.

(a rip clean is a thorough sandbed cleaning, there are a thousand examples searchable on the site)

guaranteed you can have a working tank transfer and no aips if you are willing to follow the steps.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If it was me, I would cycle brand new rocks in the 50 gallon ahead of time, and then just transfer the fish, forget the rocks. A 13 gallon is not that big, your not losing a lot of rocks, its not a big deal.

But if you miss even one single cell of an aptaisia, then your new tank will become infected. Its not worth it.

I would frag your corals and put the frags in the new tank, no rocks or frag plugs should go into your new tank.

I don't have aptaisia experience, I have blue clove polyps experience, which is just as bad if not worse than aptaisia.

(then i would cook the rocks and add them to the new tank later)

 

[jimmypencil]

from experience

everything you're naming requires hope and is a secondary/indirect action

what's primary/in your control/needed on polyp #1 is surgical removal of the anemone from the system totally. you take the rock out, remove them a certain way without variation from the way. most don't agree to do this, and the challenge continues


I recommend none of those steps above. I recommend what will have your tank free of aiptasias by friday. judging by the degree of pre-planning for indirect means, I'm not positive we'd be up to the task/most simply refuse manual removal/name your reason they want to keep the anemones. aiptasia battling is fascinating reef psychology, the anemones themselves are easy to beat its the keepers that take all the coaxing. you can only get someone to manually fix their aiptasia in three days .01% of the time, the trending is definitely to hold onto them for one reason or another.

your tools would be a towel you set on the counter

a lump of rock with corals stuck to it sitting on that towel, we do surgery in the air not the water

a cleaned off flathead screwdriver, medium size

a small tap hammer.

and with that, and willingness to take initiative, you have no more aiptasia issues by friday. most will not opt for this: be prepared for internal resistance lol. my bet if in vegas is five thousand bucks says surgery declined, keep the anemones/fight another way later on. in my experience folks will usually not let go of the invasion, that's why I bet

i see your replies on many of the posts regarding aiptasia on here and admit that its interesting and it sounds ideal. but the aiptasia are in the nooks and crannies between many of my corals, in very small crevices on rocks where it wouldnt really be possible/viable to remove that piece of rock without hurting alot of my corals. if berghia can eat aiptasia anywhere in the tank at any size/location, how is that not the best method? i have such an absurd amount of aiptasia i dont see how i can manually remove them with some substate without them all closing/retracting into their deep holes. For my corals that are encrusted on the rock, there are aiptasia in the smallest crevices between the corals polyps, how would berghia not be the best option for that? im more than open to try manual removal outside of the tank in a seperate container but i dont see how its physically possible for many of the locations without doing major damage to my corals.

 

[brandon429]

I waited until next day to see counter offers

It's ok to try nudibranchs

Try anything other than what I'm stating would have fixed you by today and if it doesn't work, post back here ready to roll no hesitation

In my sand rinse thread/50 pages we work great with keepers who aren't fixated on bacterial loss worry. Those who are hesitant despite logged proof i recommend they don't join in because they'll partial rinse due to a baseless fear of lost bacteria, they'll send clouds of waste into their tank and kill stuff and then blame the method

But for fifty pages, willing reefers who rinse correctly and know that sandbed bacteria don't matter drive the pure results, we want those entrants each day, the resolved

Smaller screwdrivers are available and it won't hurt your corals. the tank is invaded due to this hesitation and only when you're ready to be uninvaded and 1000% unhesitant can we proceed. Hesitation will always make a comeback retort no matter what is stated, I can't work with it, that's harder to fix than the anemones

But willingness we can work with, I'm telling you this will save your tank.

If you let 20 aiptasia abut corals and they're not harming corals with stings then there's no motivation to fix it yet

Soon the damage from aiptasia and the real estate they command will bring you to a crossroads, right then send me a message

You're lucky this is a nano, even if a 100 gallon tank owner loses hesitation that's a massive job alone that demotivates them from action

You can't find a thread of us harming someone's coral by surgically removing aiptasia in one pass, it's invented concern and even if i address it another doubt will arise

All I need is 100% compliance from a nano reefer to turn their tank around, there's posts on that for sure

I only have one entrant in the last 1.5 years for this aiptasia removal thread I'm making. Since then they have all opted to keep their anemones and some tanks still have the invasion still today, they opted to literally stay invaded. The one entrant was aiptasia free because we started on polyp #1 attached to a frag plug, we clipped it right off and took pictures how it never came back/ easy run there but he was going to try injections and Joe's juice/ things that spread aiptasia/ before I got him to use our method. All else after him chose to remain invaded and they indeed were

 

[flashsmith]

Transfer your livestock and throw everything else rocks sand etc... In a dumpster. Cycle your new tank as normal then add your fish. You're going to spend more money and time than it's worth at this point. Take it as a lesson learned and be more proactive with maintenance on your new tank to avoid future problems.

 

[brandon429]

you are about to venture into a new upgraded investment having only practiced hesitation and allowing complete takeover.


after aiptasia, it'll be an algae or a matted invader that takes advantage of allowance. a reason you need to step up is to reverse how you reef, by habit, before investing more and just hoping it works. learn to command it, here, now


using the exact method is what you need, even if you tried to act on the first aiptasia using non surgery it would just double/triple and reproduce, its vital to your reefing that you learn a nano reef owner has final say in the condition of their tank, no organisms can dictate the status of the tank to us unless we allow it. this is the same method you use to beat green hair algae

I'm aware there are 50 non surgical hair algae options...have you seen the nuisance algae forum lately as indirect means are tried? wreckage/start overs/give ups/dinos tradeoff invasions are right there in the pages.

this is crucial practice for your mind you could seize here

post pics of your setup so we can at least see it now regardless of how you proceed

 

[Jmp998]

from experience

everything you're naming requires hope and is a secondary/indirect action

what's primary/in your control/needed on polyp #1 is surgical removal of the anemone from the system totally. you take the rock out, remove them a certain way without variation from the way. most don't agree to do this, and the challenge continues


I recommend none of those steps above. I recommend what will have your tank free of aiptasias by friday. judging by the degree of pre-planning for indirect means, I'm not positive we'd be up to the task/most simply refuse manual removal/name your reason they want to keep the anemones. aiptasia battling is fascinating reef psychology, the anemones themselves are easy to beat its the keepers that take all the coaxing. you can only get someone to manually fix their aiptasia in three days .01% of the time, the trending is definitely to hold onto them for one reason or another.

your tools would be a towel you set on the counter

a lump of rock with corals stuck to it sitting on that towel, we do surgery in the air not the water

a cleaned off flathead screwdriver, medium size

a small tap hammer.

and with that, and willingness to take initiative, you have no more aiptasia issues by friday. most will not opt for this: be prepared for internal resistance lol. my bet if in vegas is five thousand bucks says surgery declined, keep the anemones/fight another way later on. in my experience folks will usually not let go of the invasion, that's why I bet

Maybe I am not understanding your suggestion. Are you suggesting manual removal with a hammer and screwdriver? How can that possibly provide any more than the most temporary respite? If he has dozens or hundreds of large visible aiptasia, he has ten times as many that are too small to see without a magnifying glass. Within a couple of months, these will all be just as big as the ones he chipped off with a screwdriver. Is he supposed to remove all of his rocks every two months and manually remove aiptasia?

OP-if you just want to save the rock but are willing to cycle again etc, you could scrub it clean as much as possible, then submerge in vinegar and let sit a few days? I have not tried this, but it might work. Aiptasia can survive regular temperature RODI dip for many hours. If you want to preserve the life on the rock, and you have not had luck with peppermint shrimp etc, Berghia are the best option. If you have a heavily infested tank, it will take the Berghia a few months to work as you will need at least one new generation of Berghia. In my experience I do not think bristle worms are a big problem for Berghia, but there may be different types/species of 'bristle worms' and the ones in my tanks may not be the same as yours.

 

[brandon429]

I only like making large example work threads, its what I do

I don't have the energy to keep re qualifying my offer. this is how pico reefs were received/with doubt constantly/it's how sandbed rinsing was received/doubt constantly and it's how updated cycling science is received though we literally have about five thousand searchable posted examples showing nano reefs fixed using these means that are always received initially with total doubt by large tank owners.

Ive learned typing can only convince a small % of the masses, they need before and after pics. that's what I'm selling Jimmy on here, letting me remote pilot his reef/he will provide update pics showing the work done, I link that to my work threads and I don't have to type as much to sell others


I will not be able to convince you with any response, I'll just keep fishing for a willing mind.

only a recent actual completed job can convince you

hesitation rules most reefers, but not all-I am searching for those like minded folks so we can make work examples on saving vs wasting reef tanks.

the way to debate my offer is to let me work a tank remotely and then inspect the outcome. if it fails, you were right in the skepticism.

I do this work to make change in the hobby in ways I think promote more coral growth vs wasting

passivity is the #1 killer of nano reefs.

In no way do I think Jimmy will move forward, this tank is perma-invaded. he'll consider the fresh start in the new tank a win, without any practice fixing the challenge. I will get 1-2 chat jobs out of this diatribe, however lol. someone reading does not want their tank to be wasted, they will send a message for sure and that job will be the entrant in my work thread building on solid aiptasia control.

 

[Dburr1014]

I absolutely have tried to pull a rock out, hammer and chisel and aptaisia out.
And son of a gun 50% of the time it works, but 50% of the time it doesn't work because that little aptaisia gets so deep into a hole that you miss it.
Sorry to disagree on this one Brandon

Small tank, few rocks. Better off starting new. And like said from another poster, cook them add to your sump.

 

[brandon429]

on nano-reef.com there's a thread of me removing about 200 red mushrooms from my reef tank in about 2009

all at once, no growback, fixed after 6 years of my own hesitation. this isn't a guess method, it's what I used to earn the age of my current pico reef. its a tank saver, and I don't blame anyone for not believing the typed action, that's how it always goes down initially


red mushroom removal and effective sustained aiptasia removal are the exact same mindset + actions.

partial control over aiptasia or no control whatsoever is also a linked mindset among invaded tank owners.

having a wrecked nano reef is a matter of psychology it has very very little to do with biology whatsoever.

 

[brandon429]

its great to disagree~


nobody wins via type description


we only win getting to inspect job results.


***I love that you disagree, science cannot progress without it, to finalize the mode we need competing work jobs not just reflections on our own tanks.

you might find a better way within new work jobs

get some aiptasia removal jobs and run them/collect the outcome

if you are offering anything shy of personal responsibility/hands on direct action, you'll get a thousand takers in day one.

I will easily wait for my inbound pm's, those are the resolved and ready folks.


@Chevyyeet

these threads always start the same/ right?

remember the total skepticism from the crowd in your nano reef fix thread

in chat, we got to work in peace and we have the results stated during the fray.

of all reef invaders I would want to pick in order of ease of fix, aiptasia is #1 (yet thousands of tanks are wrecked with it/keepers totally helpless)


its their minds causing the issue, not the simple anemone

I hope I never see a single ostreopsis dino cell in my tank, but I'd take nine aiptasias one morning easily/they'd be gone before coffee is made.

in fact, this is the only fun gradient to work in within reefing, the kind where everyone doubts-love it. makes the after pics and 2 year follow ups all the more savory. chevy we are approaching your eight week turnaround mark..I'm hoping you've done about ten feed+ water change exercises since then.

here is a biologist speaking from experience on why you dont go adding new fish in reaction to a problem/that furthers the indirect/fingers crossed mindset/requires hope/isn't sure and it also invites new disease to express six months later.

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Garf]

PLEASE speak from experience only, if you have used berghia with the live stock i mentioned please let me know your experience

Sorry, not used berghias, Filefish and calcium hydroxide mixed with lye are my chosen control methods (different tanks).

All you have to do to get Aips is add that little zoa frag with a minuscule almost invisible invader because not many folks quarantine coral, and boom. Nothing anyone should make you feel ashamed of.

Even small tanks can be controlled, gotta be vigilent though.

 

[Dburr1014]

its great to disagree~


nobody wins via type description


we only win getting to inspect job results.


***I love that you disagree, science cannot progress without it, to finalize the mode we need competing work jobs not just reflections on our own tanks.

you might find a better way within new work jobs

get some aiptasia removal jobs and run them/collect the outcome

if you are offering anything shy of personal responsibility/hands on direct action, you'll get a thousand takers in day one.

I will easily wait for my inbound pm's, those are the resolved and ready folks.


@Chevyyeet

these threads always start the same/ right?

remember the total skepticism from the crowd in your nano reef fix thread

in chat, we got to work in peace and we have the results stated during the fray.

of all reef invaders I would want to pick in order of ease of fix, aiptasia is #1 (yet thousands of tanks are wrecked with it/keepers totally helpless)


its their minds causing the issue, not the simple anemone

I hope I never see a single ostreopsis dino cell in my tank, but I'd take nine aiptasias one morning easily/they'd be gone before coffee is made.

in fact, this is the only fun gradient to work in within reefing, the kind where everyone doubts-love it. makes the after pics and 2 year follow ups all the more savory. chevy we are approaching your eight week turnaround mark..I'm hoping you've done about ten feed+ water change exercises since then.

here is a biologist speaking from experience on why you dont go adding new fish in reaction to a problem/that furthers the indirect/fingers crossed mindset/requires hope/isn't sure and it also invites new disease to express six months later.

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

I've never seen a red mushroom go in a hole and pop out the other side of a rock like an aptaisia can.

 

[Dburr1014]

currently have a evo 13.5 with a billion trillion aiptasia everywhere, alot of them are big now. most are in the sand and refugium. im upgrading to a IM 50 lagoon in a few days. heres my plan, please make suggestions.

Current relevant livestock:
six line wrasse
yellow candy hog fish
fire shrimp
3 peppermint shrimp (two are missing for months, found 1 trapped in my in tank media basket recently)
BILLIONS of bistle worms, some of them are very big.

been over researching this topic and this is like my third post but heres my plan. first - capture the peppermints with the bottle trick, then leave the six line and the hog fish in the old tank when transferring everything. im ditching my sand bed and fuge and EVERYTHING from the old tank except the rocks, corals, inverts and fish other than the wrasse and hog.

I plan on buying like 10-12 berghia nudis and putting them in the new tank. if there are no predatory fish or shrimp in the tank i will have some peace of mind that the berghia can reproduce BUT now im reading that bristle worms are one of their main predators. GIVE ME A BREAK. i have tons of big bristle worms that i see at night and i even see some during the day when i feed. are the worms gonna be a big problem? The more i read on this topic the more aggravated and hopeless i feel. but if i got through dinos after months of battling, i can get through this. NEVER GIVE UP!!

PLEASE speak from experience only, if you have used berghia with the live stock i mentioned please let me know your experience. there are so many conflicting views on here and it has always been easy for me to read something on here from a few people and accept it as law until i see a few other people say the exact opposite. THAT GOES FOR EVERYTHING ON THIS TOPIC!! f aiptasia keeps it at bay vs f aiptasia makes it even worse.... peppermint shrimp work great vs ive have a billion peps and they've never touched an aiptasia..... wrasse are fine with berghia vs the berghia have no chance.... i love this hobby so much but dear god when you have an issue it is the most stressful and confusing experience ever. feel like im reliving dinos all over again.

I absolutely have experience with berghia.
They work best when you have a whole bunch of aptasia. Make sure you put them in at night when the lights go out. If you introduce anything else that eats aptaisia, they will eat the berghia. I have introduced them with wrasse and cb shrimp with no problems.

 

[nuxx]

Start fresh.....

 

[brandon429]

agreed bergs have thousands of work threads


they are part of the biosecurity planning required above.


what he's missing by trying that is tasting direct, certain controls just once

he has never seen what it's like to command a tank into shape in one day, this is a crucial nano skill nobody has on the books

lack of this skill is the #1 biological lifespan limiter of nano reefs.

bergs help on nothing else, they continue the hoping for luck phase and they delay the I command my reef, I'm responsible and able for its demise or success phase without a purchase required. without a rush through biosecurity/what keeps the fish disease forum with 20 new posts per day.


what I think you should do is fix your tank, take responsibility right now and make it reef


your new reef will get these same challenges, you're about to stock it from the same sources and reef the same way that got you here. knowing what to fallback on before losing your reef is just critical

only indirect controls were given to your permission set, that comes at a price in long term nano reefing.

 

[brandon429]

I once bought a puppy and thought the parvo shot sounded stupid. my neighbor down the way had three blue tick hounds who never got any shot at all, and lived to hunt for ten years or better.

my puppy died and the doctor said its because I didn't give it a parvo shot

the #1 thing I should do next is get a new puppy/give it another go/change nothing?


you can get real self assessment motion by using dogs/pups as an example


but a tank stacked in corals heck that's easy you just toss it out/click/more show up on the doorstep

 

[jimmypencil]

currently have a evo 13.5 with a billion trillion aiptasia everywhere, alot of them are big now. most are in the sand and refugium. im upgrading to a IM 50 lagoon in a few days. heres my plan, please make suggestions.

Current relevant livestock:
six line wrasse
yellow candy hog fish
fire shrimp
3 peppermint shrimp (two are missing for months, found 1 trapped in my in tank media basket recently)
BILLIONS of bistle worms, some of them are very big.

been over researching this topic and this is like my third post but heres my plan. first - capture the peppermints with the bottle trick, then leave the six line and the hog fish in the old tank when transferring everything. im ditching my sand bed and fuge and EVERYTHING from the old tank except the rocks, corals, inverts and fish other than the wrasse and hog.

I plan on buying like 10-12 berghia nudis and putting them in the new tank. if there are no predatory fish or shrimp in the tank i will have some peace of mind that the berghia can reproduce BUT now im reading that bristle worms are one of their main predators. GIVE ME A BREAK. i have tons of big bristle worms that i see at night and i even see some during the day when i feed. are the worms gonna be a big problem? The more i read on this topic the more aggravated and hopeless i feel. but if i got through dinos after months of battling, i can get through this. NEVER GIVE UP!!

PLEASE speak from experience only, if you have used berghia with the live stock i mentioned please let me know your experience. there are so many conflicting views on here and it has always been easy for me to read something on here from a few people and accept it as law until i see a few other people say the exact opposite. THAT GOES FOR EVERYTHING ON THIS TOPIC!! f aiptasia keeps it at bay vs f aiptasia makes it even worse.... peppermint shrimp work great vs ive have a billion peps and they've never touched an aiptasia..... wrasse are fine with berghia vs the berghia have no chance.... i love this hobby so much but dear god when you have an issue it is the most stressful and confusing experience ever. feel like im reliving dinos all over again.

Thank you everyone for all the input, i really appreciate it. Im still deciding on what to do but at the moment im trying a hybrid method i guess. for corals that are on frags or a small rock, i did take those corals out of the tank and manually removed all of the aiptasia i saw with a screw driver. For the massive aiptasia that are on the rocks in my nano That had a foothold deep in a crevice, i did end up using a generous portion of F-Aiptasia on those (when i went to LFS to get water and live rock for new system, the owner some how sold me to use the f aiptasia again). used dang near 2/3 of the bottle. i set the new tank up (IM Lagoon 50) 2 days ago with all new equipment, live rock, sand water etc. in the next couple days i will transfer the rock and livestock from the nano, but i will leave the six line and hogfish in there and keep that system running until i figure all of this out. when i transfer everything over i will manually remove any aiptasia possible. and if in the next month or so i see enough aiptasia in the new system to justify a berghia order, then thats what i will do.