Just how hardy is Aiptasia?

[bblumberg]

Thank you for your info.i have been looking for a copper band butterfly for awhile .every place is sold out. Do CCB eat majano

I don't think that I have ever had majano anemones, but didn't try to distinguish them from aiptaasia either. CBB are hard to find because they do not do well for many people. I lost at least 8 in quarantine over the years, all of which were eating and looked good until I found them dead one day. The secret appears to be to put them directly into a tank that has been running for a while or which at least has a substantial amount of live rock. I got my surviving CBBs from Harry's Marine Life in Gardena, CA (he often has CBBs). At the recommendation of the owner, Craig, I put one of the 2 CBBs I bought from them directly into my 150g display. I put the other into a quarantine tank with a couple of pieces of live rock. The CBB in my 150 wedged itself into a crevice in the rock and stayed there for a few days. Then it came out and has been doing brilliantly since then (about 8 months). The one in quarantine died after about 2 weeks, although I may have contributed to this by putting a long-nosed yellow butterfly I got from another LFS in there, too. Lesson learned. I got another very small CBB from HML and put it directly into my 40g frag system in the garage. It is thriving and holds its own against a very aggressive 2" yellow tang (I will rehome that one when it gets larger) and a small foxface. The 3 of them keep the tank free of algae and obvious pests.

In your case, I'd try to find a CBB.

 

[austibella]

I don't think that I have ever had majano anemones, but didn't try to distinguish them from aiptaasia either. CBB are hard to find because they do not do well for many people. I lost at least 8 in quarantine over the years, all of which were eating and looked good until I found them dead one day. The secret appears to be to put them directly into a tank that has been running for a while or which at least has a substantial amount of live rock. I got my surviving CBBs from Harry's Marine Life in Gardena, CA (he often has CBBs). At the recommendation of the owner, Craig, I put one of the 2 CBBs I bought from them directly into my 150g display. I put the other into a quarantine tank with a couple of pieces of live rock. The CBB in my 150 wedged itself into a crevice in the rock and stayed there for a few days. Then it came out and has been doing brilliantly since then (about 8 months). The one in quarantine died after about 2 weeks, although I may have contributed to this by putting a long-nosed yellow butterfly I got from another LFS in there, too. Lesson learned. I got another very small CBB from HML and put it directly into my 40g frag system in the garage. It is thriving and holds its own against a very aggressive 2" yellow tang (I will rehome that one when it gets larger) and a small foxface. The 3 of them keep the tank free of algae and obvious pests.

In your case, I'd try to find a CBB.

So sad you lost your CBB. Yes I am looking for one.they are beautiful.i have to catch my red coris wrass first, he is getting to big and aggressive before I put in any more fish.. t.y.

 

[tnyr5]

One time, in my previous tank, I tried to kill a rogue mini-maxi carpet anemone by shoving a 900°F soldering iron into its mouth for 30 seconds. It came back 3 months later. Aiptasia are hardier.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

20 gallon QT tank and a month of observation for everything. Not exciting, or convient but much more exciting and convenient than trying to get rid of aptasia.

All new rock gets a muratic acid bath...

 

[xiholdtruex]

20 gallon QT tank and a month of observation for everything. Not exciting, or convient but much more exciting and convenient than trying to get rid of aptasia.

All new rock gets a muratic acid bath...

I had one appear 45 days after acquiring a coral after strict observation. I pulled that coral out and was able to remove the aiptasia and save the coral

 

[bblumberg]

So sad you lost your CBB. Yes I am looking for one.they are beautiful.i have to catch my red coris wrass first, he is getting to big and aggressive before I put in any more fish.. t.y.

I lost a lot before figuring out how to keep them! I have 3 at the moment. If i had a LFS, I'd sell quarantined CBBs that were eating well and thriving. Sure, they'd probably cost more than $100 each, but we would have many more of these beautiful and useful fish in the hobby...

 

[markfmvl]

When I clean the shells under salt water ,algae, worms detritus Anything will attach to them. It was stupid of me to not do it that one time being all these years of cleaning new snails I never had outbreaks.what a nightmare..lessons learned. Good luck to you. If my new file fish starts eating aiptasia I will let you know.its kind of hit and miss with them.read up on them for what corals they might nibble on.
I heard of that in a bulk reef supply video. But they also said when you plug them they rcan go threw another hole in the rock and come out somewhere else. One of my problems is my tank is so deep I cant reach my arm to the bottom of the tank to do it.i was thinking about that laser wand but afraid of killing a coral if my hand isnt steady also when it fries the aiptasia then it's in your water. Laser many aiptasia would effect the water quality. Guess big water change would solve that
I'm about to call tampa coral aquarium and have them come up and do what it takes to get rid of them all .at 80 bucks an hour its expensive.but that's the price of most corals frags that we buy.so maybe it's worth a few hundred to have someone come in blast all the aiptasia do a water change and its done. I've been so upset between aiptasia and Aster stars I was about thinking of pulling out all my rocks and clean them and redo my tank but then I can loose many happy coral colony's and stress my fish..and my luck it would all come back.i just hope my cute file fish finds the taste for aiptasia. He really has a cute personality.hope he does his job.

T.y..

file fish will eat zoas and pulsing zenias.. not sure about others. that is what I have seen

 

[jaxteller007]

I haven't seen any new heads pop up. Seems like the Aiptasia-X has done the job so far. At least with heads on the front of the tank, can't really see the back side. Still going to try for a CBB or a filefish, maybe even a couple of the dwarf ones as I've heard they will go after it as well.

 

[blasterman]

I've battled many aiptasia outbreaks over the years. They can survive for months dormant and then pop up again. They thrive in high bioload environments. They don't bother fish, but if they get too thick they can poison LPS and softies.

Tried everything from super glue to high powered lasers. Most effective method is an insulin syringe and a strong base or mild acid like vinegar or lime juice. Aiptasia X is just drain cleaner. Vinegar works just as good. Inject the middle of the buggers and most die. The ones that do survive come back smaller and weaker and you just inject them again. With perseverance you can kill them off.

Really small aiptasia (1/4 or smaller) dont spore as much and are most likely to succumb to a syringe attack. So, you need to slowly weed out the bigger ones until it's just the little ones left.

 

[flabryth]

Posted in the big hitchhiker thread but thought it may get more action here...

Have a couple heads of Aiptasia in our tank lately. So far been able to hit them with Aiptasia-X as it's only been like 3 heads. Working on getting another filefish or a couple of the dwarf filefish to help control it going forward. But it got me thinking how does this stuff spread and how insanely hardy it must be.
We had it in our old 75G tank, nothing outrageous except in the overflow but still, enough to see it. Our new setup is a 180G that I got from a friend. To my knowledge, he never had any Aiptasia problems in it. It was mainly his FOWLR tank. Even if there was some in it before, the tank, sump and all the plumbing was washed with vinegar and then sat bone dry in our garage for over 3 months before we started setting it up. We used brand new rock and sand in the new tank while the old tank was still running. The old tank was in the living room and the new one is in the dining room, at least 30 feet away. Everything in the new tank was either brand new, or sat dry for months before being used. Never saw any Aiptasia until a couple weeks ago (tank has been running with fish since Feb I think).
So now I'm trying to just think of how it got in there. Did it hitch a ride on a fish? Was it in the plumbing and somehow able to survive despite being dry for over 3 months? Did it come in another way?
Not a huge problem as long as I keep an eye on it, but definitely makes me wonder how it got there.

Last time I say some of this stuff I pulled the rock ran it under hot water and pulled it off. I scrubbed the rock with a toothbrush while running under hot water...have not seen any since.

 

[jaxteller007]

Last time I say some of this stuff I pulled the rock ran it under hot water and pulled it off. I scrubbed the rock with a toothbrush while running under hot water...have not seen any since.

I pulled one rock out of the water without disturbing it and just put it in a bucket in the garage to stay dry until I bleach it or something.
The other heads were on big base rocks so I couldn't pull them without disturbing the whole tank.

 

[Paul B]

A few months ago my old copperband died. I didn't have one aiptasia for many years. A few months ago, my tank looked like this.



I got a new copperband, and now I have none.

You can't eliminate aiptasia as long as you are going to ever add something from an LFS or the sea. Those things are all over the place which is why I like a natural, continuous method

 

[jaxteller007]

Have managed to kill the bigger ones using Aipstasia X and keep the outbreak pretty small. I'm seeing some small ones pop up in places I can't easily get to (like the overflow). I haven't noticed the filefish or the 3 peppermint shrimp go after any of it and can't find nudibranches in stock anywhere lol.

 

[jaxteller007]

A few months ago my old copperband died. I didn't have one aiptasia for many years. A few months ago, my tank looked like this.



I got a new copperband, and now I have none.

You can't eliminate aiptasia as long as you are going to ever add something from an LFS or the sea. Those things are all over the place which is why I like a natural, continuous method

Our CBB stopped eating after a few weeks and I'm not confident in getting another one right now. I think our tank full of tangs and a foxface may just be too aggressive when it comes to feeding and I don't want to add another one just to watch it stop eating and die (not cause of money, cause I feel bad for the fish). Filefish isn't showing any interest in it and neither are the couple peppermint shrimp we have right now. I'm going to try adding more peppermint shrimp if I can't find any berghia nudibranch that aren't outrageously expensive. Maybe try adding another filefish. I'm like you, I want natural, continuous control of it ideally.

 

[bblumberg]

Our CBB stopped eating after a few weeks and I'm not confident in getting another one right now. I think our tank full of tangs and a foxface may just be too aggressive when it comes to feeding and I don't want to add another one just to watch it stop eating and die (not cause of money, cause I feel bad for the fish). Filefish isn't showing any interest in it and neither are the couple peppermint shrimp we have right now. I'm going to try adding more peppermint shrimp if I can't find any berghia nudibranch that aren't outrageously expensive. Maybe try adding another filefish. I'm like you, I want natural, continuous control of it ideally.

Although they are hit or miss re eating softies, Klein's butterflies often do a good job on aiptasia that they can reach. They also tolerate more aggressive fish a bit better. On the other hand, a healthy copperband should be able to get along with more aggressive fish, too. The one I put in my 150g hid in the rocks for a few days but now holds its own with much larger Desjardin's tang, powder blue tang, achilles tang and a yellow tang about the same size. I also have a very large one spot foxface in this tank that doesn't bother anyone. In contrast, a large copperband I put in my 75g corner tank was terrorized by the resident (much smaller) Kleins' butterfly until I had move the CBB to a tank by itself (for now).