Need help deciding how to move forward. Aiptasia and Dino’s have beaten me down.

[woodyarmadillo]

Hello. I have a little IM 14 peninsula that was thriving many months ago but I am simply getting too bruised up and worn out dealing with my aiptasia and reoccurring dino issues.

I moved all of my rock and coral to a separate tank and added some live rock from an established system to essentially start over. Once I got the tank set up, I have a strong urge to just go FOWLR. I was planning on moving coral over and being super careful about aiptasia but I don’t think I want to deal with all of that anymore.

As far as the aiptasia, I spent months using aiptasia X and added some berghia nudis but I just simply couldn’t keep up with them. I’ve given up on the situation currently. After I lost all of my torches and hammers, everything else seems to be doing okay for the past 6 months or so.

At this point I think I really want to just sell off my coral and move on but I don’t know how I would go about selling off a tank full of aiptasia covered coral and rock. I have some pretty nice coral in there so it may be worth trying to win this aiptasia battle before I do anything else.

Any advice on how to proceed?

Here’s some photos of my tank when it was thriving, one of the the old scape pieces temporarily held in a spare tank, and a couple of the new scape that should be ready to go soon.

 

[IKD]

Aiptasia is a battle of patience. I gave up with using aiptasia-x or f-aiptasia and went natural methods which take longer but have greater success (for me at least). If you have berghia that is good but they take time to turn the tide. If you want another option, try kukenthalli shrimp which also target aiptasia and also eat other prepared food.

If you’re losing torches, check your water parameters and lighting. Are other corals doing ok? The older tank picture looks great and you can certainly get back to that in time.

Don’t give up, most reefers have this exact challenge at some point.

 

[Dburr1014]

As far as the aiptasia, I spent months using aiptasia X and added some berghia nudis but I just simply couldn’t keep up with them.
Any advice on how to proceed?

This just doesn't happen unless you have something eating the berghia or you are using aptaisia-x with the nudies.

I don't believe you have something eating the nudies. I have used multiple wrasse with nudies with no problems.
When using nudies, you should not be using any other form of eradicating aptasia.
Nudies will lay eggs and multiply and knock out 99% of any aptasia infestation if it was done right.
But, first off I recommend you battle the dinos. Get them knocked out before adding nudies again. Do you know what type you have? Do you have the microscope to identify what type you have?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

@woodyarmadillo
What do you suspect is causing the Dino outbreak?

What do suspect was the reason for your euphyllia to die off?

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Aiptasia is a battle of patience. I gave up with using aiptasia-x or f-aiptasia and went natural methods which take longer but have greater success (for me at least). If you have berghia that is good but they take time to turn the tide. If you want another option, try kukenthalli shrimp which also target aiptasia and also eat other prepared food.

If you’re losing torches, check your water parameters and lighting. Are other corals doing ok? The older tank picture looks great and you can certainly get back to that in time.

Don’t give up, most reefers have this exact challenge at some point.

Thanks for the response. I was using auptasia X daily for awhile and wasn’t making a ton of progress. I spent hours some days staring and spot treating. Then I put nudis in about 4 months ago. Haven’t seen them in months and aiptasia is worse than ever. I didn’t use Aiptasia x and nudis at the same time. I added the nudis after I stopped using Aiptasia x. I may try adding that shrimp thanks.

As far as the torches, I had several great looking torches for about a year. I was dosing and had an alk swing but caught it before it was too bad. Shortly after that I started losing torches. I noticed that the torches seemed to have aiptasia on them so I was assuming that was the cause.

on the Dino’s, I used a microscope and got an ID on them before. I dosed silicates and got them reduced but they came back over and over. I didn’t seem to have the same success trying that again. It’s possible I have a different kind of Dino’s now. I have a pretty cheap microscope. I’ll try to get a photo shortly. The weird thing about my Dino’s is that my test kits were showing that my nitrates and phosphates were still elevated. I tested with several test kits including Hanna testers and they consistently showed normal.

@Dburr1014 @Sisterlimonpot thanks for your responses. I think I covered most of the information you asked about above.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I think I covered most of the information you asked about above.

Great reply.

I tested with several test kits including Hanna testers and they consistently showed normal.

To prevent further guessing, can you provide numbers to what "normal" means?

Normal for me is 75 nitrates and 0.65 phosphates. Hehe

 

[Gman83]

I'd try peppermint shrimp. They did wonders for me, and haven't had an aipastia since I got them.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Great reply.


To prevent further guessing, can you provide numbers to what "normal" means?

Normal for me is 75 nitrates and 0.65 phosphates. Hehe

Yeah about 20 nitrates and .1 on the phosphates if that helps. I did have the phosphates start to bottom out but it was like 2 months after I started getting Dino’s when it started to bottom out.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Also correction I used f aiptasia not x.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

I'd try peppermint shrimp. They did wonders for me, and haven't had an aipastia since I got them.

Did you have an aiptasia problem and then the peppermint shrimp took care of it without any other methods?

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

Hey Woody,

Dinoflagellates is caused by low nitrate and low phosphate, or one or the other is too low. Dinos will consume phosphates and drop those fast. The color you see in corals is actually dinoflagellates in their skeletons.

You want to keep around 20 (or above) and Phosphates at 0.20 or a little less. The key is to keep them balanced above 0 and your dinos will go away.

Good ol' aiptasia......I have some (a lot) of those right now myself. It seems like the current aiptasia repopulate like wildfire. I have had success doing a few things.

1) Aiptasia eating ORA Filefish. They don't eat a lot, but they absolutely have reduced the population in about a month or two.
2) I mix RODI water and Kalkwasser together. It doesn't need to be a thick paste, but I draw up the semi thick mixture in a large syringe with an 18 inch tube that looks sort of like a needle, but not sharp. I shoot that into their mouth or just on top of them. Turn all flow off and put that mixture on them and they will die. Leave your pumps off for about 15 minutes and let the paste do it's job. You won't get them ALL this way, but you can reduce them greatly.
3) You can go the Berghia Nudibranch route and that will absolutely work, but it takes a while. As long as you don't have any Wrasses you should be fine.

I haven't tried Peppermint Shrimp yet and I want to, but they like to munch on LPS and I have a flowerpot and don't need them eating it. So I have passed on that for now and seeing how it goes.

 

[TehBrainz]

I had great success with berghia to handle my first outbreak. They controlled the population for almost 6 months until they died out and the aiptasia came back.

2nd wave almost drove me crazy.

I have "beaten" it with peppermint shrimp and a filefish.

This may not work for you depending on your coral in tank, but its been working great for me nearly 8 months in, and they worked MUCH faster than berghia and don't have a strict diet so they co tinue to thrive. It's a delicate balance as I understand to keep them hungry enough to still eat aiptasia as it comes up but not so hungry to pick at corals. Could also be my luck in my system with my fish.

F-aiptasia worked on ones within reach, but with an outbreak, it's not the best remedy on its own, IMO.

Best of luck, don't give up!

 

[phillyb614]

Don’t give up. I went through the exact same thing. I tried aptasia X, F aptasia, joes juice. None of the seamed to do the trick. It’s my opinion that these remedies will work well if there are only a few aptasia to deal with. Not good for an outbreak. These will also only work, if the delivery of these substances is done perfectly, not allowing it to spit out larva. Which is extremely difficult to accomplish if the aptasia is sideways or upside down (which is often).

Finally I pulled the trigger on a Matted File Fish and some Peppermint Shrimp. I made sure when speaking to my LFS, that they reassured me the fish and the shrimp were indeed the ones that eat the aptasia. I asked if they were not, could I bring them back for a full refund. They agreed. You just need to make sure you ask the questions. Anyway, although it took some time, all the aptasia is almost completely gone! I tried nudis too, but I think my outbreak was so bad, the aptasia ate them instead (watched one get eaten shortly after releasing them). So, in my opinion, get some predators of this pest.

Good luck. Don’t quit.

 

[woodyarmadillo]

Don’t give up. I went through the exact same thing. I tried aptasia X, F aptasia, joes juice. None of the seamed to do the trick. It’s my opinion that these remedies will work well if there are only a few aptasia to deal with. Not good for an outbreak. These will also only work, if the delivery of these substances is done perfectly, not allowing it to spit out larva. Which is extremely difficult to accomplish if the aptasia is sideways or upside down (which is often).

Finally I pulled the trigger on a Matted File Fish and some Peppermint Shrimp. I made sure when speaking to my LFS, that they reassured me the fish and the shrimp were indeed the ones that eat the aptasia. I asked if they were not, could I bring them back for a full refund. They agreed. You just need to make sure you ask the questions. Anyway, although it took some time, all the aptasia is almost completely gone! I tried nudis too, but I think my outbreak was so bad, the aptasia ate them instead (watched one get eaten shortly after releasing them). So, in my opinion, get some predators of this pest.

Good luck. Don’t quit.

Thanks a lot for the response! Know of any aiptasia eating filefish that can run in a nano. My tank is only 14 gallons.

 

[disaster999]

Peppermint shrimp will eat aiptasia, but give them time to adjust to your tank. They will disappear for a few weeks or even months, only hiding in caves and under your rocks. They are sort of nocturnal where they hide during the day and only come out at night looking for food. You will see them out and about when you feed the tank tho picking whatever that sucks to the bottom.

 

[TehBrainz]

Don’t give up. I went through the exact same thing. I tried aptasia X, F aptasia, joes juice. None of the seamed to do the trick. It’s my opinion that these remedies will work well if there are only a few aptasia to deal with. Not good for an outbreak. These will also only work, if the delivery of these substances is done perfectly, not allowing it to spit out larva. Which is extremely difficult to accomplish if the aptasia is sideways or upside down (which is often).

Finally I pulled the trigger on a Matted File Fish and some Peppermint Shrimp. I made sure when speaking to my LFS, that they reassured me the fish and the shrimp were indeed the ones that eat the aptasia. I asked if they were not, could I bring them back for a full refund. They agreed. You just need to make sure you ask the questions. Anyway, although it took some time, all the aptasia is almost completely gone! I tried nudis too, but I think my outbreak was so bad, the aptasia ate them instead (watched one get eaten shortly after releasing them). So, in my opinion, get some predators of this pest.

Good luck. Don’t quit.

Almost carbon copy with my experience.

I was extremely nervous about the fish and shrimp, but it was a gamble I was willing to take as I don't want an aiptasia centered tank, lol.

A random plus, the filefish is quite a weird little one so people ask about him more often than other "mainstream" fish I have in the tank.

 

[TehBrainz]

This was about 2 hrs into moonlight. Thought they were eating my weeping willow, but were just hanging out. They then scooted around the sand about 20 mins later.

During the day I can find them in their holes

 

[Gman83]

Did you have an aiptasia problem and then the peppermint shrimp took care of it without any other methods?

Yes. I had tried berghia first round. Once they took care of the aipastia, they died off. Then slowly and surely, the aipastia came back.

So then I thought I'd try peppermint shrimp. When they came in, I didn't see them for 2-3 weeks. Then it took a month or more before they started eating aipastia. But once they did, they went to town; big ones, small ones, all of then. Haven't had another one since. I like the peppermint shrimp because they can eat left over food.

 

[Dburr1014]

OP, be careful with people telling you they have beaten aptasia. Anyone who has peppermint shrimp or a file fish has not beaten them they are only controlling them. As soon as the shrimp or file fish dies at aptasia will come right back.

I would be cautious if anyone told me they have beaten aptasia, period. We have been reefing since the 70s and nobody has come up with a solution to beat them completely. Why is that?

Any single cell left over from the aptasia will grow a new one. If they are broken apart that means each piece can grow a new one. They have a defense mechanism where if they disturb too much they release a bunch of eggs, each one able to grow a new one. They are very good at surviving.

I have been living with them for many years and have tried lots of ways to try to be rid of them.
Kalk paste, f-aptasia, berghia, ect. Berghia, imo, is hands down the best in a full infestation. I have also found lemon juice to be a good choice for the one or two if used correctly. That means lots of patience. No flow, squirt the top incase any eggs come out, squirt the base and get it to release the foot. Can take 5 to 15 minutes each one and catching rouge lemon juice if your doing in tank.
I never used peppermints or file fish because all my research ended up at 50% of the time they started to eat coral. Not for me.

Do your research. They take a really long time to "beat", months to years.

 

[TehBrainz]

OP, be careful with people telling you they have beaten aptasia. Anyone who has peppermint shrimp or a file fish has not beaten them they are only controlling them. As soon as the shrimp or file fish dies at aptasia will come right back.

I would be cautious if anyone told me they have beaten aptasia, period. We have been reefing since the 70s and nobody has come up with a solution to beat them completely. Why is that?

Any single cell left over from the aptasia will grow a new one. If they are broken apart that means each piece can grow a new one. They have a defense mechanism where if they disturb too much they release a bunch of eggs, each one able to grow a new one. They are very good at surviving.

I have been living with them for many years and have tried lots of ways to try to be rid of them.
Kalk paste, f-aptasia, berghia, ect. Berghia, imo, is hands down the best in a full infestation. I have also found lemon juice to be a good choice for the one or two if used correctly. That means lots of patience. No flow, squirt the top incase any eggs come out, squirt the base and get it to release the foot. Can take 5 to 15 minutes each one and catching rouge lemon juice if your doing in tank.
I never used peppermints or file fish because all my research ended up at 50% of the time they started to eat coral. Not for me.

Do your research. They take a really long time to "beat", months to years.

Exactly.

My filefish and shrimp simply keep them in check. If they were to disappear today it would be a matter of time before the population exploded again. This is why I put quotes on "beating" the pest. I should've been more clear.

I have populations in my overflows and pipes that are impossible to irradicate without breaking the system down.