What can I do to nuke my tank of aptasia

[Onixom]

Hi all, just want to ask this question in the forum since everything i try is either failed or not working. I'm about this close to ripping tank apart and starting from scratch.

So on the 6th of november 2021 i started the tank and bought some live rock from the LFS upon purchase and putting in the tank after 2 weeks I noticed aptasia on the rockwork (rookie error i picked it off with tweezers) ever since then its been a nightmare. I got a file fish and he kept on top of it, uknown circumstances led to his death. Unsure of the cause i bought another one however that one didnt do sweat FA and eventually staved to death (tried mythis shrimp, flakes just wouldnt eat anything) this happened twice before realising that maybe they dont suit my tank so I went the Peppermint route.... Boy if i Ever see another peppermint shrimp i swear to the ghost of marley, they didnt touch my corals or anything bad. but I have 5 of them in my 150L tank and they do nothing... I mean nothing, they dont even come out when feeding time (Bare minimum they could do since they dont touch the aptasia)
I even started using that Aptasia X even though I swore I would only use fish that would do they work like they would in the ocean. But even Aptasia X covers the aptasia then it dies and within a week its all back twice as strong. User Error? possible i dont know, I cant use peppermint shirmps wrong surely i mean theyve been in the tank now 11 months and if i put a turd in the tank it would do more work then they do.
Cant go the filefish option as I now have a clam so it'll kill it even if it survived starving unlike the last 2.
The reason i'm losing the will to live with it is because i've noticed a small baby aptasia on the shell of my clam and i'm not paying £90 for a glorified aptasia stand.

 

[chipchipbro]

I have a filefish and he never touched my clam. He isnt even looking at the clam…

 

[Onixom]

I have a filefish and he never touched my clam. He isnt even looking at the clam…

Is that every file fish as LFS said they wouldnt as the fish would eat the clam?

 

[littlefoxx]

My kleini butterfly ate all the aptasia in my tank

 

[Derrick0580]

It’s hit or miss with the file fish. I had one that once all aiptasia were gone he started in on picking at torches and zoas. Tried a copperband, he basically did the same exact thing. Best bet is berghia nudis.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Bhergia nudibranchs. They ONLY eat aiptasia and nothing else as they literally have evolved to eat aiptasia. Granted they can be alittle dumb so you'll sometimes need to move them to the aiptasia. They will eradicate your aiptasia problem and breed in the aquarium. Dinkins aquatics gardens have great Bhergia nudibranchs at a great price

 

[workhz]

My kleini butterfly ate all the aptasia in my tank

Seconded. Mine absolutely demolished them in a week or 2.

 

[littlefoxx]

Seconded. Mine absolutely demolished them in a week or 2.

Just make sure you dont have torches in the tank. Thats the only coral my little butthead eats -.-

 

[dwarfseahorse]

My kleini butterfly ate all the aptasia in my tank

What happend to the butterfly fish after they ate all of the aptasia? I heard that they will die because that is the only thing they want to eat.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

What happend to the butterfly fish after they ate all of the aptasia? I heard that they will die because that is the only thing they want to eat.

That's bhergia nudibranchs, butterflyfish are usually tricky to get eating frozen foods but it's doable

 

[littlefoxx]

What happend to the butterfly fish after they ate all of the aptasia? I heard that they will die because that is the only thing they want to eat.

I still have mine!

 

[workhz]

Mine loves seaweed pellets.

 

[littlefoxx]

Be aware. This butterfly is said to be a “more reef safe” butterfly than others but still a butterfly!! Mine never touched corals. Until I put torches in. He ate all 3… was so mad at him i tore through the rockscape to get him out. Couldnt catch him. Tried different kinds of fish traps. Nothing. So I resigned to the fact I cant have torches with him (insert the emoji with steam coming out the nose) lol. He does eat all the aptasia when they pop up!

 

[iReefer12]

I’m pretty certain aiptasia would survive a nuclear blast.

Aiptasia x and lemon juice are all hit or miss, more miss.

The best thing is a bristletooth file fish or pretty much any butterfly, but any fish that will eat aiptasia will inadvertently spread it. So aiptasia will find it’s way into the overflow, the sump pretty much anywhere in your system that the fish can’t reach.

The best solution I’ve found is Berghia, for a large system you need a lot of them, some will get eaten by fish, so try growing out some in a separate 5-10 gallon tank and keep adding fresh aiptasia, grow an army of them and overwhelm the enemy, place them in the sump, in the tank, in the overflow… never surrender.. got carried away

 

[Brandont21]

My kleini did great work on mine. Eats everything i put in the tank as well. Hasnt nipped any coral yet.

 

[Roatan Reef]

F-Aiptasia and Peppermint Shrimp worked for me!

 

[bakbay]

Just make sure you dont have torches in the tank. Thats the only coral my little butthead eats -.-

+1 for klein butterfly (credits to vetteguy). I have one of these fish in every tank now, with caution. Mine nibbled on zoas but didn’t touch anything else. Good luck!

 

[TheWB]

I recently had success cleaning out the aiptasia in my 20g long holding tank with one peppermint shrimp. The key was to get one from the lfs that I saw actively eating aiptasia. They put in a rock with some on it into the peppermint shrimp tank for me to see and several of them rushed right up to it and started munching away. Took one of those home and every aiptasia was eaten by the second night. Get one/some that you see doing their thing and it should work out.

 

[Zissou Intern]

+1 for peppermint shrimp. My 10g tank had an outbreak and a single peppermint shrimp fixed the problem entirely. Started with aiptasia-x which seemed to work at first, but then I got a lot more aiptasia. Couldn’t keep up with it. After a month with the shrimp I can’t find a single aiptasia, and now the shrimp is happy to eat whatever I give him.