Yet Another Aiptasia Advice Thread...

[Morpheosz]

Hey everyone, I'm looking to choose a direction to rid my tank of aiptasia. I have a 75g mixed reef that is heavily stocked with corals of many varieties (LPS, SPS, softies). In spite of scrubbing and dipping everything that has gone into the tank over it's ~14 month life, I introduced aiptasia somewhere along the way. I am using F-Aiptasia to control it but am getting really tired of the weekly ritual, and as my coral fills in, it's getting harder and harder to surgically kill them without hitting a coral.

Currently, after reading all the threads I could, I am considering one of the following options:

1) Berghia - ordering a mess of these guys and letting them go to town. Only problem is I have an Xmas wrasse and a Yellow Coris wrasse. It sounds like I'd have to try to catch them and move them out for a few months which I'm not thrilled with, but if this ends up being the best option, I am up for it. Also my tank has a ton of structure - I wonder if I got a good quantity would enough survive to be able to hunt down the aiptasia before getting hunted down themselves.

2) Copper butterfly - I'd love one of these fish but what is the risk they go after any of the rest of my coral?

I am not currently considering peppermint shrimp as I've heard so many mixed reviews, and people saying they went after coral and I have a big variety for them to choose from. I also tried a tile fish - it was a week of high anxiety as it munched on my zoas until I was finally able to catch it and take it back to the LFS.

Would love to hear opinions on my specific situation.

 

[Dburr1014]

Berghia work if you have a lot of aptaisia. If you have a few here and there they won't find them all and die.
They are spreading, Imo, because aptaisia x, and the like aren't 100%. If you don't get them just right, they release there gammets. (white like stringy things out of the mouth) That will produce 100's and if you don't get it completly, 1 cell missed can produce 1 aptasia.

F-aptaisia works for the ones you can get. If the aptaisia is upside down or on a face, good luck. You won't be killing that one.

Shrimp work if you get the right ones. If you run out of aptaisia, they may go after acans or other lps.

Berghia are best introduced at night near aptaisia, not on. If you have wrasse, they sleep at night, berghia sleep during the day. I have done berghia twice in my current setup with wrasse and have had positive results.
Do not do 2 means of eradication at the same time. Peppermint eat aptaisia and berghia will taste like aptaisia when they are brown. (means they ate one) using Kalk paste and F-aptaisia may also kill a berghia.

Berghia will need time to work to build up numbers. Don't expect it to work in a week or a month. It could be 4 to 6 months before you see noticeable results.

I found you would need a minimum of 10 medium size berghia. They are egg laying that size and they hunt in a pack. Websites have minimums for tank sizes but really you just need 1 hunting pack to make it work. It may take longer but it will happen. Quicker results need more berghia, it's all up to you.

As I said, I have done this 2x in my setup. 1st time I didn't have a lot of pests and it was good for a couple of years. In that time, if one aptaisia popped up I used Kalk paste or F-aptaisia. After a while my tank had 100's.
It's been about 3 years since my last round. I have seen 5 aptaisia in my tank in that time. 1 I got out using lemon juice. 100% worked but you need a ton of patience. 1 was on my clam shell. It got cover in GHA and disappeared. (so did the hair) Not sure what happened. The other 3 were a small cluster I zapped heavily with Kalk paste. I don't currently see any in my tank.

HTH

 

[Jim Gomoll]

Feeling your pain. Been fighting Aiptasia myself for over a year. Was using Aiptasia Away spot treatments like you are with F-Aiptasia. It worked on treated heads, but the pesky buggers kept popping up here and there. Also if any of it floated away landing on corals it burned them leaving white spots if not blown off. (2bottles = $30)

Was also worrying about Peppermint Shrimp due to same mixed reviews. Although hesitant, I decided try them .
LFS had a tank of "Aiptasia eating" Peppermint Shrimp which they had been feeding Aiptasia prepping them to eat it. So....I figured these would be better than just blindly getting some and have no results per some reviews.

2 @ $15ea.... After a week I have not seen a single head!!! They hide in the day but active at night which I have not noticed any issues of them eating/bothering my corals. Best $30 spent, and now Aiptasia free.

 

[srobertb]

Hey everyone, I'm looking to choose a direction to rid my tank of aiptasia. I have a 75g mixed reef that is heavily stocked with corals of many varieties (LPS, SPS, softies). In spite of scrubbing and dipping everything that has gone into the tank over it's ~14 month life, I introduced aiptasia somewhere along the way. I am using F-Aiptasia to control it but am getting really tired of the weekly ritual, and as my coral fills in, it's getting harder and harder to surgically kill them without hitting a coral.

Currently, after reading all the threads I could, I am considering one of the following options:

1) Berghia - ordering a mess of these guys and letting them go to town. Only problem is I have an Xmas wrasse and a Yellow Coris wrasse. It sounds like I'd have to try to catch them and move them out for a few months which I'm not thrilled with, but if this ends up being the best option, I am up for it. Also my tank has a ton of structure - I wonder if I got a good quantity would enough survive to be able to hunt down the aiptasia before getting hunted down themselves.

2) Copper butterfly - I'd love one of these fish but what is the risk they go after any of the rest of my coral?

I am not currently considering peppermint shrimp as I've heard so many mixed reviews, and people saying they went after coral and I have a big variety for them to choose from. I also tried a tile fish - it was a week of high anxiety as it munched on my zoas until I was finally able to catch it and take it back to the LFS.

Would love to hear opinions on my specific situation.

Berghia- you need so so so many of these little guys. Plan on two times as more than recommended on websites. They are slow travelers and pack hunters so they need to be placed close together. Don’t go by water volume, go by distance and rock scaping. You will need ALOT more for a 6’ 120g tank vs say a 120g cube. They are apparently tasty so wrasses and peppermint shrimp (to name a few) will eat them. I have had success with these ridding a 40g cube tank completely that was peppermint shrimp and wrasse free. I had 0 luck dumping about $750 worth into a 6’ tank with no wrasse and a few peppermint shrimp.

“Aiptasia eating” filefish- I’m 50/50 on these. 1/2 will pick at Aiptasia, the other 1/2 will not. They are effective if you’re lucky.

Copperband: she/He is effective and pretty. As it has gotten older and bolder it has become very effective.

Peppermint shrimp (the “guaranteed to eat Aiptasia” kind)- They do nothing. They come out if I’m using Aiptasia-X for some reason. Peppermint shrimp have always been a liability in tanks for me. So many times they’ve turned into coral nippers. I tolerate them because they’re my pets but they’ll be food for something else soon.

 

[porkfishaquatic]

In my experience, if you obtain the right species of Lysmata shrimp that are hungry, they will decimate Aiptasia.

Yes, I know others have met zero success with 'Peppermint' shrimp, but I believe wild-caught West Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico specimens are most likely to do the trick. The specimens I purchased from KP Aquatics (https://www.kpaquatics.com/product/peppermint-shrimp/) were described as 'Lysmata wurdemanni and other species'. I had a group of 5 peppermint shrimp in a 55 gallon tank eradicate a small Aiptasia infestation within a few weeks with no subsequent regrowth/reappearance of Aiptasia. Some Aiptasia were even tucked very close to the base of some corals, it was a great success. However, after the shrimp ate all of the Aiptasia anemones, they were quickly on to consuming my Euphyllia/Fimbriaphyllia (or whatever it is we are to call them now). They fed on them particularly overnight and were very difficult to capture and remove.

Here are some things to consider: Some Lysmata species are more likely to consume Aiptasia than others. Some species in the genus will not eat them at all. Of those that do consume them, they seem to prefer smaller anemones first. Starvation should be thought of as well. In that, a starved specimen that would have a diet consisting of other food items, may well devour Aiptasia if it is presented as the only food source.

In the hobby, the consensus seems to be that L. wurdemanni and L. boggessi are the best-bet species for Aiptasia control. I've seen articles going on and on that only these West Atlantic species are 'true peppermint shrimp' and so only these will do the job (which doesn't mean much, it's just a common name), but as you can see from this study, even wild and cultured Monaco Shrimp (a shrimp in the Lysmata genus from the Mediterranean, East Atlantic, etc.) were shown to eat Aiptasia: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10152-004-0210-6.pdf. It's a rabbit-hole to descend into, but there are lots of good research studies showing that many different species in the genus consume Aiptasia. You just have to realise they do so to greater and lesser degrees, and may only do so when it is their only food-source.

I think L. wurdemanni and L. boggessi are an excellent option as long as you have an exit strategy in terms of capture/removal of the specimens after the Aiptasia are eliminated, and before they move on to other food-sources. Or if you're willing to temporarily remove rocks into a separate tank with the shrimp set-up for the purpose of having them consume the Aiptasa.

Sorry for the lengthy post. I hope that helps you! Best of luck!

 

[Wasabiroot]

Peppermints like above will help; I did have wild caught ones from ReefCleaners that started picking at my hammers and torches.

Another option not listed her is an aiptasia eating filefish. They are effective but should also be monitored as they can pick at fleshy lps.

If it were me and I was absolutely sick of them I'd set up a separate system for my wrasses temporarily or try a filefish with close monitoring.

 

[Morpheosz]

Thanks everyone for the great thoughts! I think I am going to try Berghia and see if I can catch my wrasses. I tried a filefish and he just grazed on my Zoas and Palys. It was nerve wracking and took days to catch him. I have a ton of coral and my euphyllia are some of my pride and joy. As much as I'd love a quick fix with shrimp, I feel like it is too risky. Also I have a VERY heavily scaped tank with tons of hiding spots so very unlikely I'd ever catch the shrimp again.