Aptasia!

[yosemiteclimber]

We all know it. We all hate it. A few of us are in trouble because we (kinda) ignored it.

Filefish from Calikid = died within two weeks (tons of other “sensitive/expert” fish in the tank, all still fine, just a sad filefish?)

Berghia, didn’t stand a chance… against the leopard wrasse. I (knowingly) wasted money on that…

Joe’s Juice = killed some, but for the most part annoyed the existing and made it release more spores.

Kalkwasser homemade paste = helped a bit, for the ones I could reach.

F aptasia, works ok, but the bastards have nested in the middle of literally all the corals, so if they’re not big enough I can’t target them specifically without potentially harming the surrounding corals…

This is a 40g IM Fusion AIO, I’m getting ready to transfer everything to a 150g and had planned on swapping in all the existing rock and livestock to the display, maybe some to the sump as I have a ton of other clean stuff to go in display.

I have some peppermint shrimp and another filefish on the way, I prefer not to keep plunging F aptasia and the like in the tank (I do a 1-5% water change shortly after).

So, should I bother? Just move the fish over and keep all the coral quarantined (it’s embedded literally in the middle of every zoa cluster I have) and fight it out there?

I do not want to risk introducing this to the new tank, but I suppose all it takes is one spore attached to one of the fish…


HELP! Thoughts, suggestions, ideas - safe or extreme are welcome!

 

[SupraSaltyReefer]

Berghias are the most effective way of eliminating your tank of aiptasia. I had hundreds or maybe thousands of aiptasia in my 120g tank. Threw in 40 Berghias and they wiped out every single aiptasia within 3 months.

If you plan on using the same rocks in the new tank it would probably be better to rehome or keep the leopard wrasse in a separate tank until you eliminate the aiptasia.

Another plan is keep the rocks with the aiptasia in a separate tank and put Berghias in that tank to eat all of the aiptasia.

 

[gmdcdvm]

I agree with Tu. Unfortunately, JVU is no longer rearing the berghias locally, but these worked like a charm. It might be easier to take out your wrasse and predatory fish, or rehome them to allow the berghias time. Don't forget they need sump access to make sure they get them all.

 

[yosemiteclimber]

I agree with Tu. Unfortunately, JVU is no longer rearing the berghias locally, but these worked like a charm. It might be easier to take out your wrasse and predatory fish, or rehome them to allow the berghias time. Don't forget they need sump access to make sure they get them all.

Hm yeah, I have a little evo I can put the wrasse in (if I can catch it), and let berghias, camel shrimp, and filefish do their thing. I really don’t like chemical attacks in the tank, everything for the most part seems OK, but the torches and hammers don’t like it at all.

 

[yosemiteclimber]

Berghias are the most effective way of eliminating your tank of aiptasia. I had hundreds or maybe thousands of aiptasia in my 120g tank. Threw in 40 Berghias and they wiped out every single aiptasia within 3 months.

If you plan on using the same rocks in the new tank it would probably be better to rehome or keep the leopard wrasse in a separate tank until you eliminate the aiptasia.

Another plan is keep the rocks with the aiptasia in a separate tank and put Berghias in that tank to eat all of the aiptasia.

Thanks buddy! Yeah this sounds like the best approach…

 

[MichaelB]

If you have trouble with aptasia in a 40g tank, imagine it getting a heck if alot worst in a 150g especially considering you can't reach them all in smaller tank. Moving stuff over without ensuring aptasia is gone would be setting your self up for a worst headache.

I agree with nudis and peppermint shrimp. If you managed to get say a small amount of nudis you could possibly get a much smaller 3rd temporary tank and put them in that with some of the effected corals. Less volume means they would knock out aptasia quicker than just rotate corals through it.

I would also postion zoas and stuff where it's easy to treat with other methods at the same time as nudis. Paste, f aptasia, peppermint shrimp, attack them from all sides like a military invasion.

Keep wrasse elsewhere or rehome It I agree. Club has fish traps that may work. I also saw videos and articles about using red flash lights and a night time stealth ambush if you have access to where it sleeps. Supposedly they can't see the red lights.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Peppermint shrimp eat berghia nudi’s
Whatever eats aiptasia, will eat the berghia nudi’s too

 

[MichaelB]

Peppermint shrimp eat berghia nudi’s
Whatever eats aiptasia, will eat the berghia nudi’s too

My giant maroon clown ate some nudis I put in last year as soon as they hit the water. I didn't know peppermint shrimp would eat them as well.

 

[CaseyP]

My take on berghias is that they're fantastic, but not a long term solution. Once they run out of aiptasia they will starve and die. Almost guaranteed if there was aiptasia in your display, there's aiptasia in your filter chambers, on the pumps, tubing, bio media, and will make its way back into the display.

I have a copperband butterfly in my display and filefish in my frag tank and it's spotless. Problem is CBB can be hard to get eating and filefish can potentially eat soft corals. Peppermint shrimp I could never alive and they never made their way around the whole tank. If you're upgrading to a 150 gallon also consider an Australian stripey. I've heard good things about them for aiptasia control but can also eat soft corals.

 

[newfly]

My vote is on peppermint . I have super high flow in my tank and Berghia didn’t do well in the last. Peppermint will keep aptasia under control but not 100% eradication. That’s good enough for me.

I love CBB but it’s a high maintenance fish. Filefish didn’t work for me as well because of the high flow. Maybe I started with a tiny filefish.

 

[Ayman]

I personally tried all methods I stand by the Australian stripy accounting for how big it gets.
It was a successful for me. and still is.
I have not seen any Aptasia, in months now eliminated everything in a week.
Also you are going to 150g so size in the future should not be an issue IMO.

Australian Stripey, Microcanthus joycae

Does anyone keep an Australian Stripey? I'm curious about what people here might have to say about this fish is great for aptasia control—seen it at Aquatic Collection for 199.

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