Reef nutrition

Getting rid of aiptasia

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Krak256

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I've tried getting rid of aiptasia with F-aiptasia, aiptasia-x, and lemon juice but they seem to keep coming back.

For those of you who have rid their tanks of aiptasia, what did you do? I would like to try berghia but I have 3 wrasses and they would likely end up as a meal. Has anyone tried file fish, copperbands, or peppermint shrimp with any success? I have a variety of corals and would would prefer them not ending up as snacks.
 
I have had good luck with peppermint shrimps Personally. You do need to get the right species which may be why they are hit miss for some people. also need to clean your overflows, plumbing and sump as they are likely living in there and making babies. I have taken a sump offline and filled the overflows and plumbing with citric acid and fresh water to clean them all out. can be easier then taking it all apart. Just plug the lines and fill them up.
 
Definitely be careful with manual removal as it can just make them spread. Peppermint shrimp worked for me back in the day in my small tank while a very lucky copperband worked in my big tank.
 
I’ve tried a combo of all the available methods. Berghia nudis, peppermint shrimps, Copperband and Filefish. After 2 weeks all the aiptasia was gonna. I had a Mystery wrasse in my tank as well and it seems it leave them alone. Just make sure when adding the berghia to your tank do it at night, turn off all your flow and place them at the base of the aiptasia.
 
The bigger the shrimp the less likely a wrasse will eat it. Never know the size and online vendor will send you (i just received one the size of a sexy shrimp - instant death) and hard to tell species in store unless you can talk with the owner. Consider them disposable though. How bad is it BTW? Pic
 
Qwiv said:
The bigger the shrimp the less likely a wrasse will eat it. Never know the size and online vendor will send you (i just received one the size of a sexy shrimp - instant death) and hard to tell species in store unless you can talk with the owner. Consider them disposable though. How bad is it BTW? Pic
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It's not bad but I get random ones sprouting in nooks and sometimes sand bed. I've been keeping on top of them but they seem to always come back. Looking at the tank, you won't be able to see but I inspect the back sides of the rock.


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Krak256 said:
I have 2 leopard wrasses and a melanarus. Should be ok right? I've had cleaner shrimp with leopards before. How do your berghias generally fare in wrasse tanks?
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I wish I could tell you something definitive but honestly it is hit or miss. Berghia generally do better with wrasses that sleep in mucus cocoons at night since the Berghia are nocturnal and hide during the day. I’m not sure about the chances with peppermint shrimp beyond what was already said about how smaller shrimp are more likely to get eaten.
 
The problem with aiptasia treatment is it's much like mice in the home, if you see a mouse, chances are there are a few (or) more that you don't see. There are plenty of chemical methods that do work... but only where you apply them, you may be missing the bunch on the backside of a rock that you can't see but the aiptasia crawled over it scraping it's foot (and making babies) along the way. Physical removal works great too, well except for those lasers which seem more about releasing primal urge than actually effectively irradicating them, but again did you really get them all? Biological methods are probably the most effective since they will get those that you don't see, but then you have other issues, like something eating them, or they'd rather have that mysis shrimp than aiptasia, or they eat your corals, etc. Overall aiptasia is my most hated pest in the marine tank environment the worst algae in the world can be gotten under control, a particular coral pests... well if you have no more of that type of coral the pest will die too, but aiptasia? I've had rocks soaking in bleach, then muriatic acid, and still see aiptasia pop in the tank maybe it survived on the rock? Maybe it was the one piece of PVC pipe that I was too cheap to go new with that had a little remnant
 
ive had luck with copperbands. current one i have is almost a year... previous one that didnt make it when i had a power failure was 2 years. good beautiful fish to have overall if you are lucky with it.
 
Krak256 said:
It's not bad but I get random ones sprouting in nooks and sometimes sand bed. I've been keeping on top of them but they seem to always come back. Looking at the tank, you won't be able to see but I inspect the back sides of the rock.


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Ahh, was expecting way worse! Sounds like maintenance not a plague. I have also had good luck with peppermint shrimp by keeping them in a large sump refugium and just moving them to the display when needed.
 
Qwiv said:
Ahh, was expecting way worse! Sounds like maintenance not a plague. I have also had good luck with peppermint shrimp by keeping them in a large sump refugium and just moving them to the display when needed.
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Just did a spot check and unfortunately looks like it’s gotten way out of hand behind and under my rocks. I’m going to try peppermint shrimp
 
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