What are people using for aptasia control in their reef?

JeanR

Well-Known Member
BRS Member
I've been playing whack-a-mole in my tank for the last year - when I see one I whack it with Aptasia-X, which seems to work until a week later I see another one. I probably have about 10-12 in my 30 gallon tank at any given mixed reef tank.

It is manageable but a constant nuisance. I"m concerned if I get lazy I'm going to wake up to 100 of these things. Keep hearing mixed results with peppermint shrimp and berghia nudibranchs. Not sure I want to introduce a file fish for such a minor issue. Anyone figure this one out?
 
What’s worked for me is boiling hot water in a syringe. As long as it’s not too close to any other coral I find that this is the best way to kill them without them shooting out babies.


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Well, I can tell you what DOESN'T work is removing your rock. The suckers then started growing out of my sand, on my glass, and in my chaeto. They are now working on repopulating my recently bleached rock.
 
Peppermint shrimp always worked for me, but It may not appear to be the case for the first week I find. I've also gone a few weeks where I felt nothing was being done, and on cue the aptasia would disappear.
I would grab 2 of them for that size tank, and toss them in with a good degree of confidence. I'd say 80% of them have been exclusively nocturnal in my own experience, so you may not even see them most of the time.
 
If you use the Aptasia-X, make sure you cover the entire thing including the foot. Otherwise, it just gets angry and comes back with a vengeance. I start with Aptasia-X, and then rely on peppermint shrimp for maintenance.
 
berghia nudibranch, theres actually someone selling some in the Marketplace now. They work great, cleaned my 90 gallon out within 2 months with no return of aptasia. It's been recommended 1 per 10 gallons, it goes quicker the more that you put in. I started with 5 and when my tank was clean I was able to pass 8 very large nudi on to someone else. The part about these I like is they only live on aptasia and will not turn around and eat other coals like file fish can/may do. They can be hard to find in large tanks when you want to pass them/sell them to someone else. If you wanted to try and raise them you need to be prepared with a huge amount of aptasia as they will go through it quickly.
 
I had a problem with aptasia a couple years ago. Tried the aptasia-x and didn’t seem to work. I bought a few peppermint shrimp and the aptasia slowly disappeared never to be seen again. The bottle of aptasia-x still sits under my tank i/4 used never to be opened again by me.
 
I tried kalk paste (ineffectively). It would seem to work, but then come back from deep in the rock or elsewhere. Unfortunately my royal gramma has a distinct taste for shrimp. Peppermints would otherwise be my go-to.
 
My angelfish are the best form of Aptaisia control I have.
Seriously, none of the Kalk paste or Aptaisia X worked for long term. It temporary melt them for a week or so, they usually come back with a vengeance. Natural predation is he best. Either through peppermint shrimp or through fish.
My display which house 3 Regal angels, 1 Blueline angel, 2 interruptus angels, and a flame angel is free from aptaisia. The overflowbox is an aptaisia sanctuary.
 
A matted Filefish worked wonders in a week. I believe there are a few making rotations in the club.
 
For a 30 gallon tank, I would recommend the Berghia Nudibranchs.

I have no experience with peppermints, but people seem to have varying experiences with them, and you might find them a nuisance. Most fish will be too large for a 30 gallon. Aiptasia-X sucks and usually makes the problem worse. I've heard nothing but bad things about any other methods I didn't just mention.

I've only had two tanks with Aiptasia, and both times Berghias wiped them out with no negative items to consider, other than the poor guys die once the food is gone.

My current tank has been Aiptasia-free for years.

I used only two in a 60 gallon and the Aiptasia was gone in a few days. Sometimes they take awhile to start eating, but once they do, you will notice the Aiptasia disappear in a few days.
 
A file fish would clean out the aptasia, but you need to remove it after all the apt are gone. Otherwise, it will go after your zoa, as it has with mine... I have just read on Reef Hobbyist Magazine that scat (freshwater can be acclimate to saltwater) can control aptasia real good and won't touch your coral. Just order two from petco, will see how it goes...
 
as said many times I put 3 peppermint shrimp in my 90g didn't really take that long to wipe them out..however some of the really large ones they did not kill so I used some aptasia/majo killer for those
 
Well, after thinking about this for a while I drove out to Auburn and bought 3 berghia nudibranchs ($45 and 3 hours of my time) back in August. They acclimated nicely and disappeared into the rock work. 4-5 months later my tank has even more aptasia than before and these nudis have done nothing. Not a single aptasia has gone missing and in fact the number has doubled or tripled. I really don't have any significant nudi predators in the tank (yes, a few small hermit crabs), but it is hard to know for sure that they weren't eaten by something as I never see them.

Overall this experiment has been a complete bust - total waste of time and money.

For the next attempt I've been debating between a filefish and peppermint shrimp. My wife thought the filefish was cuter, so I ordered one of the ORA captive-bred matted filefish from LiveAquaria. Should arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed.
 
Well, after thinking about this for a while I drove out to Auburn and bought 3 berghia nudibranchs ($45 and 3 hours of my time) back in August. They acclimated nicely and disappeared into the rock work. 4-5 months later my tank has even more aptasia than before and these nudis have done nothing. Not a single aptasia has gone missing and in fact the number has doubled or tripled. I really don't have any significant nudi predators in the tank (yes, a few small hermit crabs), but it is hard to know for sure that they weren't eaten by something as I never see them.

Overall this experiment has been a complete bust - total waste of time and money.

For the next attempt I've been debating between a filefish and peppermint shrimp. My wife thought the filefish was cuter, so I ordered one of the ORA captive-bred matted filefish from LiveAquaria. Should arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed.
Interested to hear how the filefish does!
 
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