Aiptasia infestation

[Cjtabares]

I have a 45gal tank that is being overrun by aiptasia, I added 10 nudibranchs about 2 weeks ago. It has gotten a lot worse since then, and wanted to get rid of some manually. I have already tried aiptasiax and it did not seem to work. What would be a safe way, for the nudibranchs, to try and help them along to removing the aiptasia.

Thanks.

 

[ChrisPchef]

I would avoid going too over the top and trying to manually eradicate the aiptasia. Aiptasia can easily spread by disturbing them, only causing more harm than good. Patience is key in the saltwater hobby. As long as the nudibranch are still in your tank, allow them some time to do their thing.

When I was experiencing problems I tried fresh squeezed lemon juice as well as aiptasia x. Neither of which seemed to kill off the aiptasia… I was lucky enough to introduce a species of peppermint shrimp that actually ate the aiptasia. However there are many species of peppermint shrimp and some do not eat aiptasia.

Personally I would recommend giving the nudibranch more time to do their job.

 

[Cjtabares]

I would avoid going too over the top and trying to manually eradicate the aiptasia. Aiptasia can easily spread by disturbing them, only causing more harm than good. Patience is key in the saltwater hobby. As long as the nudibranch are still in your tank, allow them some time to do their thing.

When I was experiencing problems I tried fresh squeezed lemon juice as well as aiptasia x. Neither of which seemed to kill off the aiptasia… I was lucky enough to introduce a species of peppermint shrimp that actually ate the aiptasia. However there are many species of peppermint shrimp and some do not eat aiptasia.

Personally I would recommend giving the nudibranch more time to do their job.

Thank you. I’m ok waiting, just seems like a lil of aiptasia for the nudibranchs, but I will wait and see.

 

[shrimpchips]

For two nudibranchs, you’re waiting for them to have offspring, and then those offspring to get big enough to eat the bigger aiptasia. It’ll take at the very least two months or more before you start seeing a real difference. But once they get going, the aiptasia will start to disappear very quickly.

ETA: I had a bad infestation in my 100G. Took about 6 months to eradicate the aiptasia, and I haven’t seen any in a few years now. The beginning was slow, but as the nudis multiplied and also grew larger the infestation really started to decline and was seemingly gone overnight. Patience is key

 

[Cjtabares]

For two nudibranchs, you’re waiting for them to have offspring, and then those offspring to get big enough to eat the bigger aiptasia. It’ll take at the very least two months or more before you start seeing a real difference. But once they get going, the aiptasia will start to disappear very quickly.

ETA: I had a bad infestation in my 100G. Took about 6 months to eradicate the aiptasia, and I haven’t seen any in a few years now. The beginning was slow, but as the nudis multiplied and also grew larger the infestation really started to decline and was seemingly gone overnight. Patience is key

I added 10, I was thinking a year or so to see no more aiptasia, so 6 months sounds good, but like I said it has gotten pretty bad(on the sand, on the glass, on my tiger conches shell. I was just concerned it would get too out of hand.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

I added 10, I was thinking a year or so to see no more aiptasia, so 6 months sounds good, but like I said it has gotten pretty bad(on the sand, on the glass, on my tiger conches shell. I was just concerned it would get too out of hand.

Siphon them out of the sand, I've even used a razor blade and siphon hose to get them off the glass at times. I put 10 in my sump, I think they're working but who really knows. My GF bought me an Australian copperband for Xmas but it came DOA on Xmas eve

 

[Mike Lemming]

Well that's convenient..

 

[Cpage101]

you want
Lysmata boggessi peppermint shrimp but sometimes can be successful with Lysmata wurdemanni peppermint shrimp too.

Thanks!
Corey

 

[dz6t]

Have you tried Aiptasia eating file fish?
They work well for me. But only the ORA version works.

 

[shrimpchips]

I added 10, I was thinking a year or so to see no more aiptasia, so 6 months sounds good, but like I said it has gotten pretty bad(on the sand, on the glass, on my tiger conches shell. I was just concerned it would get too out of hand.

I had the same - pandemic/wfh and having two young kids meant the tank was an afterthought at best. Nudis took care of the problem, just need to be patient. At some point you’ll have so many nudis that the aiptasia can’t keep up and they’ll eat every last one.

Just make sure you don’t have any nocturnal predators (peppermint shrimp are the most common culprits of nudi predation in aiptasia infested tanks), and you should see a nice increase in nudi numbers.

FWIW, while I think other methods of biological control can work to keep aiptasia in check, nudis are the only option for full eradication. Fish won’t eat things their mouths can’t reach, shrimp can’t get in everywhere, and both can always eat something else. Nudis can reach anywhere an aiptasia can grow, can follow them through pipe work to connected tanks, they’ll take down all sizes of aiptasia, and are obligate feeders of aiptasia so won’t munch on anything else of concern.

 

[JPags]

I had an issue and tried both nudis and peppermint shrimp. Only thing that worked fully was the shrimp. The nudis do a good job if you have enough for them to multiply and destroy before they starve

A few months after everything was gone and the nudis died off. The aptasia came back.

Went with the shrimp and have not seen any since and I still see the shrimp around.

But you have to get the right ones. I have tried them before and they never touched the aptasia

The last batch I got from jays did the job for me

 

[DEIGNAN14]

For best (fast) results with your berghia you should culture them. Make sure they have no predators like pepermints in the tank, reduce flow at night if you can and most importantly, you must protect their eggs until they reach the stage they can hunt. The reason berghia take time is very few of their eggs make it to adults if they aren't protected from predation. Two protected egg ribbons can yield you 250+ assassins in less than 2 mos if you help them along. Berghia are a numbers and time game. The other trick I learned the hardway farming them is hatching out dozens of egg ribbons so you have millions of larval berghia. you won't see any of them reach adult hood this way but the larval storm can melt dozens of aiptasia in minutes (not what you want when you're farming berghia btw) Undisturbed egg ribbons do much better. Take some fat adults. put them in a container with nothing else, float that in your sump and hand feed them until they leave you a sufficient number of egg ribbons for your goals. if you want adults don't do more than 2 ribbons. if you want the larvae storm go nutts with it.

if you culture them you can also keep the colony going longer so they do a better job cleaning out your show tank. they won't get everyone which is why i recommend berghia then following up with peppermints to keep your aiptasia from coming back. peppermints eat young aiptasia but they don't mess with adults much

 

[DEIGNAN14]

there is no fast fix for an aiptasia problem in my experience. it took me a year to get rid of a very heavy infestation using nudis. i let them do their thing for 9 mos and then accelerated my results using the method above. working berghia instead of just dropping them
in and hoping for the best has been one of the most gratifying experiences in the hobby i've had honestly.

 

[Cjtabares]

Have you tried Aiptasia eating file fish?
They work well for me. But only the ORA version works.

I have bubble tips, and have read that the file fish would also eat them.

 

[JPags]

I have bubble tips, and have read that the file fish would also eat them.

Yes it went after my Rock Flower nems too so he had to go. Anything that looks like Aptasia is subject to be eaten or atleast pecked at and irritated