d5332

Advanced Reefer
Location
Newark
Rating - 96.9%
94   3   0
Aptasia will never go away without braking your tank down.

Aptasia will live in your hoses, sump, overflows, just about anywhere. They will always exist in your tank but u can eliminate them from the display tank.

You can control it in several ways, the fastest and nicest way is by getting a copperband butterfly or a matted filefish.

Since u hardly have corals I would go with either fish, if u plan to add corals go with the butterfly.

U can try alternative ways but u will waste your money and time. U can try juices, paste, zapping, trust me, they will win and u will lose.

Add a natural predator fish and in a month they will be gone.

The peppermind shrimp work but shrimp don't eat the adult aptasia and shrimp prefer waiting for u to feed the tank rather than eating nasty anemones. Shrimp "disappear" as well, u could end up spending more on shrimp then on copperband fish.

Chose your weapon and good luck
 

nharbarte

Reef learner
Location
NJ
Rating - 100%
37   0   0
Aptasia will never go away without braking your tank down.

Aptasia will live in your hoses, sump, overflows, just about anywhere. They will always exist in your tank but u can eliminate them from the display tank.

You can control it in several ways, the fastest and nicest way is by getting a copperband butterfly or a matted filefish.

Since u hardly have corals I would go with either fish, if u plan to add corals go with the butterfly.

U can try alternative ways but u will waste your money and time. U can try juices, paste, zapping, trust me, they will win and u will lose.

Add a natural predator fish and in a month they will be gone.

The peppermind shrimp work but shrimp don't eat the adult aptasia and shrimp prefer waiting for u to feed the tank rather than eating nasty anemones. Shrimp "disappear" as well, u could end up spending more on shrimp then on copperband fish.

Chose your weapon and good luck
As mentioned above, Aptasia is quite tricky to get rid off. I had a battle with it couple of months ago. I tried everything (i.e. juice, paste) i even ended up removing rocks that have aptasia, but they're always "everywhere". Did tried peppermint shrimp too. Yes they "disappeared" especially when they are small. :)

The best (that worked for me) is butterfly fish and/or filefish. Now I am aptasia free. Happy, happy!
 

mu8st7ang

Experienced Reefer
Location
woodbridge NJ
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
I had a huge outbreak after sandy. I used aptasia x on them which is about 100 aptasia and they have been gone for a month. I then threw a file fish in to take care of anything that pops up.
 

Imbarrie

PADI Dive Inst
Location
New York
Rating - 100%
61   0   0
Copperband butterfly, but they are hard to pick out.
Make sure this is eating at the store first.
I also bought a couple nudis for additional peace of mind.
I used peppermints in my sump and its all gone.
 

dacaptain78

Advanced Reefer
Location
Staten Island
Rating - 100%
25   0   0
How many do you have? Just a rock or two with them on it, or have they exploded everywhere? If on just a rock or two I would remove the rocks and either burn off the aiptasia, bleach the rocks, or toss them. If you have a large problem them natural predation is the only way to keep them in check, but probably never totally eradicate them.

Copperband butterflies suck. Beautiful fish but just too delicate. I used these predators in the past:

1. an Auriga butterfly - good looking fish that held its own against triggers, eels and angels and it devoured aiptasia.

2. peppermint shrimp - saw them making a dent but didnt last long in my FOWLR tank and seemed to be nipping at my acans in my reef tank.

3. Aiptasia eating nudibranch - put 10 in my 125 gallon FOWLR that was completely infested. The first month I saw no change and thought I threw my money away. After next month or so I could not find a trace of aiptasia in my tank. They even devoured the aiptasia in my overflows. Once they died though the aiptasia came back.

4. Hurricane Sandy - yep a natural disaster is one of the few surefire ways to kill these demons.

I would go with an Auriga again if I had a fish only tank. Matted file fish will eat the aiptasia too but they are not too attractive.

Well that is my rant. There are few organisms on this planet that I despise more than aiptasia. Kill them...kill them all.:eat:
 

Awibrandy

Old School Reefer
Location
Far Rockaway
Rating - 100%
182   0   0
I kill them with regular old white vinegar which has many uses so I always have a gallon in my kitchen.;)
I inject them with 50cc of white vinegar directly in their mouths. You have to be quick though.
 

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