MY tank was plagued with Aiptasia...

I mean there was more aiptasia than live rock.

I tried peppermints, they never even touched the aiptasia that I saw...and I was looking.

Berghia are a waste of money IMO as they are almost guaranteed to get eaten or pulled into your plumbing as they are so small and dont seem to grip all that well...I paid 11$ for Berghia 2 times (for 8-10 each time) and never even saw a dent in my aiptasia.

I tried Joes juice, aiptaisa X and every other over the counter solution, includng my own concoction of mysis juce, kalk and r/o water but they are only temporary solutions and add to tank maintenace more than anything....good for when someone was coming by to check out the tank or pick up a coral but not as a long term cure.

My copperband (RIP) was THE ultimate aiptasia killer.
This fish did in 2 weeks what Berghia, Peppermints and Joes Juice combined could not do for a year or more.

My CBB lasted only about a year though and then mysteriously died, even though she ate frozen ravenously and had lots of LR to pick from for other dietary needs.

To anyone reading this who has an aiptasia issue in its infancy, please do not sit back on this problem, the longer you wait, the more prolific they will become until they are in ever crack, crevice and corner and will pose a much more difficult problem for you to eradicate....

I think it was my initial laziness and then the overall size of the infestation that really rendered anything but the CBB useless for me.

Reefwars: did your filefish eat anything else other than aiptasia?
Was thinking of getting one for "just in case".
So far, knock on wood, this isn't a problem for me, but sooner or later, I'll get them buggers because of buying corals from others... Don't want to starve the little fish, if there aren't any aiptasias for them to eat. But they are hard to find, so if I see one, I would like to get one.

Marine aquari has gotten them n and same with Ken, I drove to Calgary for mine:) overall he never hurt anything he may have nipped at first but nothing. Could notice and def never seen any harm to my corals. Mine eats(ate) everything flakes or frozen and it took a few months for him to finish. I think it's honestly the beat approach to aiptasa Thera no chemicals no starving, no mysterios deaths and they are affordable. Unfortunately for me my small tank got so infested lately that against my better judgement put him in with my carpet he wiped out about half the smaller heads then the cArpet got him during the night, I found his bones the next day:( even worse is my carpet didn't like the meal and has closed up some since so it's been water changes for me for the past few days;) I'll be getting another one nce my new set up is established even I theirs no aiptasia because they are the ugliest and at the same time most beautiful fish I had seen weird how hat works:)

for reference it has to be a matted filefish others will pick at lps and softies alot:):)

I tried boiling water on the single one I found for a few nights. It survived no problem. Since I only have found one and I really didn't want to take chances I mashed a gob of epoxy putty over it. It's def dead.

Matted file fish is what i use, and he keeps aptasia in check. I had about 20 before i put him in, and he took care of them all. I still get one popping up now and again. But he takes care of them. He also like Xenia though, but he cant eat is faster than in grows.

Also he is a very cool fish, and eats any food i put in the tank.

I will second the pepermint shrimp, I used kalk slury to nuke the big ones with a needle and the 4 pepermint shrimp I had took care of the rest. you have to be carfull you are getting real pepermint shrimp though not the ones that look almost the same.

Steve

Could not vote as another type of fish was not an option.

I used the Matted Filefish Acreichthys tomentosus

Yup matted filefish best non chemical weapon bar none,and touches no corals.

when I looked it up I got this
"The Matted Filefish is known to eat Aiptasia anemone in the home aquarium, but normally nips at soft and stony corals as well."

aside from that it is one ugly fish :mrgreen:

Steve

Mine hasn't touched any other coral, and cleaned my tank of hundreds of aptasia. And after a while, they kinda become cute :)

Edit: I've also had him 6 months now, long after the aptasia were done, and he thrives on mysis. In my mind, absolutely the best defense against aptasia..