Never thought I'd say this...

riceboy · #1 01-20-2013, 03:46 PM

Lol I was in the same boat, had probably hundreds in my tank. So I got fed up, went out and bought 8x4l bottles of vinegar and soaked all my rocks in it for 2 days. Killed everything including the aiptasia. It was satisfying to see a tank with no aiptasia, for now lol.

Dearth · #2 01-20-2013, 05:52 PM

Congrats on destroying the scourge of the SW world

Foxface · #3 01-20-2013, 06:17 PM

I had the same problem last year, bought a file fish and he took care of all of them!

riceboy · #4 01-20-2013, 06:41 PM

I have a question since all your aptasia is dead will all your berghia nudi die? And what do you plan on doing to prevent it from happening again. I'm scared of getting a frag and poof I end up with aiptasia again. I have tried peppermints before but they always die in a day to make any difference.

lastlight · #5 01-20-2013, 07:27 PM

My peppermints are my only cleanup crew so they get plenty to eat. I'm pretty sure if they both died I'd start to see aiptasia again. I personally believe you can't ever get every last one but so far so good.

Skimmerking · #6 01-20-2013, 08:07 PM

I found that using kalk didn't work for me it made it worse. Since I dose with Kalk well use too I think that they are immune to them. Now in my RSM 250 they are getting out of hand.

asylumdown · #7 01-20-2013, 08:27 PM

In my last tank I used kalk, Joes Juice, Lemon Juice, boiling water, Lime Juice, AiptasiaX, etc. etc. etc. I also bought an Aiptasia zapper, half a dozen peppermints, and about 1000 in berghia.

The chemical solutions don't ever kill 100% of an anemone, it might melt most of it, but it always leaves enough tissue at the base to regrow one eventually. That plus the chances of triggering the aiptasia to release single celled clones of itself in to the water column, making the problem much worse, is very high. Also about 60% of aiptasia grow in racks or crevices that you simply can't reach with a zapper or syringe. The best I was able to accomplish was a temporary reprieve around the base of my corals, but it was hours and hours of work on a weekly basis to keep them 'under control' I even went so far as to remove all my rock and blowtorch them, but I missed probably half of them.

I tried peppermint shrimp next, shrimp that I watched devour an aiptasia in the store, but I fed my tank to well. They never touched a single anemone in my tank in over 6 months. I also suspect that the shrimp were why the berghia failed the first time, as they are known predators of nudibranchs. I know I'm a small sample size, but I feel pretty comfortable saying that if you're going for aiptasia control, you have to decide from the beginning if you want the shrimp, or the nudis, and to not mix them. In this tank I also don't have any of the wrasses that are suspected to go after nudibranchs either, so that might have had something to do with it.