Bulk Reef Supply Franks Tanks Faiptasia works great nothing has worked for me but this miracle product. I still have it I need to buy more but the areas I’ve hit which were biblical plague amounts have not come back and it’s been a month all my corals are looking happy and healthy now that they aren’t getting stung.
Kenan Bakin Bergia is your best option, been in the hobby 15 yrs, have had aptasia at least 3 times and berghia ALWAYS does the trick. Only thing is it will die at some point so only get a cpl small ones, especially if it’s a tank less than 75 gallons. They will eat them all just give them time.
I definitely had this problem, but 2 real peppermint shrimp did some MAJOR damage to them. I still had a hunt and peck but nothing compared to what it had been.
I’m gonna keep commenting this.... guys! Branch out to the UK / Europe. We NEED you. All your advice and equipment is relevant and needed here, it’s just the voltage/current change on electrical. There’s a couple of really good coral places here that would benefit from your presence here too. Your approach to the hobby and sales/service will change the game here.
I bought 5 peppermint shrimp and added them to my sump for a few days. First I let them get hungry for a couple days. Then I started adding small rocks/frags with aiptasia on them. I wanted to make sure they went for the aiptasia and not the corals as I've heard stories of them nipping at your corals too. Long story short, they went to town on the aiptasia, didn't touch the corals, and got promoted to the display tank. This was last week and I'm already seeing a significant decrease in aiptasia.
WOW! That is an awesome plan! That way they they will be forced to go after them and cant get attacted by any predators! only problem is my sump is only about 10 to 15 gallons and have a few big rocks that wont fit:(
Love that BRS goes into detail about how Aiptasia killing products can actually make the issue worse. I had a system that was at "break down the tank" levels because of those so called "cures". Started off with 10-20 and went to literally hundreds (maybe more) within a few months while using them. I've tried them all and only watched the problem get worse. Never plugged them the way that BRS suggests, but for certain just using the goop made what was initially a nuisance into a near disaster. Berghia nudis did the trick for me. Two orders of nudis cleared out the entire tank of any noticeable Aiptasia. Money well spent and my go to for Aiptasia.
I had a tank full of aptasia. The more I tried to eradicate them the more they multiplied. I was disgusted and ready to give up. My last shot was an Australian Strippy. He wasn’t cheap but, in 4 weeks I have ZERO aptasia and he’s only a little guy. He is my absolute hero and I will always keep one in my tank. Took forever to find one but we’ll worth the effort and the cost.
I have a number 21 for you! Don’t use tweezers! My first coral tank, and my first aiptasia. My local shop told me to just try to get it out with tweezers. I pulled two chunks out and 5 min later I saw it back in full bloom. Pissed off so I looked to RU-vid and found this video. I freaked out and immediately pulled the candy cane plug out and isolated it and ordered X. Fortunately it was sitting alone and not permanently placed. I pray I didn’t stress it and send babies everywhere, so I’ll BOLO for sure! Thank you @BRStv for your awesome channel…
Great video! Recently found one aiptasia on a Cynarina base. After watching this video I will tackle eradicating it this morning! Glad you covered all the topics I've heard about since getting into the hobby.
Wild-caught Gulf of Mexico (Florida Keys) Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni, perhaps?) absolutely eradicated my Aiptasia. However, after the aiptasia were gone, they immediately went on to devouring my Euphyllia (Fimbriaphyllia) - I witnessed this first hand investigating the tank at night. I ended up deciding to move the Euphyllia to another tank. They didn't bother any other corals I had in the tank.
Mostly have to learn to manage it. Have had it for 7 years in my 180 reef. Never got out of control and so far the best have used is boiling water in a syringe. Even used a high powered laser beam at one point. It burned paper and other things immediately. When I added the shrimp my marine grouper ate them. Ordered LARGE ones and of course received miniature. Another thing that works was soaking the rock in a bucket of vinegar for 30 minutes and all done. But have a LOT of rock and that is expensive but it does work.
I shall. Just for fun I did zap one with diluted H2O2 a couple times. Then syphoned it out when it fizzled. Wish your channel was around when I built my 180 reef in the early 90’s. Thanks!
Watched this video, 1 week later got a live rock with aiptasia, glad I watched this video. Rock was pulled from quarantine tank... spread was stopped at giving up live rock....
I got some new Chaeto for my refug and there was one on it the next day. I left it because I was gonna take care of it the next day but that morning, there were 4!! I took the chaeto out. Lol
As a new reefer I accidentally solved my aiptasia problem by getting a coral banded shrimp and corals that had berghia in them, neither of which I knew were useful for managing aiptasia. Aiptasia was gone within weeks. I got lucky!!
Everybody hates on Aiptasia X but it worked perfectly for me. That said...next tank I will be curing dry rock instead of buying live and dipping everything that goes into the tank
Have had small aiptasia outbreaks in three separate tanks. 2-3 peppermints in a fluval 5, two to three weeks , all gone, none seen for 2 years. Aiptasia eating filefish - leather jackets in two other tanks. Gone! Weir on my display was a forest, cleaned in 3 days, none seen anywhere for months. Another one in a 30 long, cleaned up a scattered amount. Never had much luck with copperbands though.
boy is this timely. I found one aptasia in my sump, and it looks like three sprouting up from my sand bed in my display last night during a water change.
Hi , I have used the laser and it has actually worked for me. You do have to take precautions and it takes time , but I caught my aiptasia early which made it easier
Tried a whole bunch of things, aiptasia x, F aiptasia, joes juice, nudibrachs, manjo wand. What really killed them off is the peppermint shrimp. I've must of been lucky and got a good hungry batch.
@@carlosmontenegro8501 As of today, I've had a trio in my 65g tall for a month. Two in the display and one in the refugium in the sump. So far they had not bother any corals except for when I spot feed. That's when they steal food.
I like to use a combination of the methods that you have mentioned and you can easily keep on top of these anemones. I can sometimes just lift them of the substrate if they land there :)
5:45 Gwad...... I wish you guys were the angel on my shoulder at the store when I got the bogo sale of coral..... ended up with a leather I felt bad for, ended up having a pyramid snail which killed my 6" clam!!!! $^#%#% LOVE YOUR ADVICE, wish I heard it sooner.
I have two Aptasia that I keep blasting with aptasia x but they keep coming back, probably had them for a couple of years and luckily they haven’t spread. I’m going to try the Kalwasa and putty you guys mentioned. Thanks for all the advice, love your videos 👍
I would add another line: not understanding corals that can fight aipstasia. You can get galaxea, hydnophora, elegance coral... those can flourish even if you have aipstasia. I’ve gotten to the point I’d rather limit my coral selection than keep worrying about aipstasia to some degree.
have had aptasia 3 or 4 times during my career. none for the past five years or so. i've always used 3 or 4 peppermint shrimp, tank is about 120 gallons. They come out at night and in about a month or two they are gone, each time ive used them. have done all the glue stuff etc., but they don't go away. The shrimp love them. don't waste your time with anything else.
"if you buy propogated corals from a reputable propogation facility" I got all my corals from WWC and trusted that i wouldn't get aptasia but here I am.
Kents Part B from the 2 part dosing completely disintegrates aiptasia instantly (and coral) if you squirt it directly on them. Luckily I had some space between all my aiptasia and corals so this worked great. Proceed with caution. Lemon juice on a few at a time for a couple days will burn them to death also and is less risky.
I actually noticed one hanging out in my refugium a couple weeks ago. It's the first and only one I've seen in the tank. I know if there's one there's more, but I'd hate to disturb him and risk them spreading to the display. Ive been looking everyday all over the tank to make sure I don't see them. But I know it's inevitable that it will make its way someday, so I'm torn on what to do haha. It's been over a year and this is the first I'm having this issue with this tank!
I purchased a ricordea on line and dipped it. 4 months later an aptasia popped up out of no where. I’m like what the hec!! It is now in a super glue tomb!
I trained my filefish to eat aiptasia by quarantining it with a rock full of aiptasia I got from a buddy before adding it to the DT. It quickly figured out that they made for a tasty morsel.
I have tried Aiptasia X worked until new little ones started growing everywhere. I tried the File fish, it looked like it worked then the file fish died because that is about all it ate (the other fish were more food aggressive). So now I am using F-Aiptasia, it does seem to work for reducing the numbers. F-Aiptasia is like Randy's idea of using Aiptasia X then adding epoxy. F-Aiptasia you cover the Aiptasia and the F-Aiptasia turns hard. I believe that you need to keep the hard crusted area in the tank undisturbed for a month or two. Because I did disturb the crust a few days after and the Aiptasia returned after a week or so. So the places where I left F-Aiptasia undisturbed seem be staying Aiptasia free. One thing to say GOOD LUCK to anyone who has Aiptasia !
I was at a LFS and saw a giant aiptasia in the corner I thought was an anenome I wanted (Im brand new to reefing) I took a pic of it and later saw this video and realized it was a monster 5 inch parasite
I got one of those file fish the day I saw my first aiptasia, he ate it within 20 minutes and I literally never saw another one. I kept the aiptasia there just to see if he’d eat it and he sure did.
I had a plague of aptasia in my little red sea 20 cube. Covered the rocks, the back wall, everywhere. Think it came in on a Trochus snail. Only removed with Berghia, and then when all aptasia were gone, a peppermint shrimp has kept the tank free since then. Now I have a plague of bubble algae. Hoping this doesn't turn into a biblical 7 plagues thing.
Never tried anything else, but I added a matted filefish and he went straight at the aiptasia. He's a voracious eater and the pest is gone. He eats frozen food well and two years in, no aiptasia at all. Guess I'm lucky, but I'll take it!
there’s one particular lfs in my area who likes to keep aipatasia in their fish tank. lol. guess he sells them? he used to have rampant amount in his coral tanks... but i haven’t been there for over a year. lol. and people wonder why he keeps relocating.
Well I am glad youtube recommended this to me. I am new reefer and my Kenya tree has a piece of this on it. I have seen it for last 2 months but didnt realize thats what it is.. =/ I guess I need to just remove it which sucks its one of the only coral I have right now
I have a sixth sense for finding them, propably out of fear for them.. I really hate them after loosing to them 20 years ago.. My solution is discovering them in time when there is still a sinle one or two, and act the same minute, no matter if you dont really have time for it.. I have a 1 ml syringe filled with extra strong vinegar. Here in Norway we can get 40% and I think really 15-20 will work. I tip the syringe with the blue ekstra thin needle meant for intramuscular injections, the green meant for adults is just giving to big doses. I just prick them right in the mouth and press, holding the stamp part, not the tube part. If you try to hold it normaly you will miss, these devils are too fast for a normal injection method. That is also why I use the small syringe, since if I miss I havent destroyd my water chemistry, and 1 ml is enough for the strongest biggest hulking aptasia if you hit and fill him. So far in my latest setup 65g cube with mix of real live rock that I knew could have some aptasia I managed to keep them of, just killing 2 babies and its now months since I saw ANY at all.. I learned this trick from an really old reefer who died now from Corona (may his memory be a blessing) and I saw it worked on my old tank, but it was too late when I learned it, they had me cornered.
Started with just1 in my 7 month old tank, by the time I realized it might become a problem I could see around 10. I ordered aiptasia x and blasted about 15 of them but that only pissed them off and soon I had about 20. I then picked up a file fish and 2 peppermint shrimp from LFS. It took about 4 or 5 days before they got to work but after about 10 days I have none.
There a lots of live options to help eliminate them. I've aiptasia X for a few small one's but the live options help to keep them under control for the long haul.
I put in a Klein Butterfly fish into a tank filled with aiptasia. It took about 4-5 months, but the tank was fully eradicated and years later no sign of aiptasia. Klein are much easier to feed and keep than copperband butterfly fish. They are also typically coral friendly and an overall nice addition to the tank.
I bought a zoa frag that ended up having aptasia on it, it was not visible in the store and did not see it until after 2 weeks of having it in my tank. I did manage to get the aptasia off and out of the zoa frag, BUT, it did spread. Now when I do see them, I will pull the rock and scrub that area under hot tap water with an old tooth brush. Last one I seen was a couple of weeks ago.
What worked best for me was a raccoon butterfly. You need to watch it, obviously, when the aiptasia are gone, because it may start to go after your corals.
My old tank was over run with aipstasia and what we did was get nudibranches they will kill aipstasia until there is no more but they will die when there is no more so you will have to buy more if you get it again but I would say it only takes a couple weeks to kill
As one who has PTSD from aiptasia, and seriously... I felt a cold clammy chills overtake me just watching this video, I have fought the beast many times, and have lost just about as many. I feel physical removal is the only way to remove it, everything else just manages it got it on a coral, can you chop off half the coral? is it on rock? gonna break off a good chunk of that rock? Aiptasia just as crazy good regenerative qualities that it doesn't take much for it to grow all again. Oh yeah at 6:49 that's not aiptasia that's a tube anemone. And #19, yeah sump/fuge, but also overflow boxes, in pipes... if you have an infected tank assume you always have it.
I brought a coral then noticed the pest so the new coral went in the bin to protect the tank my hubby went spare because of the waste of money but I had no hesitation in the bin it went
I recently purchased a wild collected porites. Didnt notice the tiny aiptasia until a day or so.. Ended up supee gluing it and most of the rock just incase there were smaller ones
Shrimp ate all of mine and then they died. My other shrimp were fine. But the Aiptasia were erradicated. I'm restarting a 710 liter and this time I'm going really slow. One, I'm lazy. Two, I just want to get it really right this time.
I had one little aiptasia in my 38gal bow front. Saw it one day and then it was gone the next day. I had a bullet head goby in there and I assume he ate it.
First saltwater tank, purchased a live rock from petco. Noticed this weird anemone on the rock. It looks exactly like aptasia. Removed the rock, I will not be buying my aquarium needs from petco from now on.
One critical point people should be aware of when dealing with Aiptasia is that the most common and effective cure is Peppermint shrimp....please note that they will only eat the small ones, so you have to deal with the big ones yourself. What people don't realize is that once the Aiptasia are gone, the peppermint shrimp will often start consuming healthy live corals. Many claim this is the result of misidentified species and that the culprits are not actually true peppermint shrimp. This is is patently false. Not all peppermint shrimp consume corals...they are like people some of whom don't eat meat. But I have had these shrimp destroy many corals so I was forced to set traps to get them back out of the reef tank...and once they are gone, the Aiptasia will likely come back. Its a tough balancing act. There are no easy quick fixes.
There is multiple peppermint shrimp in the industry. Lysmata wurdemanni Animal Description DescriptionLysmata wurdemanni, commonly known as the peppermint shrimp, is a species of shrimp. Wikipedia Scientific name: Lysmata wurdemanni Phylum: Arthropoda Higher classification: Lysmata Order: Decapods Rank: Species Species: L. wurdemanni. Peppermint Shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni - Aquarium Depotaquariumdepot.com › peppermint-shrimp-lysmata-wur... The Saltwater Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) is also known as Veined Shrimp and Caribbean Cleaner Shrimp. It is a natural predator of the nuisance anemone- aiptasia, while some peppermint shrimp may have more of a taste for the anemone than others. MINIMUM TANK SIZE: 30 gallons CARE LEVEL: Moderately Easy FOOD/DIET: Carnivore
I had an aiptasia problem, I took the rock out and scrubbed the heck out of the rock with fresh water running it down the drain scrubbing with a wire brush, I put the rock back in the tank and dayum and it spread like wild fire
I used AptasiaX for my couple I've had...saw it...nuked it straight away with ApX. I never let them get a foothold. Years later never had them come back.
I just recently eradicated it from 3 tanks(all connected) and it took a long time. I tried Joe's Juice and Aptasia X both of these killed and spread it. I tried peppermint shrimp, but didn't realize the Neon Dottyback in the DT was killing them. I also got a Copperband , but my Sailfin & Purple tangs would casually bully it and died after 3 months without touching any aptasia. Went to LFS to purchase a Filefish and the guy told me he didn't recommend it and that I was better off leaving the aptasia in the tank(wtf). I was so discouraged the aptasia got outta control and killed well over $1000 in coral. I was ready to just shut it down and then I found Berghia Nudibranchs. I bought 7 nudibranchs let them run its course. It was very hard to look at the tank, but then it just slowly started to disappear and its finally gone after 4 months!!!
Another issue - it seems everything bloody eats nudis! Brittlestars, Bristleworms, amphipods eat nudi eggs.... 😢 this battle could get the better of me 😖
I got a few from zoa frag I thought I had it really cleaned off but I guess I didn't. I have a few in my tank but before they get out of hand I bought three B nudis to eat them.
I used them in my 80g shallow I think they are eating my corals at night. Aiptasia population is down but maybe with possible coral eating shrimp. They at least pick at it
I had same thing in my tank had one then had hundreds tried joes juice and it worked but couldn’t kill them all kill one and 10 more popped up tried copper banded he didn’t last wouldn’t eat anything. You guys didn’t mention Klein’s butterfly fish put 2 in there and couple weeks all gone and never came back
not mentioning at all that filefish very high percentage they start eating coral, copperbands and peppermint shrimp eating coral and anemones as well. also not mentioning scats, they will clear aiptasia from a tank in one day. some eat coral as well but others are in big displays and are used as rental fish.
Fair point. There are several comments sharing the same sentiment, however we've been pretty fortunate to not have experienced coral pecking from either of those. Likely related to how heavily we feed the tank and just how many aiptasia were there to begin with.
My damn LFS gave me mine. I bought a coral one day, went back a couple weeks later, and the tank I bought my coral from at my LFS was overrun with Aiptasia.
Also, if you have coral in your take, watch out with the file fish. I had to get rid of a file fish as it was nipping at my welso metallic rainbow folded brain. Decision, keep a fish I paid $20 for or keep a coral that is worth $700. Good bye file fish. Besides, it was not touching the aptasia at all.
