Can't beat my Aiptasia outbreak

[Fritz05]

You'll need more than 1 peppermint if you are battling a large infestation. Just think about the biomass involved, one peppermint can eat maybe 1 or 2 heads of aip per day if you get lucky if it doesn't eat anything else, but realistically they are scavengers than also eat ur fish food and coral food. Just 1 is not going to outpace the rate of new aip growth.

I had 3 in my 65G during the initial stage of the outbreak and it took about a month to see majority clearing up. Then I gave 1 away to a local reefer and kept the 2 as maintainance. They left the aip population in check for the past 2 years away from the DT. Sump and plumbing, on the other hand, is like an aip forest lol.

Also make sure you have a true pepper. There are a lot of different species that all are colloquially named peppermint. Some are unintentional misidentifications by the fishstore clerk so not always nefarious, so you'd want to look at an id chart and ID them urself in the store. Wurdemanni or boggessi are what you want.

Here an article on identifying peppermint shrimp. And boggessi eat SPS, I unfortunately know from experience.

Peppermint Shrimp Identification

Peppermint shrimp are widely suggested as a reef safe solution for ridding aptasia from a tank. While others say they are coral eating terrors best left to fish only systems. Why the discrepancy in people's experiences? Well, it could be that we're not talking about the same shrimp. There are...

humble.fish

 

[phillyb614]

No, I've heard anecdotally that they go after the soft polyps when they starve but never observed any in my tank. I've seen them jump and grab food out of the water column when I broadcast feed, and even be jerks that take the food that my acans trapped in their heads, but never eating the polyp themselves.

This is my exact experience with peppermint shrimp as well.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So ever since the late spring I've been battling aiptasia. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. No matter what I do, it comes back. Right now every rock I have is covered in them. My glass has dozens... everything. I don't see any in my sump, but I'm sure they are there too. I Just don't know what to do anymore. I've been reefing for 20 years, but I've never had this issue. I'm thinking of taking all my live rock and sand out, throwing it away and leaving the tank a few hours with no water and then starting again with new sand and rock. Is this pretty much my only option at this point?

For Aptasia- You cant beat a Kleini Butterfly BUT must be the bluehead- NOT the yellow version. The yellow will go after coral too but bluehead as pictured will eat aptasia like candy, then eat all dry and frozen food offered, colorful, friendly and stays small. I will note that a couple of persons who got the blue had their kleini nip zoa. if so- easy sell, or place in sump as aptasia have likely made it down there already

 

[joseph78009]

You really cant not try a Klein’s Butterflyfish or Corallicola Butterfly .I have keep one in my salt tanks for the last 15 years the only coral they nibbiled on was zoos,They are very hardy peaceful inexpence and will readily eat what you normally feed you fish.I have read about some that had them nip coral some sites say they arent reef safe. i have never had a bad experince with Kliens in my tanks one will allways be in each of my tanks. Good Luck.

 

[Ksturg]

So ever since the late spring I've been battling aiptasia. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. No matter what I do, it comes back. Right now every rock I have is covered in them. My glass has dozens... everything. I don't see any in my sump, but I'm sure they are there too. I Just don't know what to do anymore. I've been reefing for 20 years, but I've never had this issue. I'm thinking of taking all my live rock and sand out, throwing it away and leaving the tank a few hours with no water and then starting again with new sand and rock. Is this pretty much my only option at this point?

Kalkwasser in a syringe….i put the needle just over them and coat them completely. They immediately die I’ve been doing this for a month for the ones I can see. I don’t see anymore but I’m sure there are some in the rocks that I can’t see. I agree with other comments to get nudibranchs they will wipe them out and get the ones deep in the rocks.

 

[Jmp998]

So ever since the late spring I've been battling aiptasia. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. No matter what I do, it comes back. Right now every rock I have is covered in them. My glass has dozens... everything. I don't see any in my sump, but I'm sure they are there too. I Just don't know what to do anymore. I've been reefing for 20 years, but I've never had this issue. I'm thinking of taking all my live rock and sand out, throwing it away and leaving the tank a few hours with no water and then starting again with new sand and rock. Is this pretty much my only option at this point?

I would not recommend 'throw away rock and sand, let tank sit a few hours, restart'. Aiptasia in your plumbing, pumps, etc will absolutely survive this, and a few months later you will be in exactly the same place. The only way this might work is if you can ensure that everything-including inside of pumps, plumbing, etc-becomes bone dry, or is replaced. Of course you would also need to toss any coral with a hard skeleton. Aiptasia can also survive in tap water for days (some will die but many will live), so if you try that it needs to be for a long time. Hot water, citric acid, etc will kill them-but I would be afraid of what that would do to the seals on my tank.

There are lots of options though, although none are universally successful. Berghia are always safe but don't always work-main downside is they die off after the aiptasia are gone. The various fish are sometimes safe, sometimes work-if you get lucky, this can be a good long term control option. Some people have good luck with peppermint shrimp, some don't.

None of these options are perfect, but there is a good chance you will find one that works for you without doing a complete reset. Plus even if you do have a successful reset, you may just re-introduce aiptasia in the future and have to do it over again.

 

[Peter Houde]

I've discovered the 100% guaranteed tried and true method of killing Aptasia. They often come as hitchhikers on the macroalgae I buy a few times a year. I snip off whatever macro 'leaf' they're on and just throw it away. Then I put the macro in QT for a couple of weeks because others invariably materialize seemingly from nowhere. They seem to prefer to move onto the glass in time, where they're much easier to remove with a blade or towel. That's all well and good for not introducing them into the DT, but it doesn't address your problem.
So, back to the point. Three got into the DT a few years ago. Aptasia-X didn't work for me. I know everyone tells you not to do this, but I got rid of those three simply by picking and scraping them off the rock very carefully. Never saw one again for years. Like I said, everyone tells you not to do that, and I believe it is probably based on hard learned experience. So, back to the point...
Just a few weeks ago, now a couple of years later, I spotted another lone Aptasia in the DT. And here's the guaranteed fix. You might think I'm funning you, but I'm not. I put the rock in the microwave oven and nuked it till it was baked dry (and then some). Yup, guaranteed killed everthing on the rock. Fortunately, the coralline algae is coming back fairly quickly.
This was probably no help at all

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

CBB did it for me. Took it about a month to settle in and start eating them, but then problem over…