Never thought I'd say this...

[asylumdown]

But I think I might have actually won the war against aiptasia. I'm feeling an inappropriate amount of glee over this.

I went to such crazy lengths to prevent getting aiptasia in this tank because of how utterly and completely they ruined my last one. I spent probably 3 grand trying to get them out of my old 90 gallon, and for my efforts I wound up with a tank that was so infested you couldn't see the rock anymore, easily 10,000 plus anemones.

When the first one popped up in this tank I thought I acted swiftly and aggressively enough to nip the problem in the bud, but it was in the sand, and by the time I saw it, it must have walked itself half way across the tank, leaving little copies of itself as it went. By the start of fall, I probably had over 1000 aiptasia, with some rocks starting to look just like the rock in my old tank.

Instead of wasting time or money on any of the chemical cures like I did last time, I just went straight to the Berghia. They didn't work in my 90 gallon, but that wasn't the most stable of systems. I ordered 20 from Salty Underground and they arrived on November 16th. They went in, and disappeared. I thought they must have all either died or been eaten as the aiptasia problem kept getting worse and worse until right around christmas (I think I even posted on here saying they were a waste of money!), when all of the sudden I woke up and noticed that the mother of a whole aiptasia nest that was stinging an encrusting SPS that came on my rock had vanished. Then the next day, two of her babies disappeared. Within a week the face of that rock was clear of aiptasia. Then on new years day I found several utterly tiny, baby berghias in my sump, so they're clearly successfully breeding. Now I can't shine a light in my tank at night without spotting 3 or 4 of the nudibranchs (I counted 7 big fat ones a few days ago), and every day it seems like another 10% of the anemones disappear. I'm going to have to start giving them away soon!

This is the most satisfying thing that's ever happened to my tank, by a wide margin.

[Mike-fish]

congrats on getting a handle on the little buggers. for me i was in the same predicament but 2L of lemon juice plus a copperband seal there fate

[Proteus]

Nice. Never had luck with bergia. I bought 4 peppermint shrimp that took care of them. Over the last 4 months I think I've had 3 aptasia which I used boiling viniger in a syringe.

[lastlight]

It's so awesome when a plan against them works out. I think it's pretty rare actually. Peppermints and filefish never worked in my 400 but my 2 peppermints now demolished mine. Now I buy frags with aiptasia on them without worry. The next day they're already eaten. Congrats!

[jus68]

Congrats on your success! I was quite discouraged when Aptasia took over my previous tank. I'm ultra cautious now when introducing corals in my current system.

I have a question: Does all of the above (nudi, peppermint, lemon juice) work on killing off Mojanos?

[riceboy]

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]

Congrats on destroying the scourge of the SW world

[Foxface]

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

[riceboy]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[dnalamb]

I was in the same boat as you are I bought a Matted Filefish, it took about a month then it seemed like overnight half were gone witnin a week all clear except my overflow.

[mikeclarke]

I've got three aptasias....
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=93767
Would you use berghias or peppermint shrimps?

[dnalamb]

If you see three you probably have at least ten times that that you can't see.

[Dearth]

I use peppermint shrimp easier for me to get ahold of

[asylumdown]

I've got three aptasias....
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=93767
Would you use berghias or peppermint shrimps?

Peppermints are hit and miss. They work for some people, don't work for others. They never worked for me, while other people have had them clear an entire tank in a couple of weeks.

I like berghia because they're obligate aiptasia predators, it's the only thing they can and do eat, whereas peppermints can change their mind if something more tasty is available. Berghia, by weight, are probably the most expensive substance in existence however.

Whichever you do, pick one and do that. Peppermints will eat berghia, so if you put the peppermints in and they don't eat the aiptasia and you want to try berghia next, make sure you take the peppermints out first or it will be a lot of wasted money.

[mikeclarke]

How much are the beghia? I am coming to Calgary. Would you start out with peppermints? Are any of the sorta-reefsafe butterflies good too? I think that it might be good to hit it from multiple predators.


Peppermints are hit and miss. They work for some people, don't work for others. They never worked for me, while other people have had them clear an entire tank in a couple of weeks.

I like berghia because they're obligate aiptasia predators, it's the only thing they can and do eat, whereas peppermints can change their mind if something more tasty is available. Berghia, by weight, are probably the most expensive substance in existence however.

Whichever you do, pick one and do that. Peppermints will eat berghia, so if you put the peppermints in and they don't eat the aiptasia and you want to try berghia next, make sure you take the peppermints out first or it will be a lot of wasted money.

[asylumdown]

I don't know if they're available locally anywhere. I ordered mine from Salty Underground, which is in the states and is the only online store I know of the both routinely breeds them, and ships to Canada.

The smaller ones are around 10 bucks US each, plus shipping. They'll only do priority international, and they now require that you go and pick it up from the Fedex depot (which here in Calgary is up by the airport). Shipping to Calgary was $86.90 for me, and based on the size of my tank, I ordered 20 nudibranchs, so the order total $276USD. Considering that they're less that I don't own a scale that is sensitive enough to weigh one, it's crazy, but they work.

You can also buy bigger nudibranchs for like 15 bucks a piece, but I didn't seem to have a problem with the little ones.

And I wouldn't try peppermints again, but that's just my opinion and others will have different, and equally valid ones on the topic. Peppermints didn't touch a single aiptasia in my last tank, and I'm pretty sure they're responsible for the berghias that I bought after the shrimp failed not working as well. I spent over a grand on berghia over the course of... maybe 6 months (can't remember exactly) and they went in, and vanished immediately. I also never saw the peppermints, and was never successful at catching them until I broke the entire tank down. For that reason, knowing that I could never get them out of this tank if they didn't work, I went straight to the nudibranchs, and lo and behold, it's working like a charm this time. Again, some people have great luck with peppermints, but the ones I bought were eating aiptasia in the store, and then not a single one in my tank, so take that for what it is I guess.

I have also added a Copper Band butterfly. I bought him when I didn't think the nudis were doing their job, and kept him in quarantine after I realized they were in fact working famously as I was afraid the fish would eat the nudibranchs. I put him in the big tank a couple of weeks ago though, and he will only eat the tiniest of aiptasia, like less than a mm across. He won't touch the bigger ones, and he won't touch the ones that are growing on the glass or overflow higher than he normally swims. So far he hasn't bothered the nudibranchs either, I've watched him cruise past several on the rocks at night and not even notice. I'm sure there are Copper Bands out there that would happily devour a berghia though. My hope is that once the nudis clear out the bulk of the aiptasias, the copperband will eat any new ones that pop up before they can grow big enough for him to ignore them.

I should also add that for the first month and a bit that the nudibranchs were in my system, the tank was fish less (yay ich), so they had no predators of any kind to contend with. It might have helped, but there's not that many fish that are known for sure to eat berghia, just a bunch that are suspected to maybe do it.

[Dearth]

I have had good luck with Peppermints I have had 3 so far the first one I got went on a feeding frenzy with the aptasia however he met an unfortunate end when a rock moved and crushed him the second one I got wouldn't touch aptasia got the third one and it went to town on the aptasia I am now close to 2 months free.

Plus shrimp are generally fairly cheap $5-11 per shrimp