Aiptasia Threshold

[Kens Bees]

Is there a certain amount of aiptasia I should accept before considering it a problem? Right now I count less than a dozen, with a few at the base of corals. Others are just on live rock scattered about. My concern is I only had one or two a couple months ago. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Chris A.]

Annihilate as soon as possible. They are spreading way faster than you think

 

[Kens Bees]

Annihilate as soon as possible. They are spreading way faster than you think

Suggestions? Nudis, shrimps, fish? chemicals?

 

[ChrisV]

The nudibranchs are extremely effective. I don't breed them anymore, but they are voracious aiptasia eaters. What is your fish stocking list? Some fish eat the nudibranchs.

 

[ChrisV]

@luu78 and @shrimpchips have them available sometimes.

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

Peppermint shrimp work the best. They eat the aiptasia, and afterwards, they eat leftover food to help keep your tank clean. I always keep at least one in every tank. There are other ways of killing them, but if not done 100% correctly, you just end up making it worse. If you try Aptasia X or something similar like kalk paste, remember to get the stuff way into the crack of the rock and all over the foot. As soon as they sense danger, they spawn from the foot area.

 

[Kens Bees]

Went with the nudi's. We'll see over the next few weeks how they do. I may get a peppermint once this initial round is over as sort of a maintenance shrimp.

 

[Zirky]

I just read yesterday that peppermint shrimp are the number one predator of nudibranch.

 

[ChrisV]

I just read yesterday that peppermint shrimp are the number one predator of nudibranch.

I have heard this too...but I think wrasses and springeri damsels are right there with them. And dottybacks. Basically fish that eat wormie things.

 

[Cpage101]

with so few use F aptasia it works well

 

[luu78]

For me, Berghias is my predator of choice when it comes to aptaisa erradication. With that being said, that only holds true up to the point of last visible aptaisa. Once the last aptaisa is eaten, the Berghias will start to dwindle off as well. One thing I realize is, the aptaisa are much more resilient than the Berghias and will remain in our system long after the last Berghias die off. I find that once I rehome the Berghias due to lack of food source, a month or so later, the aptaisas start to reappear. This occur in all my 3 tanks. It almost deem necessary to restock the Berghias every so often due to this reason or I would have to have a separate culture of aptaisa to keep the Berghias alive on standby until the next battle on the reef.

 

[shrimpchips]

Just speaks to the fact that, especially with a biological system, there’s rarely a silver bullet. The berghias in all my time reefing have been the most effective in reeling in an infestation. Yet even after they’ve done their thing I’m expecting a few to pop up, at which point I’ll be able to manage. Fact is if you rely entirely on one system for a critical function, sooner than later you’ll be let down.

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

When you're done with the berghias, put in a peppermint.