Aiptasia...Prepare For Battle!
By Ryan Achenbach
 
Before and After with JoesJuice
Aiptasia are generally opportunistic, even in the natural reefs. They are
currently showing up in shallow reefs as "anemone barrens" after catastrophic incidents such as uncommon low tides, etc. that strip the
areas of the typical life. They are animals geared to proliferate in conditions that we happen to provide in aquaria.....high nutrient systems
with available areas of landscape. A few come in on liverock, and you can quickly have yourself a farm:
To understand how they are geared to take over a system, it is amazing to compare them to other anemones. Anemones can reproduce sexually
and asexually...the latter most often being accomplished through cloning or budding. Aiptasia take this to a whole new level. They most commonly
reproduce by pedal laceration....in which they simply travel and leave little bits of themselves behind. These quickly grow into functioning aiptasia,
and have the gift of zooxanthellae already built into them in case food availability is low.
So now we can look at control.
Natural Means
It's great to be able to wipe out a problem and have a cool new tank addition at the same time. There are currently several "natural" means of aiptasia maintenance
available to the hobbyist...a brief review follows each.
1. Peppermint Shrimp - My own observations are that juveniles are much more interested in eating aiptasia than larger adults. Still, they can be hit or miss.
One of the most important distinctions were pointed out by Kdodds....you need to have L. wurdemanni rather than the "Camel-back" shrimp
(difference can be viewed here).
2. Copperband butterfly (and others) - May eat aiptasia, but also will devour tubeworms. Many butterfly fish including the Copperband also can be difficult
to acclimate to tanklife, leaving a conscientious decision to be made if risking one life is worth the benefit provided.
3. Berghia nudibranch - Species are up in the air, hence why I am vague. I have had the enjoyment of breeding these guys, and it indeed is not hard. They eat
exclusively aiptasia and seem to be a great choice. There are however possible problems...one is having the time to get a pair or two and develop them into an
aiptasia eating army. I heard 8 billion times how ugly the 2g tanks were on the kitchen counter . The other problem is their use in "larger" tanks
(I will go anything over 30g or so). As the population of aiptasia dwindles, so does the population of Berghia. It is not realistic to think that a few remaining
Berghia will cross the liverock "desert" and be able to find stragglers....and thus the whole process repeats itself. Dollars to donuts the aiptasia will win
the game of longevity. If you have time and space to produce and replace as needed, these little guys can be effective and a great learning experience.
Chemical Means
Tank "nuking" at its finest. There are more remedies in this category than can be believed, and I have used all that didn't involve sacrifices and blood. Some are
as follows (in my opinion of course).
1. Boiling water - Responsibility for the wounding of hundreds of aiptasia everywhere. Unfortunately, as they melt and/or recover....this means that there will
soon be many more aiptasia in it's place. Wounding seems to put them into a cloning frenzy.
2. Lemon Juice - See boiling water
3. Kalk paste - Efficient, as coating them seems to really cause them problems. The issue is trying to do work with such to kill a major infestation. I would
use this on isolated problem areas in a heartbeat. Cover them up and watch 'em sizzle, leave it sit with the pump off for maximum effectiveness (otherwise it blows
off, sending it and clumps of aiptasia flesh floating).
4. Kalk injection - I could never get it mixed right to where it would come out thin instead of clogging up the syringe in a couple shots.
5. Joes Juice - At first I was not impressed, but later tried a different strategy. I am 1000% convinced it uses kalk as the basis for its product, but
something keeps it thin while applying. Used in the same manner as kalk, turning the pumps off and coating the entire anemone (starting at the mouth and allowing
it to feed...then working your way out) really causes them problems. Leaving the pumps off for 15min or so usually eradicates them completely. I tried making my
own to thin it out, but my version stank......for the few bucks I'll stop being cheap!
One method does not need to be implemented alone. Perhaps a peppermint shrimp along with kalk or JJ would be the perfect arsenal. One thing is for sure, don't
think to yourself that a couple cute buggers will stay that way....they just can't help taking prime real estate for themselves. Now, if you have no corals and
only plan on a fish tank....they are incredible little filters that pose little threat to most other than the very smallest of fish.
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