Aiptasia will show up in your reef tank at some point if you keep live rock or corals in it. When people ask about coral bugs, how to get rid of Aiptasia Anemones comes up most often. Pest anemones can quickly take over fish tanks with salt water and be hard to get rid of. They can also hurt other corals and sting fish nearby while being taken out.
People who are interested in Aiptasia have been facing it for decades, and luckily, several ways have been found to get rid of it for good.
What are Aiptaisa Anemones?
When you’re putting up a new saltwater tank, it can be very exciting to find life during the nitrogen cycle and right after. Copepods start to appear on the glass, and algae can also be very interesting to find. Until all of a sudden you see a small, clear fish that looks like coral.
The limbs on these “corals” are long and thin, and they might even look like a type of zoanthid at first glance. Most of the time, these stalks will be connected to an oral disc that sticks out from a long, clear stalk. Sadly, this unnamed polyp is usually an Aiptasia genus pest anemone.
The biggest problem with Aiptasia Anemones is that they can be sexual and asexual at the same time. They can split very quickly, making a lot more anemones very quickly. They have stinging cells like other anemone species, which can hurt coral, fish, and invertebrates close.
They may also grow in parts of the tank that are hard to get to, so you may not even notice a problem. Their arms will get longer to reach the light, but their stalks may get longer and come out of cracks in the rock.
What Eats Aiptasia?
Aiptasia is often fought with Peppermint Shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni. Make sure you buy Lysmata wurdenmanni and not Lysmata Californica and Rhynchocinetes durbanensis, which are cousins that live in the Pacific and are less interested in Aiptasia. Also, remember that not all Peppermint Shrimp will be interested in the anemones.
The Copperband Butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus) can also help with Aiptasia, but it might also eat clams, feather dusters, other anemones, or crustaceans that stay in one place. Before adding the Copperband Butterflyfish and Peppermint Shrimp to your tank, check out LiveAquaria.com to see what conditions are best for them.
The Berghia nudibranch (Berghia verrucicornis) has been shown to eat Aiptasia, even though it is hard to find as a hobby or keep alive in a tank. They are very small (10″14 mm), only come out at night, and it can take months for them to become a good Aiptasia-eating colony. Over time, they can greatly reduce or eliminate Aiptasia populations.
Aiptasia can be controlled safelyst with Kalkwasser, a calcium hydroxide solution that is safe for aquariums. This can be injected into the Aiptasia polyp with a syringe needle or stuck onto the anemone’s mouth. When you add calcium hydroxide to an aquarium, the pH can go up or down based on how much you use and how much water is in the aquarium. So, keep an eye on the water parameters.
Naming And Other Pest Anemones
There are several other species in the genus Aiptasia, but they are all just called Aiptasia. Other popular names for them are glass anemone and rock anemone (not to be confused with rock flower anemones in the Phymathidae family).
People may also group Majano anemones (Anemonia manjano), which are also a type of pest anemone, together when they talk about Aiptasia hitchhikers.
People say that Majano anemones are easier to get rid of than Aiptasia, but at the end of the day, they will both give you a headache. Majano anemones are prettier than Aiptasia in some ways. They have round green tentacles and a purple-pink oral disc. They are also bigger, have skin that is much less translucent, and have brighter colors overall.
Majano anemones can quickly take over a tank and hurt other corals and tankmates, just like Aiptasia. Luckily, most of the ways to get rid of pest anemones work for all of them.
How Do They Enter The Aquarium?
Most aquariums have Aiptasia Anemones living in them. They are sometimes hard to see in thick rock, and before you know it, they’ve taken over your tank. How did they get there in the first place?
It’s possible for these anemones to get into the tank by accident, just like any other algae or invertebrate. In other words, they can come in on live rock, reefs, or even filter media. Once they get into the tank, they can spread to the sump and filtering system, among other places.
It’s not a matter of “if” these anemones will get into your system, but “when.”
How Can You Keep Them From Getting Into The Aquarium?
If an Aiptasia Anemone wants to get into your tank, it will. But there are some things you can do to keep it out.
Mainly, observation and preparation are key.
Observation and Identification
The best way to find and kill Aiptasia before they can damage your reef tank is to watch them. This may sound like an easy process.
Check and check again any new live rock and coral that you add. Look in the cracks with a flashlight for signs of tentacles sticking out of the rock. After adding something new, keep checking your tank every day for a few weeks.
When pest anemones are stretched out in the water, they are easier to find than when they are submerged. If you can, look at live rock and corals from a method for keeping them safe. After that, use one of these ways to get rid of it.
People who are just starting out often make the mistake of letting an Aiptasia grow because they think it is a nice coral. You need to be able to correctly spot the anemone before you can repair the damage. All too often, any “lucky” coral you see on new rock or a coral plug is really an Aiptasia.
Quarantine
So, every new piece of live rock and coral should be kept in a safe place. Not an exception.
Not only does quarantine help keep diseases and illnesses out of the tank, it also makes it much less likely that Aiptasia Anemones will be introduced by accident.
If you leave them alone for two weeks or more, most hitchhikers will show their ugly faces. It is easier to fix these issues in a controlled environment than in a show, where you might have to break down the rockwork and filtering. It also means that treatments like chemical solutions can be stronger and reach more places.
Remove Frag Plugs
Most of the time, corals that you buy will come on a cut plug. This frag plug should always be taken out, even if the corals were grown in a controlled setting or were given to you by a trusted fellow hobbyist.
For some reason, frag plugs are known for letting in people who don’t belong there. Aiptasia move quickly to take over empty space, and a frag plug is no different. Most of the time, these anemones are so small that you might need a magnifying glass to see them.
When in doubt, throw it out.
Source Rock
Live rock and filter media are another way that Aiptasia Anemones move from tank to tank. A lot of the time, fans share these to start a new tank off with good bacteria. There is always a chance that you are adding Aiptasia to the system, even though this usually works perfectly.
If you really don’t want to bring in pest anemones through live rock or filter media that has been in another tank, don’t use it. Use brand-new dry rock instead, and find another way to cycle the tank. This way, bugs won’t be able to get in.
One problem with this method is that it leaves behind many helpful hitchhikers, like copepods, which will need to be reintroduced by hand later.
Eliminating Aiptasia: 9 Effective Methods to Get Rid of Them
The best way to stop an Aiptasia outbreak in your aquarium is to move quickly and effectively as soon as you see one. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that they will grow and spread to other parts of the reef tank.
There are a few different ways to get rid of Aiptasia, and it may depend on the size, type, and number of anemones in your saltwater tank. The method may also work for you, and getting rid of Aiptasia may become an ongoing part of care.
Your saltwater tank may have Aiptasia Anemones. Here are the best ways to get rid of them.
1. Manual Clean-Up
One of the easiest ways to get rid of Aiptasia from the aquarium is to remove it by hand, but this is also the least reliable because these anemones can grow from even the smallest piece of flesh that is left over, and it’s easy to miss. In fact, Aiptasia only needs one remaining cell to turn into a new animal.
You will need to be able to take the rock out of the tank in order to remove it by hand. Once it is out, use scissors, razors, bone cutters, or anything else you need to get every piece of anemone off of the rock. Some hobbyists even cut the rock in half to make sure the anemone can’t come back.
Still, it’s simple to miss other smaller Aiptasia that may have already spread or left behind signs.
2. Super Glue (Cyanoacrylate)
You can sometimes get rid of Aiptasia Anemones with super glue, which is also one of the safest and easiest ways to do it.
For this method, all you have to do is cover the anemone in a thick layer of superglue to stop it from growing. Just take the broken rock out of the tank and put a good amount of glue on it.
Some things are wrong with this method, though. To begin, taking the rock out of the reef tank isn’t always possible. Second, the anemone can easily grow around the glue and out through a different opening, which lets it live. Some fans have even seen them come out from the other side of the rock if the chance arises.
When it comes to rock pieces that can be taken off and small Aiptasia that can be heavily coated and sealed, super glue works best.
3. Chemical Products
There are a lot of chemical treatments on the market for aquariums that are meant to get rid of Aiptasia. When dealing with big colonies of pest anemones with large individuals, this method can work very well.
This is a great way to get rid of Aiptasia in a reef tank.
Aiptasia-X by Red Sea is one of the most well-known drugs used to treat aiptasia. This substance needs to be put on the anemone’s oral disc and then made to be eaten. The anemone collapses on itself in just a few minutes, stopping any new growth and larvae from spreading to other parts of the reef tank.
Other popular brands include:
- Joe’s Juice Eliminator for Aiptasia
- Aiptasia by Salifert
- Blue Life Aiptasia Rx 40 mg
- Reef of calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser).
Reef Kalkwasser isn’t made just for Aiptaisa, but it can be mixed with water to make a paste that can cover the anemone’s disc in the same way.
However these chemicals don’t work on all reefers, and if they’re not used properly, they can even hurt healthy corals. It can also be hard to apply if the anemone is in a place that is hard to get to and gives it time to respond and pull back. If someone only gets a small dose, the aiptasia may come back harder and start to spread.
Other DIY Solutions
In the event that chemical treatments are not available at the moment, you may need to create your own. Please keep in mind that these ways are very likely to fail and should only be used with great care.
- Lemon Juice. People have been able to get rid of Aiptasia Anemones with lemon juice. Put lemon juice into a needle and draw it into the anemone. It is thought that the acidity will kill the anemone.
- Vinegar. In the same way, vinegar can be inserted and will kill Aiptasia because it is acidic.
- Peroxide of hydrogen. You probably won’t get hydrogen peroxide to work if you only put it on the anemone. Instead, it can be used to get rid of the last bits of Aiptasia that were left over from past attempts to get rid of it.
- Water on fire. Hot water can be used by itself or mixed with vinegar or lemon juice. Once more, use a syringe to put it into the anemone.
These techniques have worked for some artists but not at all for others. Because lemon juice and vinegar are acidic, they can change the pH of the system, so it’s important to keep track of how much fluid is going in. Fish and bugs that are close to boiling water can also get burned.
If you can, try other ways first so that a failed removal doesn’t spread the infection.
4. Lasers
Lasers aren’t cheap, but they can be very useful for getting to hard-to-reach spots in the reef tank without having to touch them. These are fairly new treatments for Aiptasia Anemones that are being used in reef aquariums. The results have been mixed, so the price might not be worth it.
It’s important that these lasers are very strong and can melt away Aiptasia anemone. One problem with this is that they can hurt other reefs, fish, and invertebrates at the same time.
Some hobbyists have reported them as being completely ineffective.
5. Livestock (Fish And Inverts That Love Eating This Type)
Adding fish and insects that eat Aiptasia to the tank system is often a better option than the other methods listed. But adding something new to the tank always comes with a risk.
The biggest problem with adding more animals to the reef aquarium is that many of the species that are suggested can’t tell the difference between an anemone and a coral. So, they might start to go after groups of corals they want while leaving the Aiptasia alone and healthy. That being said, your fish or other invertebrate might eat the Aiptasia and then move on to the reefs.
Regardless, a lot of hobbyists try adding a new fish or crustacean species to try and get rid of Aiptasia. Some even set up temporary homes for the animals until the anemones are gone and then give them to another hobbyist.
Here are some of the most popular fish and insects that can get rid of Aiptasia in a saltwater aquarium.
6. Butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae Family)
Most of the time, every popular species of butterflyfish has been used to keep Aiptasia populations under control. People already know that butterflyfish don’t do well in reefs, so it shouldn’t be a surprise if the one you add starts to eat corals.
There are, however, some species that happen more often than others. Among these are:
- The Copperband butterflyfish, or Chelmon rostratus,
- Chaetodon kleinii, Klein’s butterfly
- Butterfly with pearly scales (Chaetodon xanthurus)
- Chaetodon lunula, the raccoon butterfly
- Naturally, you should always check to see if your setting is right for the species you want to add. For a new fish to live in, the tank size, water conditions, and food should all be set up.
7. Eating Filefish (Monacanthidae Family)
Filefish that eat Aiptasia are another popular addition to reefs to get rid of Aiptasia, but they are just as likely to eat corals. Some aquarium users have found that buying captive-bred Aiptasia Anemones keeps coral from being picked and encourages them to hunt.
Some kinds of Aiptasia Eating Filefish can get very big, and they’re not the most attractive fish to have in a reef tank. But the most common species that eat Aiptasia, like the matted filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus), stay small and can get rid of a problem with pest anemones very fast.
It is not unheard of for filefish to suddenly start picking at corals, though.
8. Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata Wurdemanni)
The most popular way to treat Aiptasia in livestock is with these little shrimp. You can get them as tank raised or reef safe.
Peppermint shrimp are small but very effective, so most reefers use a group of them to get rid of pest anemones.
Peppermint shrimp can be expensive when there are a lot of them, and because they are so popular as a hobby item, they can also be harder to find. Also, the peppermint shrimp looks a lot like the camel shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis), which shouldn’t be on reefs, so it’s easy to get them mixed up.
Additionally, peppermint shrimp are very good at treating Aiptasia, but they will usually stay away from bigger ones. They have also been seen eating zoanthids.
9. Berghia Nudibranch (Berghia Stephanieae)
Berghia nudibranchs are a great short-term option if you don’t have a lot of room but still want a natural Aiptasia predator.
There are also some that are pretty pricey, and you may need a lot of them based on the size of your saltwater tank. While they’re waiting to start hunting for anemones, keep in mind that some fish and other creatures might also see them as food.
You can’t have Berghia nudibranchs because they will only eat Aiptasia. This works well when you need to get rid of all the visible anemones quickly, but it’s not a good long-term answer because these nudibranchs will die when you run out of anemones.
People who keep fish as pets often give their nudibranchs to other tanks with Aiptasia so that the nudibranchs don’t die. They can be hard to catch, though, and you won’t always be able to save everyone. Personally, I think you should buy them from Salty Underground if you want to.
Closing Thoughts
You don’t want aiptasia to be in your tank, but you can’t really help but see them. If you let these ugly, fast-growing pest anemones grow, they can quickly take over a show and get into filtration systems.
Getting rid of them can be done in a number of ways, such as with chemicals, more natural solutions, or advice for animals. No matter which method you choose, you will probably need to use other methods as well and stick to your plan for a few months or until there are no more signs of Aiptasia.
One of the best ways to keep pest anemones from getting in is to keep them from getting in. Even so, you should still be ready in case one gets into your system.