Matted Filefish...here we go

[BlueThumb]

So I bought a small Matted Filefish and some peppermint shrimp to deal with my insanely bad aiptasia infestation. I've been using my own kalk-paste, which worked ok, but required daily addition. I ended up being far to busy to maintain this regime so the aiptasia returned with a vengeance. My 28 gallon nano is now being over-run. I have so many beautiful coral being stung to death it's tragic. I don't have time to start a new tank, nor do I really want to spend the money. Thus, I'm now desperate.

 

Desperate Trial 1: Juvenile Matted Filefish released into my 28 gallon.

 

Day 1 -

She's happily integrating in with my two other fish (Blue Damsel and Cardinal). No pecking or chasing, just a simple, "Oh hey, what's up". Thus far ignoring the aiptasia but pecking at just about everything else. She has eaten a little zenia but not very much, just lazily grazing. Mostly seems to like the small critters the most right now, such as baby turbo snails (or just small snails...don't know).

 

Peppermint shrimp disappeared into the live rock as always. Hopefully they will avoid getting eaten by "The Kraken". I have (had) a large, male emerald crab that I call The Kraken as he is a beast and, when in a mood, can rearrange the tank. He has not shown any signs of life in many weeks; I'm guessing (hoping) he bit the dust. My previous attempts at peppermint shrimp were in futility as The Kraken would tear them asunder in no time.

[BlueThumb]

Day 2:

I was work all day and got home at night so I didn't really get to see much. However, I can say it doesn't appear like she is eating anything. Not even grazing on zenia and/or acro polyps

 

Day 3:

If she's eating anything, it's hard to tell, certainly not targeting aiptasia. Hopefully this is a "yet" sort of thing. I'll give it one more day before I think I need to try to catch her and bring her back to the LFS. I could target feed but the last thing I want is a high maintenance fish right now.

[Deleted User 8]

Where is that guy who was wondering why aiptasia get such a bad rap? He needs to read this.

 

I never had any luck with getting things to eat aiptasia into eradication.

 

Everytime an aiptasia grows, Chuck Norris sheds a tear...

 

Buzz

[k4ndyk1ng]

My LFS has a filefish and it eradicated all the aptasia and now eats mysis

[CronicReefer]

You should try berghia nudibranch. They eat only aiptsia anemones so you won't have to worry about them eating your coral.

[BlueThumb]

I sure wish berghia would work for me. Tried a few but they just crawl into the rocks never to be seen again. Very much like my peppermint shrimp. There must be something hungry and unseen lurking in my tank as anything slow and meaty get's "disappeared" faster than union reps at Walmart.

 

I'm crossing my fingers this fielfish will get hungry enough to try "new things" as she is seemingly waiting for me to dump in some frozen food. Not happening....she's going back if that is the case. My fish need to work to keep their room and board. I got enough "poopers" for the coral.

 

Regarding aiptasia, they are horrible. I think they are quite possibly the worst outbreak your tank can have. I've had all kinds of issues and this is the worst. The more you try to kill them, the more they aggressively multiply. In my tank they are fighting for every square inch of rock, including extending their tentacles. They sting everything in their path causing my corals to bleach and STN. They are also causing my snails starve off because they can't get enough food. The rocks are too covered for them to safely navigate. Thus, I'm getting nuisance algae issues and excess nutrients from dying snails.

 

On top of all of this my GSP is also out of control. It is actually winning space against the aiptasia. In fact, nothing seems to be able to stand in GSP's way. I also have way too much Xenia and Zoas. If not for the GSP and Aiptasia, I'd be battling them.

 

At this point, I'm heavily considering salvaging whatever corals I can and starting over with home-made rock. Everything from there on will be dipped, quarantined, etc.. I now completely get why there are many reefers going this direction, e.g. the way of sterile environment...treating their tank like a clean-room. Frankly, it makes sense.

Aiptasia, Xenia, GSP, Zoas, and other "weeds" will not be allowed to enter my tanks anymore. In fact, I may not even go with LPS. Probably all SPS sticks for me in the future with maybe a few plating or encrusting monti's and that's it. Frick'n 2-years of growth slowly fading away from aggressive, stinging, pests.

[Deleted User 8]

I would nuke the tank and start over.

 

Buzz

[jack1978]

I sure wish berghia would work for me. Tried a few but they just crawl into the rocks never to be seen again. Very much like my peppermint shrimp. There must be something hungry and unseen lurking in my tank as anything slow and meaty get's "disappeared" faster than union reps at Walmart.

I went with Berghias. My 40B was COVERED.......literally hundreds if not thousands. I lost hundreds and hundreds in huge Z & P colonies. Nothing worked until I added the Berghias. I ordered mine from ReefTown. Super awesome customer service and advice. Follow the advice and they work. You need to add a certain number as they hunt and breed in packs. It took a few weeks of not seeing them and not seeing any decline in the Aiptasia. Then, I walked by my tank one morning and noticed what I thought was a rock with more coral than nems.....thought I was just being hopeful. The next day that rock was clear. It just snowballed from there. They had so much food that they went from a dozen to a hundred in a months time. Then they were out 24/7 attacking those things. Eradicated every last one. They even went down my sump on their own and munched on all of the hiders!

The Berghias work......I believe peppermint shrimps will eat them....as will cleaner shrimps.

 

I don't recall what page in my thread (towards the beginning), but you can see how bad mine had gotten....even had a turbo snail with them growing on his shell.....they got that one too.

[BlueThumb]

I'll try the Berghia again. I've only done small ones in pairs and I was told I needed at least three large ones, given my tank flow and outbreak.

 

Honestly, I'm willing to try just about anything to salvage my colonies. I may start over anyway as the GSP is also a total nightmare. It started out as a quarter size colony that I used two years ago to test my tank cycle, along with some various zoas. Within two years, I'm infested with both. The GSP, if I didn't nuke with kalk paste from time to time, would have consumed half my tank by now.

[BlueThumb]

Day 6...

The matted filefish is clearly eating something as still nipping at various things in the tank and pooping. In fact, she's a little fatter than when I first got her. However, if she is eating aiptasia, it is a very slow process. My guess is she's mostly filling up on Xenia, which is slowly thinning. I've also noticed the GSP is aggravated so I'm hoping she's been munching on that too.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed this will work out. I may buy a couple more peppermint shrimp and perhaps will try Berghia again.

[jack1978]

Day 6...

The matted filefish is clearly eating something as still nipping at various things in the tank and pooping. In fact, she's a little fatter than when I first got her. However, if she is eating aiptasia, it is a very slow process. My guess is she's mostly filling up on Xenia, which is slowly thinning. I've also noticed the GSP is aggravated so I'm hoping she's been munching on that too.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed this will work out. I may buy a couple more peppermint shrimp and perhaps will try Berghia again.

 

The peps will eat the berghies.

[atrox]

File fish will eventually start nipping on everything, and they will do damage. I've had em hell... tried one a few months ago and he caused serious damage. I have had them in larger tanks and they all seem to play nice then bam!

They are awesome fish though.

[BlueThumb]

It's been...I don't know...a few weeks now at least. So the Filefish is doing a great job thinning out my Xenia, which were out of control. It does nip at my SPS coral but not very much and no one is showing any stress. As far as the Aiptasia I've see no evidence that it is eating it. The aiptasia does seem to be receding but it could be my Peppermint shrimp...or could just be wishful thinking. There are so many aiptasia that it will take quite some time before I notice much improvement. On a lighter note, the Filefish is a nice addition to my tank. Very curious and friendly.

 

Lastly for now, a dead lawnmower blenny in my tank caused all kinds of havoc on the nitrates and phosphate. On top of this I think I lost my large Emerald Crab, so my tank is now chocking from aiptasia and every kind of slime and hair algae one could imagine. No more nano reefs for me, tearing down and going back to a larger tank. I like being able to run a large sump for big skimmers and water changes. My nano is just not very flexible. One big problem seems to lead to another without much remedy other than tearing down and starting over.

[BlueThumb]

No one is reading this post anymore but I'm still going to keep it updated. So good news, my matted filefish is definitely now targeting the aiptasia. All of a sudden I started noticing this morning that some familiar aiptasia next to some of my more pricey coral were 100% gone. Before I could do a double-take, I saw the filefish actually pull off a sizable aiptasia and then let it float around in the water before going back after it to finish the job.

 

Big sigh...I may not have to tear this tank down afterall. I'll keep posting updates and may even get some video of him doing the job. One of the issues I'm finding is that when he's eating he's easily startled. I will try to sneak up on him here soon.

[Boggers]

Glad it is turning around for you. Nanos are difficult as issues happen fast.

[ETucc]

I hope the File fish gets all the aiptasia! He's one cool creature.

 

Show some pictures!

[BlueThumb]

Still trying to get photos or video of him eating. If not, I'll at least get around to posting photos of him fat and happy. It will take a couple of days as I've got too many irons in the fire at the moment.

[BlueThumb]

After I finally cleaned my tank a little I could actually see the filefish. I had lots of coralline algae to scrape off. Sorry for all the noise in the video but either my wife was cleaning something in the other room and making all kinds of racket. One of these days I'll figure out how to post hi-def video so it isn't so grainy.

 

BTW, you will see all kinds of nasty algae in my tank, which is the worst it's been since I started my tank 2-years ago. My lawnmower blenny was a the largest fish in my tank and when he died and I couldn't locate his body for removal. His entire mass decomposed in my nano releasing nutrient bomb. All my corals are surviving it, the sps is barely even taking notice, but my montis are not happy. Then again, my montis have never done very well in my nano for some reason. Part of me wonders if it has something to do with the vinegar/kalk dosing I do (e.g. calcium acetate).

http://s1299.photobucket.com/user/ericpkeith/media/Erics%2028%20Gallon%20Nano/7B2C6137-CEAF-49A9-B514-0C647EF15605_zpsjhmcewk3.mp4.html

[BlueThumb]

Another Update:

I got my Jebao WP-25 working better and now have strong turbulence again (another issue among many). I can say for sure that my filefish does not appreciate the strong flow. I think I ultimately need to put it on a customer controller turn the flow way down every couple hours or so during the day and nearly off at night. Not sure if my Filefish can eat while being dragged around by the current.

[jinx]

Can't say I've had any lazy peppermint shrimps.. My 4 peps destroy aiptasia or any nems that get into the system, they love killing/eating em.. They even attack me when my hands are in the tank. LOL.

[BlueThumb]

Yeah, I'm going to try a few more. There's a shop not too far from me that sells them for cheap but it seems like my tank is a black-hole for Peps. Then again, that was before my male Emerald Krabzilla aka The kraken took a vacation at Davy Jones Locker.

[BlueThumb]

Update:

Between many water changes and disappearing aiptasia, my tank it almost back to where I can take a deep breath and sigh. However, even when most of the aiptasia are gone, I still have an issue with GSP. I've actually been searching for something that eats GSP but nothing seems conclusive nor safe. For example, I've read that a mithrax crabs will target GSP but most people's experience is that they are opportunistic feeders. So no guarantees that they will limit themselves to GSP. I've also considered fluke tabs but if it works the die off will probably kill just about everything else in the tank. I may at this point just remove the rocks it's grown on and shoot kalk paste at whatever is lingering.

[BlueThumb]

It's official: between my matted filefish and peppermint shrimps (5 in all) my Aiptasia problems are no more. I've counted only three left in one corner of the tank and I assume they'll be gone in the next few days. Probably in a couple of weeks I may have to consider netting my Filefish and trading back into my LFS. There's a local club in my county and I may see if anyone wants to take him on loan.

 

Problems conquered through work and patience:

monti eating nudis - used kalk pasted and toothbrush...lots of squirting and scrubbing

aiptasia outbreak - peps and matted file fish

bubble algae - emerald crabs

 

Next challenge - hair and other nuisance algae (and bubbles are coming back):

No more emeralds. I'm just going to reduce phosphates and manually scrub. The emeralds get real fat and happy...and then die somewhere inside the rocks...just to nutrient bomb your tank.

[JavaJacketOC]

It's official: between my matted filefish and peppermint shrimps (5 in all) my Aiptasia problems are no more. I've counted only three left in one corner of the tank and I assume they'll be gone in the next few days. Probably in a couple of weeks I may have to consider netting my Filefish and trading back into my LFS. There's a local club in my county and I may see if anyone wants to take him on loan.

 

Problems conquered through work and patience:

monti eating nudis - used kalk pasted and toothbrush...lots of squirting and scrubbing

aiptasia outbreak - peps and matted file fish

bubble algae - emerald crabs

 

Next challenge - hair and other nuisance algae (and bubbles are coming back):

No more emeralds. I'm just going to reduce phosphates and manually scrub. The emeralds get real fat and happy...and then die somewhere inside the rocks...just to nutrient bomb your tank.

 

 

I've gotten a few frags where bubble algae just shows up (assuming it was scrubbed off before being shipped to me) and I've had really great luck doing the following:

1. Gently remove any BA manually, outside of the main tank
2. Pat dry the area on the rock where the BA was
3. Using a q-tip, apply 100% peroxide to the area where the BA was and the surrounding area
4. Let the peroxide do it's thing for about 3 minutes
5. Rise the area on the rock and put it back in the tank.

 

 

The peroxide is gonna nuke any algae but can also harm coral depending on what's on the rock, so just be careful where you apply it, hence the use of the q-tip. I haven't had any algae return after doing this once but it may take a few treatments.

[GokesReef]

It's official: between my matted filefish and peppermint shrimps (5 in all) my Aiptasia problems are no more. I've counted only three left in one corner of the tank and I assume they'll be gone in the next few days. Probably in a couple of weeks I may have to consider netting my Filefish and trading back into my LFS. There's a local club in my county and I may see if anyone wants to take him on loan.

 

Problems conquered through work and patience:

monti eating nudis - used kalk pasted and toothbrush...lots of squirting and scrubbing

aiptasia outbreak - peps and matted file fish

bubble algae - emerald crabs

 

Next challenge - hair and other nuisance algae (and bubbles are coming back):

No more emeralds. I'm just going to reduce phosphates and manually scrub. The emeralds get real fat and happy...and then die somewhere inside the rocks...just to nutrient bomb your tank.

 

Thank you for reminding me why I'm setting up a quarantine tank this time around.. so many nuisances! Glad you got rid of the aiptasia, I had a run in with them in my last tank also and I know it's no fun! So many MIA peppermint shrimp.