Going from Reef to Fish only ..

[Sunny]

I have an Aiptasia problem. It started out small, and is now getting worse. We don't have the time or money to keep putting in the tank. I was wondering if we took all the rocks and coral out and only had fish with fake corals and fake plants, would the aiptasia go away? We bought 2 peppermint shrimps and a File fish, not working.

[Wall_Tank]

Probably not, but if you are going to a fish only system.....what is the problem with aiptasia.   They make a good filters.

[Fishfreak]

Try a copper banded. I know someone who was going to take there tank down due to it. Added one and not one aistasia to be found. Just got to give it a little time to settle in. Just a thought.

[Boonjob]

Butterfly fish... Copperband or Kleins work great... Kleins can pick at corals, but I have never had one that didn't feast on the aiptasia.

If you go fish only, the aiptasia most likely won't change. But as stated they will provide a method of filtration... but they still can sting your fish and are unsightly.

[Miles]

I would make sure that before you buy a Copper banded you make sure that it is eating flake/frozen food at the store first. I had a Copper Banded that cleaned up a huge aiptasia problem I was having, and then starved to death because it wouldn't eat anything else.

You could try using Aiptasia-X to kill it off, you just have to be diligent and treat every single one you see. I've been doing this for a while and am keeping it at bay.

[Viggen]

I have a few aphasia in my fowlr.... They don't bother me or my fish however they haven't taken over th tank either.

Yes if you take out all your rocks there would be a good chance the aphasia would be gone unles you have some in your substrate.  However removing all the rocks and getting new stuff seems like a pita to me. 

Why not go the fowlr route, keep your rocks.... Remove the corals.... If you want to kill the aphasia do a hypo treatment for a bit, should kill the stuff

If going of and using a wet dry filter.... You could dose copper to kill the stuff but no inverts in the tank for probably numerous years

[Neogenesis]

I'm going to go against the grain here on the Copperband idea, while GREAT Aiptasia killers, it's VERY VERY hard to get a healthy one, not to mention one that will eat prepared foods after the Aiptasia are gone.  It seems senseless to me to keep killing these fish in hopes of trying to find a healthy one that will also eat prepared foods. 

I'm going out on a limb here....but here are some reasons why the methods you've tried already are not working.

Peppermints, depending on how much you feed the tank, they learn to take prepared food and will wait for it instead of eating the nuisance aiptaisa.  Also depending on the size of your tank and how bad your infestation is, 2 may not be enough to wipe them out, they may be reproducing more than the shrimp can eat.

I've never tried filefish, but I would tend to guess they will act the same.

A third option are Berghia Nudibranchs.  I've not tried them personally because my trigger would have them for lunch, but it's another option.

I'll be honest here, I'm about in the same boat as you, but worse off because of my trigger would eat any natural methods of ridding myself of aiptaisa short of a copperband, which I refuse to try again.  I'll soon me stripping my tank of all my large fish, beef up my clean up crew with more peppermints and a nudi or two, and see how things go.  I would hate to see you leave the reefing scene just because of aiptasia.

[Sunny]

We had a 90 with absolutely no problems. Than we get this 220 and it's been a nightmare ever since.  We got the black algae out, now comes the red algae.  Than the aiptasia ... We bought GFO and reactors.  We can't keep buying it, it's not cheap. As soon as we ran out, we started getting the red algae. I'm just tired of spending our paychecks on this tank and it still looking like crap. The fish however, are doing great and are healthy and beautiful!!  I Have a few corals that look the same as the day I got them, no growth,  my Leather looks like it is dying.
 
It would do no good to keep the rocks and get rid of the corals, they are all attached to the rocks, along with the aiptasia.  My overflows are filled with aiptasia, we put a sock on the outlet and scraped it out of the overflow, it's quickly coming back. 

[Steve]

This sounds like a nutrient issue more than an aptasia issue. How much are you skimmimg, do you run a refugium with macro? It seems that adding artificial decor and removing the live rock would only increase your issues as you would be losing alot of your biological filtration which would increase your nutrient issues. I agree with Scott that keeping a CBB can be difficult but I have kept one for about 5 or 6 years so it can be done the key is getting one you know will eat and as difficult as they can be to keep I don't think they are going to stop importing them. If you do go fish only it seems like a Klein would be a good alternative. I also agree that well fed pepperments may not eat the aptasia but have yet to see a hungry one turn one down. Even at that 2 probably won't be able to keep up with a 220. How much and what are you feeding, may need to cut back on chow time or feed something different as certain foods especially in excess can add a lot of nutrients to the water. As far as coral not growing that is a whole seperate issues that could be from many different reasons. Good Luck! Don't give up the ship.

[Sunny]

The skimmer hardly produces anything. Once in awhile it will have foam, not very often.  We have a refugium with macro. The macro doesn't grow either. It's the same as it was when we first put it in.  We feed flakes, krill, and mysis.  Alternating.  Feed once a day. 

[Steve]

Skimmer should be producing more, have you tried adjusting it? What type of lighting do you have on your fuge?

[Sunny]

Yes, we adjust it all the time. We'll get foam for awhile, than back to nothing. We have LED in the fuge. It comes on when the tank lights go out.

[Neogenesis]

What skimmer are you running?  I'm curious.  Also, how often are you cleaning it?

[Sunny]

It's a Bubble Magus skimmer.  Since there is not that much in it, not often.

[Wall_Tank]

The skimmer neck can get dirty.....blocking the foam from getting to the cup.    A skimmer cup and neck should be cleaned every week.  2 weeks at the most.

So take your skimmer cup and neck off.   Is there brown krud coating the neck?

[Neogenesis]

Agreed with what Wall_Tank said.  That should be a dang good skimmer.  I know I can tell if I don't clean mine every 2 weeks.  It produces almost nothing, which reminds me it's that stinky time again!!!