Aiptasia: Ugly pest, or destructive menace?

I, like probably most of you, have some aiptasia in my tank. It's not taking over, like it has done before, but its presence is known. I don't necessarily mind it, as long as it's not consuming my rock. But does it harm corals? I ask because I noticed some around my Xenia, and I was feeding my sun coral so I turned off all the power heads. Suddenly, my entire Xenia rock is all flopped over! I've never seen it do that before when I turned off the PHs. And it looked like one of the aiptasias had a hold of the Xenia.....really weird. I have seen aiptasia touching corals before and never really thought they could do any harm, and the coral seemed jolly as Joseph. But I think I remember reading somewhere that they pack a pretty good punch, or sting? Also, for anyone wondering, Joes Juice is a miracle juice when it comes to killing aiptasia!! They are gone in like 15 seconds!

 

Wow, I'm really surprised you didn't know they sting. Yes, they do and they sting pretty bad. So bad that most corals cannot compete with them or defend themselves against such an onslaught. They are anemones and anemones pack a powerful sting.

The only corals I have heard that can kill off Aiptasia if they ever got in a battle over territory would be Galaxea and Elegance coral. Elegance is so powerful that some people use elegance coral to kill off Aiptasia, so go figure.

Joes Juice, stop aiptasia, vinegar, boiling water... there a lot of methods to kill it off. You can also take off the rock and scrub it like hell, but I dont think you'll be doing that. I think the best method is what works for you.

 

Well, hmmm........the Xenia that was flopped over seems to have grown a solid inch today! Every day I look at it, it grows more and more. And there are 2 aiptasias right next to it, touching it, and the Xenia doesn't seem to be reacting at all. There is also one touching my colt coral, and that thing is getting bigger every day, too! So what gives?

 

I had a pretty large aiptasia in my tank. I tried boiling water with no success but the Joe's Juice crushed it very quick! I would recommend it. ;D

 

joes juice never worked for my LFS's main tanks but a copper butterflyfish or peppermint shrimp worked wonders!

 

It has been my experience that aiptasia and majano anemones bother sps and lps corals a lot more than they do soft corals.