Question about getting rid of Aptasia?

I am considering getting either a Peppermint Shrimp or a Coral Banded
(I believe that is the name) Butterfly fish. The only downside I've
heard is down the line the butterfly fish is hard to feed. As well,
are there any long term side affects of keeping the shrimp or
butterfly fish or are they something I'd have to get rid of? I have
heard they can pick up coral and all I have are blue mushrooms.

You mean "pick on coral" :-)

Yep they can, sometimes, and yes the butterfly is often
difficult to get to feed. The peppermint shrimp will only
eat the small aiptasia, and the butterfly will eat all
that he can see.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



MarkW wrote on 10/21/2006 7:30 PM:
I am considering getting either a Peppermint Shrimp or a Coral Banded
(I believe that is the name) Butterfly fish. The only downside I've
heard is down the line the butterfly fish is hard to feed. As well,
are there any long term side affects of keeping the shrimp or
butterfly fish or are they something I'd have to get rid of? I have
heard they can pick up coral and all I have are blue mushrooms.

On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 23:41:27 GMT, Wayne Sallee
wrote:

You mean "pick on coral" :-)

Yep they can, sometimes, and yes the butterfly is often
difficult to get to feed. The peppermint shrimp will only
eat the small aiptasia, and the butterfly will eat all
that he can see.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



MarkW wrote on 10/21/2006 7:30 PM:
I am considering getting either a Peppermint Shrimp or a Coral Banded
(I believe that is the name) Butterfly fish. The only downside I've
heard is down the line the butterfly fish is hard to feed. As well,
are there any long term side affects of keeping the shrimp or
butterfly fish or are they something I'd have to get rid of? I have
heard they can pick up coral and all I have are blue mushrooms.
Yeah, I mean 'pick on coral' I have a lot of aiptasia, some fairly
large. For a 120 gallon tank how many Peppermint shrimp would I need?
I have a fish store I deal with often so I will check with them to see
if I could return a Butterfly fish to them. I'm not sure if that's
something that is done often.

That's what a lot of people do, is rent out the copper
banded butterfly fish.

I myself don't stock the butterfly fish because they are
hard to keep, and I don't like selling something that
can't be kept. But a lot of stores sell them, and will
rent them out to you.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



MarkW wrote on 10/21/2006 7:48 PM:
On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 23:41:27 GMT, Wayne Sallee
wrote:

You mean "pick on coral" :-)

Yep they can, sometimes, and yes the butterfly is often
difficult to get to feed. The peppermint shrimp will only
eat the small aiptasia, and the butterfly will eat all
that he can see.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



MarkW wrote on 10/21/2006 7:30 PM:
I am considering getting either a Peppermint Shrimp or a Coral Banded
(I believe that is the name) Butterfly fish. The only downside I've
heard is down the line the butterfly fish is hard to feed. As well,
are there any long term side affects of keeping the shrimp or
butterfly fish or are they something I'd have to get rid of? I have
heard they can pick up coral and all I have are blue mushrooms.
Yeah, I mean 'pick on coral' I have a lot of aiptasia, some fairly
large. For a 120 gallon tank how many Peppermint shrimp would I need?
I have a fish store I deal with often so I will check with them to see
if I could return a Butterfly fish to them. I'm not sure if that's
something that is done often.

MarkW wrote:
For a 120 gallon tank how many Peppermint shrimp would I need?

I would also be interested in an answer to this question, just in case. I think
I don't have any aiptasia yet, but I've had to deal with it in the past and
don't want to use a butterfly again.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent.

First, Terry you were right on with your answer. Those three, plus
Joe's Juice, are the best options.

Caution with the Copperband, it is hard (read-almost impossible) to get
this fish to feed on manufactured or cultivated non-living food.
Please don't use this fish unless you have the matured and lightly fish
loaded reef tank with refugium to support it. Most people don't.
Course, correct me if I'm wrong and there is a good way to feed this
butterfly.

The nudibranch
(http://www.seaslugforum.net/factshee...ase=bergverraq) Terry
mentioned is awesome! Except it won't eat the largest aiptasia and
will eat it's food source completely if given the chance. That being
said, I used it in a 54 corner so maybe with the larger tank you may
have a sustainable aiptasia crop. But that's what you're trying to
avoid right?


The peppermint shrimp. (Note the website at the end that will keep you
out of future trouble by making sure you know what this one looks like
and not the phony.) This is your best option. (I'm going to assume you
have only mushrooms, the afforementioned fish and approximately 1-1.5
lbs of liverock per gallon, also all the normal operating equipment)

First use Joe's Juice to knock all the aiptasia that you can see.

Now you want to limit the organics in your aquarium. This is going to
help the peppermint shrimp decide to eat your aiptasia. So, after a
few days blast your live rock with a powerhead or turkey baster to
suspend any detritus. Immediately perform a fairly significant water
change (30%-50%). (However with a water volume change like this you
must ensure that your replacement water matches the tank water (temp,
ph, sp. gravity)).

24 Hours or so later you're ready to introduce your peppermint shrimp
(remember to SLOWLY acclimate them to the water conditions). As far as
a number, I'm not sure there is an accepted answer, however you have
some nice advantages with these shrimp. They work well in colonies.
They are easy to feed. And they do a fairly good job of keeping the
live rock detritus free. I'm not going to give you a number. But I'll
tell you that I had 3 in my 54 corner and did the above process, the
aiptasia is now gone.

That being said... Aiptasia are very effective at pulling nutrients
from the water and are even used in filtration systems similar to an
algae scrubber...

Best of luck...

Russ

PS. Make sure you get the right shrimp...
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/in...epshrpfaqs.htm





On Oct 21, 8:33 pm, George Patterson wrote:
MarkW wrote:
For a 120 gallon tank how many Peppermint shrimp would I need?I would also be interested in an answer to this question, just in case. I think
I don't have any aiptasia yet, but I've had to deal with it in the past and
don't want to use a butterfly again.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent.

Russ wrote on 10/26/2006 11:55 AM:

The nudibranch
(http://www.seaslugforum.net/factshee...ase=bergverraq) Terry
mentioned is awesome! Except it won't eat the largest aiptasia and
will eat it's food source completely if given the chance. That being
said, I used it in a 54 corner so maybe with the larger tank you may
have a sustainable aiptasia crop. But that's what you're trying to
avoid right?

Actually they will eat aiptasia of any size, but they tend
to get killed in the reef tank.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets

Ok, Wayne, thanks for the correction.


Wayne Sallee wrote:
Russ wrote on 10/26/2006 11:55 AM:

The nudibranch
(http://www.seaslugforum.net/factshee...ase=bergverraq) Terry
mentioned is awesome! Except it won't eat the largest aiptasia and
will eat it's food source completely if given the chance. That being
said, I used it in a 54 corner so maybe with the larger tank you may
have a sustainable aiptasia crop. But that's what you're trying to
avoid right?

Actually they will eat aiptasia of any size, but they tend
to get killed in the reef tank.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets

Russ wrote:
Caution with the Copperband, it is hard (read-almost impossible) to get
this fish to feed on manufactured or cultivated non-living food.
Please don't use this fish unless you have the matured and lightly fish
loaded reef tank with refugium to support it. Most people don't.
Course, correct me if I'm wrong and there is a good way to feed this
butterfly.

I'm pretty much a newb as far as this goes with only a few years
experience under my belt but I've had a copperband in my tank for a
couple of months now - purchased to rid the tank of Aiptasia which it
did over the course of a day - and it's still happy and healthy. It's
just starting to nibble at things like grated prawns but has always
eaten its fill of frozen mysis and brine shrimp.

100g display, 40g in the 'fuge and sump, DSB.

-K

and it's still happy and healthy. It's
just starting to nibble at things like grated prawns but has always
eaten its fill of frozen mysis and brine shrimp.


Kelsey...

Thank you for the encouraging words both for aiptasia control and
butterfly husbandry. It's nice to know that success is possible with
these delicates. I know it's a little off topic as far as the
aiptasia, but what did you do special to get the copperband to start
feeding in captivity? Live food?