zeromus-x
Member
I've recently gotten a huge Aiptasia outbreak. Never had this problem before, ever, and now within the past 2-3 weeks I've spotted at least two dozen of the things in my tank. This tank has been up for probably close to three years now.
I don't have many corals, but would like to get rid of these things to save the few I do have (a couple mushrooms, really). Not only that, they're spreading fast and they're... well, ugly.
So far, most of the non-chemical treatments I've seen have been a particular nudibranch, a copper-band butterfly, and the peppermint shrimp. The problem is that I have a Toby puffer (hawaiian blue-spotted) and a spiny puffer (small). I have tried introducing a Peppermint shrimp into the tank about a month ago just because I'd like to have one, and the results were... well, he didn't hit the bottom of the tank. I can assume the same will come of the nudibranch.
I've read a couple places that say hermit crabs will attack them, but I've got plenty of those (about two dozen) and they've obviously been lazy. My toby doesn't bother them either. As for the butterfly fish, I think my tank is way too small for that -- it's a 34g (it's too small for the spiny puffer, too, but he'll be moved shortly).
I'd still like to avoid chemical treatment if possible but I'm having to move around corals now just so that they aren't "attacked". Need to do something relatively fast I think. Don't really want to cook the rock, because that'll kill everything on it... and this stuff is expensive!
Would it be okay to, say, get a butterfly fish, let it do its thing, and then get rid of it (sell back to LFS, give to someone else, etc)? We've got a 75g at work I can transport it to, but it's not the best maintained tank, so if they aren't hardy fish it would be a bad option.
I don't have many corals, but would like to get rid of these things to save the few I do have (a couple mushrooms, really). Not only that, they're spreading fast and they're... well, ugly.
So far, most of the non-chemical treatments I've seen have been a particular nudibranch, a copper-band butterfly, and the peppermint shrimp. The problem is that I have a Toby puffer (hawaiian blue-spotted) and a spiny puffer (small). I have tried introducing a Peppermint shrimp into the tank about a month ago just because I'd like to have one, and the results were... well, he didn't hit the bottom of the tank. I can assume the same will come of the nudibranch.
I've read a couple places that say hermit crabs will attack them, but I've got plenty of those (about two dozen) and they've obviously been lazy. My toby doesn't bother them either. As for the butterfly fish, I think my tank is way too small for that -- it's a 34g (it's too small for the spiny puffer, too, but he'll be moved shortly).
I'd still like to avoid chemical treatment if possible but I'm having to move around corals now just so that they aren't "attacked". Need to do something relatively fast I think. Don't really want to cook the rock, because that'll kill everything on it... and this stuff is expensive!
Would it be okay to, say, get a butterfly fish, let it do its thing, and then get rid of it (sell back to LFS, give to someone else, etc)? We've got a 75g at work I can transport it to, but it's not the best maintained tank, so if they aren't hardy fish it would be a bad option.
