aiptasia

chadman

chadman

Active Member
i am having a small aiptasia problem....i thought that peppermint shrimp would solve the problem but they were eaten by my psuedochromis and my clown fish before they could do much of anything....
i also tried elim-aiptasia but that only worked for the ones that i could reach...are there any other reef safe alternatives?
 
grumpygils

grumpygils

Active Member
Originally Posted by chadman
i am having a small aiptasia problem....i thought that peppermint shrimp would solve the problem but they were eaten by my psuedochromis and my clown fish before they could do much of anything....
i also tried elim-aiptasia but that only worked for the ones that i could reach...are there any other reef safe alternatives?

Copperband butterfly. I am 2 for 2 with them.
Mc
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
You have to be very careful if you are "injecting" them with stuff. I say this all the time. Check the larger ones for small white dots (sometimes gray or darker as well) around the base of them if you can. I believe these are called pedals (if I am spelling it right). When you squirt the larger one, it will cover up the pedals and they will release when they mature and create 14 or more usually.
Berghias are EXTREMELY small nudis (or sea slugs) that will DEMOLISH an entire colony of aiptasia within days. However they are VERY small and easily harmed by pumps and overflows or other filters. They do breed rather quickly as well, but hopefully you know someone you can give them to when you are done with them. Their only food is aiptasia.
 
chadman

chadman

Active Member
these bergiahs you are speaking of....where might i get one of them? would my fish in my tank bother them? i thought about a copperband butterfly but i do not have a huge tank only 30g's and i have lots of coral and paly's/zoas....i am afraid te copperband would bother my coral/inverts
 
chadman

chadman

Active Member
even with a tang in the tank? i know i shouldn't have him in there but he is very healthy and impossible to catch to try to remove him...will the two of them get along?
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
Originally Posted by chadman
these bergiahs you are speaking of....where might i get one of them? would my fish in my tank bother them? i thought about a copperband butterfly but i do not have a huge tank only 30g's and i have lots of coral and paly's/zoas....i am afraid te copperband would bother my coral/inverts
You can do a search to see who sells Berghias. Last I checked, they run about 15 dollars a piece. That was a longgggggg time ago though. With both of the choices, Copperbands and Berghias, they are both EXTREMELY delicate creatures. I am sure there are people that have had great success with copperbands, but I choose to leave them in the ocean. If you have other territorial fish, they can stress out a copperband to the point where it passes. Copperbands are also hit or miss when it comes to picking at inverts, especially feather duster.
I have known people that have had luck with Copperbands eating Aiptasia, but once again they are a difficult fish to keep and acclimate.
 
larrynews

larrynews

Active Member
mine is fine i have a purple tang and a blue in my 90 and they are fine they chased him the fist 24 hours then they were fine...if you get one that eats frozen you should be fine my eats stuff out of the rocks all the time then every couple of days i put some frozen brine in
 
chadman

chadman

Active Member
alright i may try to locate some of the nudi's but if they dont' work i may have to give the copperband a whirl....thanks for the help everyone!
 
mie

mie

Active Member
What are some good tips on getting a copper band to eat once all the aptaisia are all gone? my last one starved.
 
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