aptaisa...... which fish?

[coral bandit]

Is it the Racoon butterfly or the Copperband butterfly fish that eat aptaisa??? I have 2 peppermint shrimp but they are doing very little with this problem.

 

[bang guy]

Copperband but they are extremely difficult.

 

[coral bandit]

Bang guy thanks for the reply. When you say difficult what do you mean? Because of them pecking on corals and polyps?
thanks

 

[bang guy]

No because I have only heard of 2 that lived beyond 1/4 of their normal lifespan.

 

[sebae0]

i had bad luck at first with the peppermints too, until i reduced my feedings alot. it seemed to me that once there wasnt enough easy food for the peps they had to go and find something to eat ie the aptasia. try to cut back and see what happens.

 

[frankl15207]

If they are large, inject them with either a strong kalkwasser or pickling lime solution (1 tablespoon pickling lime to 2 tablespoons of water, mixed and microwaved for 30 seconds). Even a copperband will avoid the large ones. See http://www.garf.org under aquarium pests for more details.
And, as usual, Guy is right on the difficulty of maintaining copperbands. The one that I have currently eats everything, but that is unusual for the species. Most want live food only and stress easily.

 

[coral bandit]

Thanks for the reply guys. I have tried the pickling lime deal and it seems to work but there are ALOT of aptaisa's in my tank and some are in places I can't get to(backs of rock ect.)
When you say"inject" do I need to keep the needle on the syringe? Or just shoot the lime on the PEST? Thanks!!

 

[radge69]

With the pickling lime solution you only need to spray it on them and they will die. If you're using Kalkwasser then you need to inject them.