Aptaisia control in fowlr?

[vikubz]

I am planning a 75g fowlr and will be using LR from an existing tank. It is aptaisia free thanks to my peppermint shrimp. If I end up getting fish that are incompatible with shrimp, how do you keep aptaisia down? Do some butterfly types eat aptaisia?

Thanks!

 

[freshcut]

I understand that raccoon butterflies will eat aiptasia, and I know many use a copperband butterfly as well, but like most natural methods of control, it's not a guarantee that they'll eat the aiptasia. Most people have had very good success using either fish. Of course it would not be advisable if you plan to have any other anemones in the tank since they don't discern over something intentionally introduced into the tank vs. something thats a nuisance.

 

[vikubz]

I am told that copperband can be a little tricky to get to eat as well. I am planning on just fish and a cleanup crew, so corals etc. will not be a problem.

Thanks!

 

[leebca]

With the exception of snails and Tangs, I'm not supportive of keeping marine fishes for the purpose of controlling problems. It is best to not put the Aiptaisia in there (quarantine of rock) or when found, attack them directly and diligently in the beginning to erradicate them.

 

[freshcut]

I'll agree, the copperband isn't always a good eater when it comes to keeping them. I tried using a copperband once with an aiptasia outbreak and I was quite impressed with how well he took it out, but afterwards he refused to eat anything I gave him and ended up losing him due to self inflicted starvation.

As for the comment about using natural predators for contolling of problems, I'll agree that it's best to avoid the problems all together, however in my case, I didn't see any aiptasia in my tank for upwards of 2-3 months after placing the live rock in and I can't imagine one would quarantine anything for that length of time in order to ensure it to be free of nasties, unfortunately in my case, as I'm sure that it rings true for many beginners is that you see something new and are in awe that your successful in propogating new life in your tank that you don't always recognize it as being a problem until it gets to be too late and the only options you have are natural predators, rock cooking or dumping everything and starting over.

 

[vikubz]

My thinking was that I would like to have a butterfly in this tank, and if I have a butterfly, maybe it would also help with aptaisia that might pop up.

I suppose if I ended up with aptaisia troubles, I could rotate pieces of rock to my tank with the peppermints and let them deal with it!

 

[returnofsid]

Mix a Kalk paste and inject in aptaisia. Kills them really well.