Aiptasia problem and the klein butterfly

schneid0c · Sep 26, 2014

hey everyone this is my first thread and was wondering what some peoples experiences are with klein butterfly's for aiptasia control. i have lots of aiptasia i had tried peppermints but my lionfish and sixline didn't like them. one lasted about 2 seconds before the lionfish ate him hole. i have corals including sps, lps ,zoos,and mushrooms and yes i do know that butterfly fish are notorious for nipping at corals after the aiptasia. i have also considered nudibranchs but decided not to , do to certain fish i have. i have already added the klein to my tank. and after doing a lot of research choose this way of trying to get rid of my aiptasia epidemic . just wanting to know some people experiences with the klein butterfly fish.

maxxin69 · Sep 26, 2014

No experience but I have heard the same as well. Just be weary of their habit to pick at LPS when Aiptasia runs low.

schneid0c · Sep 26, 2014

i am aware of the lps nipping i have moved my acans to my frag tank especially the rainbow.

mfinn · Sep 27, 2014

I added a kleins butterfly and a raccoon butterfly to a tank that had a ton of aptasias and majanos. Between they 2, they completely cleaned up the tank.
Then they started in on the button polyps.

eatbreakfast · Sep 27, 2014

Kleini, and raccoon butterfly's for that matter, will go after aiptasia first, but will quickly wipe it out. After that other corals are fair game. I find having a fish trap with clams on the half shell are the easiest way of removing them once the aiptasia is gone.

schneid0c · Sep 27, 2014

i do have a fish trap and have already talked with the local fish store about returning it if it starts going crazy on the corals. thanks for the info so far everyone

pickupman66 · Sep 27, 2014

My copperband wiped out my aptasia... then started in on mysis and pods. Never touched any coral. My acans are safe.

Archie · Sep 29, 2014

my kleini ate my aiptasias while eating my fave favia and zoas at the same time. My open brain coral wasnt safe either. I would suggest copperband butterflyfish but please pick one that eats frozen food at your LFS as they are notorious picky and slow eaters.

danangelo · Sep 29, 2014

Blueface angel is my favorite for aptasia control

schneid0c · Sep 30, 2014

the klein took out alot of the small aptasias but has started nipping at my zoos and lps so back he goes. i have tried copperbands before and they have died even when they were feeding at LFS they stopped once i got them home.i think the last peppermint that was still alive has been eaten didn't see him all day today. looks like im going to try aptasia x for the big ones. great lengths will be taken to keep these out of my next tank lol.unfortunately my tank is to small for a blue face.

Archie · Sep 30, 2014

it's a shame.. I have only success with both my copperband butterflyfish.. my current one is a little over 1 year with me, only ate mysis and gammarus before but have managed to ween him to eat artemia and lobster eggs.

On to the main topic, I wish you good luck with aiptasia X, I have tried it and a lot of fellow reefers from norway tried it but aiptasias keep on coming back(?) I wrote a question mark in parenthesis as to emphasize that I am not sure if the small aiptasias that come back after killing the big ones were there before and only become visible to the naked eye or the aiptasias that got injected with aiptasia x sensed danger and spew spores that created more aiptasias. I had aiptasia problems for almost 2 yrs and tried a lot of remedies. The safest bet is to get a natural predator as they see spores that we cant see and continue on keeping your tank aiptasia free. Make a deal with your lfs like you did before, if the fish doesnt help with the problem, sell them back for half the price you bought it and try with another fish. I went from aiptasia x -> boiling water -> medium sized copperband -> matted filefish -> kleini butterflyfish -> large copperband in the span of almost 2 yrs trying to rid my tank of aiptasias.

reggaedrummin · Oct 5, 2014

I used aptasia control to eradicate them, then added a peppermint and haven't seen aptasia for over a year. I think you're best to start with some kind of control (aptasia x, aptasia control, etc.) Then follow up with a predator as stated. They'll get the ones you can't.

Treefer32 · Oct 1, 2019

I just realized I can't spell aptasia. I forgot about Berghia and Aptasia X.

Vin's Reef · Mar 23, 2020

schneid0c said:
hey everyone this is my first thread and was wondering what some peoples experiences are with klein butterfly's for aiptasia control. i have lots of aiptasia i had tried peppermints but my lionfish and sixline didn't like them. one lasted about 2 seconds before the lionfish ate him hole. i have corals including sps, lps ,zoos,and mushrooms and yes i do know that butterfly fish are notorious for nipping at corals after the aiptasia. i have also considered nudibranchs but decided not to , do to certain fish i have. i have already added the klein to my tank. and after doing a lot of research choose this way of trying to get rid of my aiptasia epidemic . just wanting to know some people experiences with the klein butterfly fish.

I went the nudibranch route. It took a while but a $100 worth of those little berghia buggers did the trick. Now I have to order them for my tank.

Treefer32 · Mar 24, 2020

I decided on a copperband. One I knew was eating frozen food in January. I watch my tank just to watch the copperband eat aiptasia now. He's got a lot of personality and a really pretty fish to watch. I have a caribean blue tang that doesn't like him. but The copperband knows self defense pretty well and doesn't let the occasional chase bother him at all. I suspect as the copperband gets bigger, the tangs will leave him alone.

Florida Sunshine · Mar 24, 2020

I have had the best success with F-aiptasia from Frank's tanks.
IMO it works far better than Aiptasia-X or Joe's Juice both of which only seemed to kill the one I targeted but allowed them to reproduce first. Once I hit them with F-aiptasia they don't multiply in the same location.
I have won the battle, but not yet the war as there are always some I can't see or can't reach so I have to keep re-treating the new ones, but it is nice to see them not spreading like they were before.