Considering a butterfly for my aiptasia

[Miami Reef]

I tried injecting boiling water into the aiptasia 2 different times with a 20mL syringe, but the aiptasia didn’t die.

I gave up on it, and now I’m having a moderate outbreak. My tank is large and tall. I need biological control because dosing straight Hydroxide seems dangerous to nearby corals. I never tried that, but I’m highly considering it.

Aiptasia X just makes aiptasia spread faster (that’s what I keep reading).

I am thinking of a Copperband butterfly fish. Does anyone know how to get them to eat/live long term?

I even have an aiptasia beside my clam’s mantle. I gotta get a solution for this pest.

 

[xabo]

Would suggest finding one that's eating prepared food, i.e. mysis, etc. You could try Nyaquatic.com. They state that their CBs are eating before shipping.

 

[zheka757]

Copperband works for me very well, I have aptasia in my sump, in my over flow, but nothing I'm my display tank. At least I don't see any

 

[Slocke]

I would suggest watching this. Ryan keeps a ton at his farm and is very successful:


Also I’ve had success with butterflies but even more with peppermint shrimp. Literally had an outbreak disappear after a few hours with a trio of shrimp.

 

[exnisstech]

I recently added 15 peppermint shrimp to my 180g and most of the aiptasia is gone. I also have a CBB in another tank and have never seen an aiptasia in the DT even tho they are in the overflow.

I think many CBB die in QT or shortly after. I added mine to an established tank but only had mollies so I did not QT. It's been with me a little over a year now and eats like a pig. Only eats frozen tho, will not touch pellets or flake but I rarely feed those anyway.

 

[GarrettT]

After two years, I said the hell with it and broke out the chisel and hammer. Wish I had done it sooner. Tried nemo cannons, boiling water, aiptasia x, starving it, CBB. Nothing worked. Mine was a curly que, but they are all one of the same to me.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Aiptasia X just makes aiptasia spread faster (that’s what I keep reading).

I've found just the opposite. It works very well for me and has never made them spread.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Would suggest finding one that's eating prepared food, i.e. mysis, etc. You could try Nyaquatic.com. They state that their CBs are eating before shipping.

This is mine that arrived from them today. DOA in the bag, skinny, and fins all ripped up. Barely 1.5" long. I wouldn't recommend it. This is my 2nd shipment from them and both have been very disappointing. Only ordered the 2nd batch of fish to use my credit from the 1st batch and give them a 2nd chance.

 

[NotoriousDMC]

I would suggest watching this. Ryan keeps a ton at his farm and is very successful:


Also I’ve had success with butterflies but even more with peppermint shrimp. Literally had an outbreak disappear after a few hours with a trio of shrimp.

I have a minor to moderate outbreak. I found 6 peppermint for a 65G display from a LFS who feeds his peppermints only aptasia. They’re not gone yet, and some larger nasty aptasias near the top of my tank don’t seem phased—yet. But have seen a few disappear in just a few days. I also purchased a file fish but, like a previous file fish, it died in just a few days. I assume someone in the tank is a bully when I am not watching.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I've found just the opposite. It works very well for me and has never made them spread.

I wish I had your luck, it made it worse in my case. Then went nuclear with a klein butterfly and that worked then it had to go as it started eating fleshy corals (LPS & zoas).

Now waiting out the hawkfishes to try shrimp again, upside the aiptasia are gone! Downside I have an giant majano that nothing will kill outside a thermobaric weapon.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

This is mine that arrived from them today. DOA in the bag, skinny, and fins all ripped up. Barely 1.5" long. I wouldn't recommend it. This is my 2nd shipment from them and both have been very disappointing. Only ordered the 2nd batch of fish to use my credit from the 1st batch and give them a 2nd chance.

Yikes! Those fins are a mess.

 

[xabo]

This is mine that arrived from them today. DOA in the bag, skinny, and fins all ripped up. Barely 1.5" long. I wouldn't recommend it. This is my 2nd shipment from them and both have been very disappointing. Only ordered the 2nd batch of fish to use my credit from the 1st batch and give them a 2nd chance.

How can a vendor send a fish out looking like that?

 

[areefer01]

I tried injecting boiling water into the aiptasia 2 different times with a 20mL syringe, but the aiptasia didn’t die.

I gave up on it, and now I’m having a moderate outbreak. My tank is large and tall. I need biological control because dosing straight Hydroxide seems dangerous to nearby corals. I never tried that, but I’m highly considering it.

Aiptasia X just makes aiptasia spread faster (that’s what I keep reading).

I am thinking of a Copperband butterfly fish. Does anyone know how to get them to eat/live long term?

I even have an aiptasia beside my clam’s mantle. I gotta get a solution for this pest.

Well a simple rule I follow is to never buy a fish for their reported utility. Why? They may, or may not, perform the task for which I bought them for. Or, they may but may also do things that I do not want like harass other fish or nip on corals or eat corals to the point of non recovery. I also do not buy animals with a history of being difficult to keep due to food constraints.

With that out of the way there are exceptions to every rule such as proper acclimation, observation, QT, and so forth but I still typically follow that rule. So I buy animals because I want to keep them first, utilitarian is a distant third. With that in mind I'd probably consider a Biota captive bred matted filefish. The only concern I would have in your case is that it may be too small depending on your flow this is something to keep in mind. Captive bred, already eating prepared foods be it pellet or frozen, and they throw rocks from time to time in with aiptasia.

I won't go into my story and success with them as it would be unique to me and my display but I do prefer them over anything else.

 

[exnisstech]

Only ordered the 2nd batch of fish to use my credit from the 1st batch and give them a 2nd chance.

Thats pretty much why I quit buying fish online. I don't like the store credit vs refund and most make you eat the shipping.
CBB is probably a fish I would never buy without being able to see it in person and watch it's behavior. If you have a LFS some will order items in. My lfs gets a lot of stock from quality marine which has a decent rep. They even let me come up and get the fish when they arrive so they only have to be acclimated once.

 

[Miami Reef]

I picked up Aiptasia X.

Based on my luck, the copperband wouldn’t touch the aiptasia. I had terrible luck with buying creatures for a purpose/job. For example, I added 3 pyramid butterflies in the last year because they ”worked” for aiptasia for someone, but they didn’t work for me and the fish got infested with flukes.

If aiptasia X doesn’t work, I’ll just use the needle it came with to inject hydroxide.

 

[Miami Reef]

I didn’t even try the butterfly. They are so dang picky and difficult. I would spend MUCH more effort in trying to feed the fish (with it most likely dying and never touching aiptasia anyway) than just getting my hands dirty and doing it myself.

 

[edd59]

i had well over a 100 in my 120. put 6 peppermints never seen them again. tried vinegar injecting, worked but they kept popping up new ones and couldnt get behind or under rocks. bought 10 bergia nudis, was slow process but after 2 months all gone. and then i traded them

 

[areefer01]

i had well over a 100 in my 120. put 6 peppermints never seen them again. tried vinegar injecting, worked but they kept popping up new ones and couldnt get behind or under rocks. bought 10 bergia nudis, was slow process but after 2 months all gone. and then i traded them

If one owns a wrasse this may not be a viable option.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

So I have a huge outbreak and also tried the Hot water method did not work. I have a lunar wrasse and Hawk fish so no nudibranch or shrimp in the main display. I drilled an old 55, got a 10 gallon sump kit and just finished setup today. My experiment is this. I'm going to be getting peppermint shrimp, picking up a copperband and ordered nudibranch for the tank. I will have small hermit crab, snails ECT and it will be a cleaning tank that I will place the rocks in to get cleaned up. Don't know if it is the best idea but I'm trying it and will let you know. After that it will be a new reef tank

 

[Miami Reef]

I think aiptasia X is gonna work! It’s a very thick solution. I completely covered the aiptasia (all pumps were off), and I let it sit/soak for almost 10 minutes! I can’t imagine any babies making it after that.

Next time I’d leave it on for 30 minutes, but I think aiptasia X/kalkwasser is gonna be great!

(This is my initial reaction). Let’s see how it actually works.