Holy Feather Dusters and little brown nems!!!

[NewEnglishMutt]

I have hundreds, if not thousands, of feather dusters in my display tank... It's a 135g display. Is this a problem? And in my fuge, more skinny brown nems than I could count! How do I take these things down? Also my fuge looks like it's overgrowing, can I cut some of my chateo and put it in my display for my tangs to graze on? I have a 6" naso tang, a 6" sailfin tang, and a 3" yellow tang. I figure they'd probably enjoy some chateo to graze on and they'll destroy it before it can really grow anyways. Thoughts on these things?

 

[Eckolancer]

Are they aptaisa? If so you could get a copper banded butterfly. Try and get him to eat frozen before he finishes eating all your aptaisa.

 

[NewEnglishMutt]

 

[Eckolancer]

Wow that has to be the most aptaisa I have ever seen in a tank.

 

[NewEnglishMutt]

Well the display only has one or 2, but yeah my fuge has been taken over!

 

[NewEnglishMutt]

All that fuzziness on the rock there... Feather dusters... And that's just one rock!

 

[NewEnglishMutt]

Are they aptaisa? If so you could get a copper banded butterfly. Try and get him to eat frozen before he finishes eating all your aptaisa.

The aptaisa are in my fuge not my display, though a copper banded butterfly would eat all my feather dusters... That only solves half the problem. Do you think the butterfly would be ok in my tank with normal feeding and the dusters? Would he bother my bubble nem? Or my corals?

 

[Eckolancer]

Each one is different he may leave the nem alone or may go after it. I have a CBB with feather dusters for a while now. As well as a lot of acans.

 

[Dalmatia]

Get your self some berghia nudibranch. You can even make some good cash if they multiply

 

[Eckolancer]

Yeah berghia nudis are pretty good and would love that. Bet you could start with 4 and have 100 in no time.

 

[Vanmo92]

In my honest opinion you should probably trash/bleach very well everything in the fuge before that spreads to the display. And promptly kill the 2 in the display. I recommend sodium hydroxide to kill aiptasia but if you go that route please do research first and be CAREFUL!! IM now on my 9th year of battling aiptasia and I've never been infected that badly! Good luck!

 

[NewEnglishMutt]

Talked to my LFS about peppermint shrimp, he said he is getting some in on Wednesday, so I'm going to buy a few and see if they can't keep the display in check. Do you think it would be murder/suicide to put a shrimp or 2 in the fuge?

 

[Vanmo92]

As long as the intake for your return/skimmer have a sponge over them (and they're kept clean) I don't see a problem to peppermint shrimp in the fuge. Peppermint shrimp are really hit or miss with aiptasia, but even if they done work they're cool anyway

 

[NewEnglishMutt]

My fuge overflows into a separate chamber for the sump return, no sponge, but the overflow isn't a very strong current... I could even slow it down further when I first introduce the shrimp to the fuge till they get down to the sand bed.

 

[Vanmo92]

That sounds good to me, I've never had problems with shrimp going downstream. I imagine as long as they have a food source they should stay put. I'm guessing the reason I've never had luck with them is b/c they're in a display with other things to eat. Given the density of aiptasia there I would imagine they would discover that food source rather quickly. Still never any guarantees but it's an easy option to try

 

[jt17]

I have 2 peppermint shrimp in my sump and they do fine. Although try haven't touched the Aptasia. You might consider putting the shrimp in the DT and restart your fuge. Aptasia can easily get out of hand. You are lucky in that you can dismantle your fuge and eliminate most of the problem. I also have a CBB in my DT who did eat every single feather duster before considering the Aptasia. Berghia nudibrancts work well if you don't have too much current.