NH Frag Swap

So were down to the last straw on the 75 gallon as far as aiptasia control. I know we've had a few threads on it. We've tried every chemical method and it just makes them worse. We wasted $100 on berghai nudibranches last year that didn't make a dent. We recently added a dozen peppermints which I knew would eat aiptasia, and something in the tank ate all but one of the peppermints within a few days. Our next step was silver scat, but they aren't available anywhere, or if they are they aren't in great shape...plus they get 15 inches which is far to big for our tank.

So now we've decided to try a copper banded butterfly and I was curious as to what everyone's thoughts we're on adding one to the 75. I know they can be tricky to feed and I'm willing to put the effort into getting it to eat...I also know they can have a heck of an appetite for aiptasia, or they can have no taste for them at all (although most people have success with them eating them). I know they can also pick at coral, but the aiptasia are damaging coral now so its a risk I'm willing to take.

So, would it be worth a shot to give a CBB a try, we've pretty much tried everything aside from starting all over again with fresh rock. Thank you for any input

i'll be jealous if it does well.  certainly one of my favorite fish

Jason,
    It may damage your corals!!!

Bob

I wouldnt bother with the cbb  look into the aptasia eating file fish they dont eat corals  and have a better survival rate. the lfs here sells them for I think $20

(08-27-2011, 06:51 AM)gotareef link Wrote: [ -> ]I wouldnt bother with the cbb  look into the aptasia eating file fish they dont eat corals  and have a better survival rate. the lfs here sells them for I think $20

I know a few people with filefish, and they had to move the filefish to fish only tanks after the aiptasia is gone because once the aiptasia was gone they started eating coral.

(08-27-2011, 05:18 AM)Jellsville USA link Wrote: [ -> ]Jason,
    It may damage your corals!!!

Bob

At this point I'm willing to take the risk. The cases where it seems they eat coral, its usually softies and lps and I have 95% sps and any lps I can easily move to another tank . I've talked to a few people on other sites who have had CBB long term and it has never once touched coral, but they keep the tank aiptasia free. Right know the aiptasia are so thick inhibiting coral from spreading and have even damaged some coral. If it does end up damaging coral I can trade it with someone, or circulate it around the club as an aiptasia solution

Thank you for the input, keep it coming, has anyone here owned a CBB

whichever route you go...  if you feed the fish other foods it wont eat the aiptasia

Well we decided to hold off on the CBB. We heard of one more technique that were gonna try. Electrocuting them. We ordered one of these http://majanowand.com/ and people have been having good luck with them. If this doesn't work then we will try the CBB

i had a dream last night that my tank was infested with them.. probably because this was one of the last things i read before going to bed.. thanks for that lol

Aiptasia zapper came in today and its awesome ;D. Just killed about 30 of them and will do more at the next water change. Its actually fun seeing those little pest melt away. It has a small metal point on the end so it will follow them into the smallest hole and melt it into a little white blob

sweet. you should make a video and post it