My newest dilemma!

[kingfish62]

Well here is my newest dilemma. I have a 55G tank and have recently noticed a lot of aiptasia popping up so I am getting ready to do battle. I will be picking up a few peppermint shrimp but first i have to remove my bicolor dottyback which is on steroids or at least looks like it is. I am first going to try a bottle trap which i made out of a 1 quart "powerade zero " bottle. Works Great. I caught my foxface in a half hour after setting it up before work today. I did not reset the trap because i want to be around to take the fish out faily soon after trapping as to not overly stress it.
I have to say guys the powerade bottle works great,just cut it at the first rib line at the top , invert and it snaps into place perfectly. I this bottle trick does not work I will be using a small barbless hook. Hoping i will not have to resort to that .

I plan on putting the dottyback in my 29g biocube with two percular clowns. Do you think I will have issues with that. The clowns have been in that tank for 5 years and I would imagine are going to be quit territorial hoping the DB will be tough enough to handle them.
What do you guys think?

 

[FishHead]

once that db settles in which shouldnt take long as it will more than likely settle away from the clowns. it should handle its own with anything 2-3x its size..
nice fish..

 

[kingfish62]

Thanks ! He is a little over 2.5 inches long and loves peppermint shrimp for breakfast!

 

[FishHead]

how much aptasia do u have? have u tried blasting with boiling water?

 

[kingfish62]

I got plenty, For years i had some on on rock probably about twelve . Occasionally would blast them with joes juice and eventually they would come back. The last year i noticed them popping up here and there.The last month I could probably count a hundred ranging from ultra tiny to 34 inch. so I have to do something now before the plague get worse.

How do you apply the boiling water? Never tried that!

 

[johnnyb]

I just got through wiping out a ton of aptaisia with zaptasia. It comes in preloaded syringes. Shut off the flow and pumps squirt some on and they were gone. 2 applications to get them all cause i missed some the first time and havent seen them since. I didnt harm any of my corals and some of the little pests were right on zoa frags so I know some of the stuff got on them but didnt hurt them. No need to move fish or coral. Just squirt it on let it sit for 10 min then start your pumps and fans .

 

[johntan]

I like the boiling water method for incoming corals. Turkey baster and boiling rodi, I use it around the dead skeleton that makes up the base of LPS. I also either remove the plug that new coral comes on altogether, or if it's one of those ANNOYING plastic plugs dip is as close to the frag in the boiling water as I can.

So far so good.

 

[kingfish62]

Caught every fish in the tank twice except the DB with the bottle trap .
Not only is it on steroids it's also a geniuse !

 

[s_kelley]

Grab one of the filefish that are going around the club, they seem to do a killer job. Then you can send it to someone else
Great picture by the way

 

[jfourn83]

First hand saw the filefish eat anemones ..... Jeremy at cra normal has a couple in stock

 

[FishHead]

did u try the boiling water yet..worked great for me in the past.. never came back. 34 inches or 3-4 inches?

 

[kingfish62]

For now I am going to try the peppermint shrimp only because some are so tight to the corals I would not want any collateral damage.
Tried the trap again tonight and caught the DB in twenty minutes. He is now cowaring in the corner of my 29g with the two clowns. Hope he is going to be OK.

 

[kingfish62]

I will try the boiling water on a few Aiptasia that are far away from any corals for an experiment.

 

[RadReefer]

Don't get one of the filefish... I bought one a few months ago and it tore into LPS and was also eating the polyps off my SPS, they are by no means reef safe... Mabye 50/50 at best.

 

[kingfish62]

I really was not considering the Filefish .

 

[kingfish62]

How many peppermint shrimp do you guys think I should get for a 55g?

 

[STiTCH87]

I had two in my 29g and never saw an aptasia ever in that tank. Then again, I have never had aptasia, majano, or any pest issue in my 29g, 5g pico, or 40g breeder ever. Hell, my 5g pico barely even grows algae, no joke.
The 29g had a mean hair algae problem though, but my fault for introducing a frag covered in it back when I was just starting out and didn't know much thinking a snail would eat it all. Yeah, nope. Lol.

So yeah I can tell you first hand atleast 2 is fine. I had two peppermint and a cleaner in the 29g all got along just fine. They did scavenge like mad though so I wouldn't do more than say one shrimp per every 10g. Don't get 5, lol.

Me personally, i'd say one cleaner and two peppermint in a 55g should work just fine. Maybe a blood red fire shrimp if you want a 4th.

 

[kingfish62]

Yeah, I am thinking 3 for the 55G. Hopefully my tomato clown will not bother them!

 

[wrassefan]

I read somewhere that peppermints work well only in groups of 3....that was my experience. I had a few in hard to get to spots of my live rock and 6 peppermints took care of them all.

 

[kingfish62]

Well, I did get 3 PS and have not seen them since I put them in the tank 10 days ago. Hopefully They are alive and well. I think I see some aiptasia dissappearing unless it is my imagination or wishful thinking!