Copperband Butterfly

[ramsey]

Does anyone have experience with them? I'm at my wit's end with aiptasia. I tried poisoning them at first, which caused them to multiply. I tried peppermint shrimp which did nothing. I recently bought some nudi's and thought I figured out the cure for sure. I added them almost a month ago. The area I added them to still has aiptasia. I can't see that they've even eaten one.

SO! My next step is to try a copperband. Has anyone had trouble with them nipping at clams/nems/corals? I'll have another tank set up soon so I may be able to move stuff to it even though it'll be a PITA to try and get my nems and clown moved.

[Gseclipse02]

the peps i got tore the aiptasia up i added a lot but my wrasses ate a bunch of them

[ramsey]

I added a lot and I know that my Wrasse ate at least one (saw antennae hanging outta his mouth hehe) and my hawk probably ate some too. I know some survived because I saw one not too long ago. If they did do anything, I certainly can't tell.

[Gseclipse02]

when i say alot i mean like 60+ ... most were small


just make sure you buy a butterfly who is eating frozen foods dont take some ones word for it

[ErikH]

Did you use aptasia x? It worked good for me! CBBs do not do too well in captivity. If you have any aggressive fish you may have issues.

[alton]

I guess I have been fortunate with Copperbands. But the only time I have added one the tank had aptaisia. The one I have in my 300 I have had since I think 03.

[phrog]

Our copperband ate everything frilly in the tank... aiptasia, red feather dusters, anything. Wiped it all out. Be careful that it doesn't run out of food or that the tank is too small.

[ramsey]

Yup, that's what used to poison them. It appeared to work the first couple of days, then it would come back and there would be babies around it. At this point though, I went from having 4-5 to having 4-5 HUNDRED. I let it go some since I was waiting for Nudi's for two months. Since they don't seem to be working, I need to try something else. I was also looking at the Tahitian BF's. They seem hardier than CBB and are aiptasia eaters.

[ramsey]

Our copperband ate everything frilly in the tank... aiptasia, red feather dusters, anything. Wiped it all out. Be careful that it doesn't run out of food or that the tank is too small.

Yeah, I'm worried about that but at this point, I'm willing to move stuff out that it may want to eat (clams/nems, etc.). I dunno, if you all have any other suggestions, I'm all ears. I thought about getting more Nudi's but they're expensive and I think something may have eaten them.

[bullstedman]

I finely got rid of mine after peps,2 butterfly that died practicaly overnight.What was the best of all for me was boiled water on them through a seringe from the microwave. They dont close up and dont spread JUST DIE I just used a slow stream out on them. Finally deth to them try it its free.

[ramsey]

I finely got rid of mine after peps,2 butterfly that died practicaly overnight.What was the best of all for me was boiled water on them through a seringe from the microwave. They dont close up and dont spread JUST DIE I just used a slow stream out on them. Finally deth to them try it its free.

Someone else told me this. I'll give it a shot. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Did you just squirt it on them or actually inject them with a hypodermic needle?

[bullstedman]

Jusy slowly squirt them with it i can usualy kill 2 or 3 with one syringe full.

[Kenya]

boiled water worked great for me.

I actually just used hot tap water and a toothbrush on the rock that had the problems and just scrubbed the area with hot water. havent seen any more since then

[BSJF]

15 peppermints in a 20 gallon fuge with a ton of aiptasia = aiptasia gone overnight.
5 peppermints in a 150 gallon tank with a few aiptasia = aiptasia gone in a few weeks.

kill all the aiptasia that you can find and introduce several peppermints (with the lights out so they can work without getting eaten).

[ramsey]

15 peppermints in a 20 gallon fuge with a ton of aiptasia = aiptasia gone overnight.
5 peppermints in a 150 gallon tank with a few aiptasia = aiptasia gone in a few weeks.

kill all the aiptasia that you can find and introduce several peppermints (with the lights out so they can work without getting eaten).

This is what I did. I put at least 20 peps in my 175G. This was almost two months ago.