COPPERBANDS CONTROL AIPTASIA CONTROL OF AIPTASIA IN REEF AQUARIUMS TANKS - A requested reprint

      Reef Aquarium

      IF YOUR REEF IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE THIS
      YOU HAVE TO CONTROL AIPTASIA

      This month I am going to start a series of articles on pest and algae control in reef aquarium farm tanks. You can rid your tank of these pests by this method

      Prepare stock solution

      1. 1 tsp. pickling lime - food grade calcium hydroxide
      2. 2 tbls. tap water.

      boil water and lime in microwave for 40 sec.
      keep closed plastic container in cool place.
      You will need a vet syringe from a pet store that sells vaccinations

      This mixture comes out of the needle very thick. You do not need to inject the Aiptasia.
      Just release a small amount on to the aiptasia and it will take it in. This mixture seems to stick to the
      anemone, but it does not stick to the other inverts. We also use this mixture on problem hair algae.

      We have killed 20 or 30 at a time in 55 gallon reefs and it did not hurt anything

      NATURAL METHOD TO CONTROL AIPTASIA ANEMONES

      We now over 30 production tanks in our reef aquarium propagation research lab. Most of these tanks are full of aquacultured and wild live rock. I say they are FULL of live rock and some have more than 5 lbs.per gallon. We have been researching base rock for 3 years in some of these reefs.

      In some of these research tanks we feed brine shrimp, green water, and roitifers. Anytime a reef has bright light and feeding aiptasia can get out of control. For the last 13 months we have been testing Copperband Butterfly fish as a natural control of these pests.

      Reef Aquarium copperband

      I now have 10 of these fish living in our lab and I am going to get that many more. I have tested this fish in many different types of grow out systems. I have one in a 270 gallon round tank with 800 lbs. of aquacultured live rock. I have sps corals, Zoanthids, Palythoa, Caribbean cup corals, Gorgonians, and several soft corals in the tank with this fish. We now take coral cuttings that have Aiptasia to this tank for this fish to clean. I have watched while this fish cleaned rocks with many types polyps and I have not seen it do any damage.

      I have placed several Copperband Butterfly fish in my sps coral brood stock reefs during the past 3 months. The Copperband Butterfly fish will search every part of reef for Aiptasia. I have watched these fish for hours and I have not seen them do any damage to my corals.

      THIS IS THE PEST YOU NEED TO CONTROL - AIPTASIA

      GEOTHERMAL AQUACULTURE RESEARCH FOUNDATION

      One month ago I put one Copperband Butterfly fish in a 70 gallon propagation tank that I have been testing a shipment of Florida aquaculture rock. This tank has one 175 watt halide and several power heads. I am certain that there were over 3000 Aiptasia in this reef 5 weeks ago. Today I counted 9 that were behind a piece of plastic that holds up the plugs.

      Reef Aquarium copperband

      We will continue to test these Copperband Butterfly fish to see how we can feed them if the wonderful day ever comes when we run out of these pests. I would have say that if you have problem with these Aiptasia it would be a good idea to purchase a Copperband Butterfly fish.