Hi Tom,
I have a 180g reef tank that has some Aiptasia popping up here and there on
the live rocks. I tried using Berghia nudibranchs but still no results
since (not sure if Berghia are still alive). Was told to use Copperband
Butterflyfish,... but I am not sure about their compatibility in a reef tank
full of SPS, LPS, clams, soft corals, etc... Is this fish hardy? I have a
Desjardinii tang, Purple tang, Scotts Velvet wrasse, Six Line Wrasse, pair of
Yellow Gobies, four Percula Clowns, Flame Hawkfish, and a Midas Blenny.
No special tube worms except those that came on live rocks.
What do you think?
Thank you for your time.
Stephen
Stephen,
Good to hear from you! I'm glad you asked about the Copperband butterflies before you tried one. There are three problems with them. I'll cover them later. I hope your aiptasia anemone problem doesn't get out of hand. Aiptasia are a real pest to many reef aquariums. If you let them go unchecked, they end up in large numbers naturally in all reef aquariums. They are introduced to tanks on live rock, live sand and on bare coral bases or skeletons. Aiptasia are next to impossible to avoid. They are a very hardy little beige/tan/brown pest anemone that can multiply in your aquariums and sting corals. Many a beginner (I did this too!) has started out adoring these little pest anemones that come in on their first live rock. They pamper them, adore them and show them off to family and friends, only many months later ending up hating them and sometimes trying fruitlessly to get rid of them as they multiply and sting corals. There is a coral that gets the best of aiptasia though, it is the elegance coral (Catalaphyllia jardinei). If you've ever noticed, the area right around an elegance coral is free of aiptasia. Some report the same with Hammer or Frog Spawn corals too. Some people actually move the elegance coral around to help reduce aiptasia numbers in their reef aquarium. This may not be the best or most practical overall solution since this coral will sting other corals too, so you can't just put it everywhere in the tank harmlessly. Also, corals may not like being moved around a lot. There are many treatments for reducing or getting rid of aiptasia, including aiptasia predators. The only problem is that some aiptasia predators like butterfly fish are often going to eat other things along with the aiptasia. You need to be aware of this so you can make a better choice of options.
You could actually get rid of all aiptasia from a batch of live rock and then grow your own live rock using this now pest-free live rock as the seed rock. You can quite easily grow your own tank-raised live rock to keep, trade or sell. You could actually (theoretically) grow pest free live rock, live sand and corals this way, eliminating unwanted bristle worms, mantis shrimp, valonia (bubble algae) and other commonly imported pests. Eliminate the pests from your seed rocks before using them to cultivate new rocks into live rock. While this is easy to say, it may be much harder to actually do. Aiptasia are a very hardy little pest anemone that can multiply and sting corals.
I did recommend using a Copperband Butterfly or a Raccoon Butterfly for eradicating aiptasia, in an article in MFM a while back. I had heard of some cases of success with Copperbands and Racoons controlling aiptasia successfully in reef aquariums. I'm sure you've heard some of these same reports. This is true to some extent, but most reports are not complete! I also listed some drawbacks with them in MFM as well, like eating things you don't want them to eat. Also, I was told that as long as butterflyfish (even Copperbands) were well fed and had plenty of aiptasia to eat they would live long with the live aiptasia supplementing their diet. I now find this to be very incorrect in the vast majority of cases with Copperbands. It appears that in at least 90% of the cases, people can not keep Copperband butterflies past 6 months or so, often much less. The problem, nutrition. The copperband is too finicky to eat well in most cases and can not eat enough of what you may be able to offer it, to make up for what it is missing from the wild coral reef diet it is used to which keeps them plump, healthy and living long. I had high hopes of my Copperband getting plump after it started eating the overload of aiptasia. It initially would not eat the aiptasia, but soon noticed that they were food. Actually, once the Copperbanded Butterfly started eating them, it cleaned out the tank of aiptasia very well. I was pleased of course and reported this as a confirmation to the reports I'd heard. I then transferred the fish to another tank, and then another after that. This poor fish slowly began to look worse and worse. It died skinny after a few months, even with plenty of aiptasia available to eat. Come to find out after the fact that this is very common, I hear reports of this time and time again now! Copperband Butterfly fish are such finicky eaters that they will often not eat hardly any variety of prepared fish food and have even starved to death on some of their favorite live foods, worms, enhanced brine shrimp and clams. I do not believe that even well fortified live foods, including aiptasia, are always enough to keep Copperbands healthy. People have had them starve to death on good diets, when they listen to sources still telling them to, "Do this and they will live long and be healthy." Of course there are some cases where they do survive this way, but I don't think it is worth the gamble. Large wrasses, tangs and even a flame hawk can harass a timid fish like the often frail Copperband Butterfly to make matters even worse for this poor fish in captivity. Even without harassment, the odds are not good for this fish living long in most tanks in captivity. Very large tanks may help in some cases, but I DON'T recommend the Copperbanded Butterflyfish for the common reef tank of any hobbyist.
Most any butterflyfish could eat aiptasia, but they can also eat corals. While butterflies in general love to eat worms, they often also start in on corals, soft and stony. The first thing they typically go for when you put them into your tank is the little fan/tube worms with feathery heads. Copperbands seem to be the least harmful to corals, but they still can eat some anyway, and your clams too. The Copperbands may not cause much other trouble while aiptasia are present, but some reports sway to the contrary, so you may not want to take a chance anyway.
One of the more hardy butterflyfish (in captivity) is the Raccoon Butterfly. It is very hardy and eats about anything, but a good quality varied diet is still recommended for this fish also. Raccoon Butterflyfish tend to eat aiptasia much more readily than the Copperband, BUT they tend to be much more aggressive in eating your corals too, esp when the aiptasia run out. They are risky in the reef, with varying reports of risk level in each aquarist's reef tank. Some claim they leave the corals alone while the aiptasia are still present, while others report at least some coral harassment or even heavy coral eating while aiptasia are still plentiful in the tank. Plan for the worst.
Now, the other problem that some of the promoters of using butterflyfish for aiptasia control do not tell you: Once the Copperband Butterflyfish dies (they all to often do in a short time) or when you move any butterfly fish out of the tank later, the aiptasia grow back even stronger than before! Why? Because the butterflies typically do not get all the aiptasia skin off the rocks. The tiny bits of skin they leave behind grow rapidly back into many more tiny little aiptasia within 5 to 7 days. You can watch this effect right on the front glass of your aquarium when an aiptasia settles there and breaks off tiny bits of skin around the edges that stay attached to the glass around its base. these tiny bits of aiptasia skin turn into fully formed tiny aiptasia with tiny tentacles quite quickly. All the tiny bits of skin left on the rocks grow back, after the butterfly eats the bulk of your aiptasia. But, as long as the butterfly is in the tank this is not a problem. Due to this effect, as soon as the Copperband or other sensitive butterfly dies, your aiptasia may be noticeably worse within two or three months of losing your butterflyfish than they ever had been before.
Sorry to say it, but I obviously no longer recommend ANY butterflies, not even hardy Raccoon Butterflies, for aiptasia control in the reef aquarium. Raccoons love to nip at and EAT zoanthid polyps, and that's just for starters. They also can eat various soft corals, mushrooms, clams and even some stony corals. I listened to those who seemed to know what they were doing and ended up listening to the wrong people. Anyone recommending Copperband butterflies in a reef tank for aiptasia control would seem to me to not have extensive personal experience with them, nor with the resultant aiptasia regrowth. Using Butterfly fish for aiptasia control simply boils down to these three points: 1- Copperband and many other types of butterflyfish are all too often not hardy in aquariums and tend to die from poor nutrition too easily. 2- Any butterflyfish can also eat valued worms (including feather dusters), clams and corals which makes them a serious risk to your reef tank. Also, some do not eat the aiptasia anyway. 3- Aiptasia are actually induced to reproduce, turning into many more aiptasia, when eaten/groomed by butterflyfish. Knowing the facts, it's your choice now.
Some shrimp will eat aiptasia also, but these shrimp can also eat corals too. The Camel-back Shrimp is one such problem shrimp in many cases. The Peppermint Shrimp seems to be more reef-safe, but is still debated. Peppermint Shrimp will eat smaller aiptasia and also can eat some coral polyps sometimes, but some people still report no problems with them eating coral. Peppermint Shrimp seem to eat all of the aiptasia, not leaving tiny skin pieces which induces multiple aiptasia regrowth like butterflyfish do. I have tried a Peppermint Shrimp and did not observe any coral damage, while the aiptasia numbers very slowly decreased. Once again, don't be surprised if you experience the worst of the two scenarios.
This whole aiptasia predator thing sounds a bit like the arguments about such crabs as the Emerald Crab that eats valonia (bubble algae), and also the controversy over C. digueti hermit crabs that eat hair algae and slime algae. The Emerald Crab is reported as also eating coralline algae, snails, coral polyps and more. Amazingly enough, C. digueti hermit crabs (Mexican Red Leg/Blue-spotted hermit) is a well known heavy coralline algae eater. C. digueti also eats snails, coral polyps and they eat each other as well. Another reader just sent me this report on his earlier experience with C. digueti hermit crabs, which according to some sellers "Never eat ANY coralline algae or healthy live snails or each other." I have heard all too many reports similar to the following aquarist's report, and all too many also tell of excessive coralline algae stripping: "I made the mistake of buying them (C. digueti hermit crabs). They were incredibly aggressive. They killed almost every snail in the tank, and then turned on themselves. I removed all of them from my tank and started over with just blue legged hermits and astrea snails."
C. digueti is not a long lived hermit crab in so many cases, to some aquarists' delight. If we keep believing everything we hear and read in this hobby, or anywhere, we are going to be in trouble. Let's not be so gullible. Why should we believe that such predatory omnivores as crabs could really be better described as being completely herbivorous, angelic, polite, playful and an always-welcome reef guest? We will be sorely disappointed when we find out that there is no such thing as a truly herbivorous hermit crab or hermit crab which is not capable if eating any live healthy snails, each other or other reef guests. Crabs, including hermits, are omnivores, period. However, some types of hermit crabs can often be kept with little problem when kept in low numbers. Blue Legs and Scarlet hermits seem to be less of a problem for many aquarists when kept in small to modest numbers. It seems that sometimes we get all kinds of things pushed at us that are declared to be the miracle cure to our most pressing reef problems (ie. butterfly fish and C. digueti), only to find out that the cure is as bad as (or worse than?) the problem...
Back to the aiptasia problem. Some aquarists have used underwater epoxies (such as AquaStick or other underwater putties) to seal aiptasia anemones inside holes in the live rock which they often grow out of. Some people report that the aiptasia sometimes find another connected hole to grow back out of again. Some people use kalkwasser (KW) boiled with water, then cooled and added to a syringe with skinny needle, and then injected into or over the aiptasia. Turn currents down or off so you don't blow the KW around the tank when you put it on the aiptasia. Mark Barnes of Boise developed a simple idea to make the KW particles smaller so the extra thick solution would be less clumpy so it can go through the hypodermic needle without so easily clogging it. Quickly inject KW into the aiptasia or just shoot some on the oral disk of the aiptasia. The aiptasia will then contract and you can cover the small nob left with as bit more KW after 5 or 10 minutes to assure that you cover any bits of skin that they commonly break off around the pedal base when they contract like this. Otherwise you may be killing one large aiptasia while creating more tiny ones around it. There are also other chemicals that you can inject right into the aiptasia, if you are fast enough. But once again, you may be creating MORE tiny aiptasia with any injections when the aiptasia contracts and breaks off perhaps 5 to 15 small pedal skin bits, still attached to the rock which grow quickly into more little aiptasia. The KW method is the preferred injection IF you cap it off after it fully retracts, to cover the tiny bits of separated skin also. If you don't believe that you can create more aiptasia by killing them by injection (or with butterflyfish), then try this test. Inject a medium to large aiptasia on your front aquarium glass and observe the tiny bits of skin that break off around the edges of it's base within an hour or so which stay attached to the glass and then grow into more aiptasia. If you cut of the head of an aiptasia, the stump will regrow an new head and the head will reattach where it lands and grow a new trunk. Actually you could use these techniques to your advantage in growing more aiptasia (in a strictly aiptasia growing tank) to grow enough aiptasia to support the feeding of a small aiptasia-eating Berghia Nudibranch growing operation.
I would still tend to recommend using the Berghia Nudibranch which specifically eats aiptasia only, leaving no bits of skin on the rocks to regrow more aiptasia, like butterfly fish do. Some care instructions for Berghia Nudibranchs may help people have more positive experiences with them rather than a lack of results. Your experience sounds like one of the negative ones, maybe? I hear them both ways and believe that more information needs to be given by the dealers at time of purchase as to how to keep them better. I have heard of Berghia Nudibranchs eating all the aiptasia in the tank and of course the nudibranchs die since their diet is so conspecific to aiptasia. This is typical of many nudibranchs, they have a very narrow diet. This poses problems in keeping many other types, either if you don't have what they eat, or if their specific diet is your favorite coral! This happens. I have heard no reports of Berghia Nudibranchs eating other things in a reef tank, yet. But, after Berghia eat all of your aiptasia, they die if you don't add more aiptasia to their sometimes growing numbers in your tank. Or you can catch them and move them to the next tank, or sell them to the local store or trade them with other hobbyists... Sometimes people do have a hard time getting Berghia Nudibranchs settled and thriving in their tanks when first added. Keep in mind that if you just dump them into your reef aquarium they could get sucked up by a powerhead and mutilated. They can also get eaten by aiptasia this way, if they just happen to drift into the tentacles of an ever-hungry aiptasia while "going in for a landing", when you just dump them in your tank. Yes, aiptasia can eat these nudibranchs, while the nudibranchs can also eat the aiptasia!
Jake Levi and others have noted that Berghia nudibranchs can easily get chewed up by powerheads and filters. After all it is reported that they can be collected from a tank by tuning off circulation at night, they will float to the top. After failing to get his Berghia nudibranchs to take hold, and witnessing one that was chewed up by a powerhead, Jake recommends possibly using just air stones for circulation while getting them accustomed to your tank or while they are reproducing and cleaning out your aiptasia. He also suspects that they might do better if you lower your aquarium temperature to the mid 70's, rather than close to 80, since Berghia nudibranchs live in Florida's slightly cooler temperate waters. He also recommends not having excess possible predators that may pick at the nudibranchs (maybe certain fish, crabs and hermit crabs?).
It may even be best to keep Berghia nudibranchs in a jar of tank water for the first day or two when you get them, to observe whether they are doing well or not, and to give them a chance to get fed and recover from their trip to your home, most often by overnight delivery. Small ones start on small aiptasia at first. More people need to get involved in growing this aiptasia predator since the current growers can not keep up with demand. This would make a great small scale local operation where you could grow them and sell or trade them with your local aquarium stores so that others will be able to buy them more readily. Some Berghia growers actually grow them in bare Mason jars with just a daily water change with tank water and no aeration or filtration in the jar. The daily water exchange assures that no toxins like ammonia build up in their small easily observable quarters. This way the grower can find and observe the conditions of the nudibranchs, eggs, larvae and juveniles much more easily, and feed them more easily by adding aiptasia of appropriate sizes to the jars. When placing Berghia in a tank, be sure to place them where they can attach without getting blown away, but don't place them right next to an aiptasia. Let them do the moving and eating on their own. If they attach to the rock and crawl up to the base of an aiptasia, they can stun the aiptasia and cause it to shrivel up and then they can eat IT, rather than the other way around.
Tangs-
Tom Miller