Should I use my 56 zoa colonies as food?
 

... I'm really getting fed up with these little pest nems, I have no ambitions to break the reef apart to hand squirt them as I have done this, only for them to return in 3 weeks time. It appears most of them are mojenos so nudies won't fix the problem.

I guess my last choice is some species of fish, I just would prefer something that isn't going massacre my zoas, lps or sps.

After some reading its down to some sort of angel, butterfly or filefish but any insight would be great!
Thanks guys.
Levi

The other option you could do is dry out the rock kill it all that way and then reseeding the rock with clean live rock later.

But shutting down and restarting isnt the best :/

a fish that eat Them is good but once the fish is removed or dies j hear they come back pretty quick

I have a great filefish in my tank that took care of all my pest anemones etc, however, that being said, the only coral he did eat was Zoa!!!

They will migrate if you put them in the dark and put a small light at one end of the tank, from there you can wipe them off the glass.

Really :surprise:, that's pretty cool I will try it tonight. The only problem is it's a 6' 180g, will they migrate all the way from the other end?

Well that's one option out.

It isn't going to happen overnight, I did it over a few days, even floating a glass jar at the surface with a small bulb will usually attract a few to move, stay away from Joe's juice on these buggers, unless you completely eradicate them they simply multiply .

you can try putting a large oyster shell over top and they will climb from underneath to the top of the shell toward the light. then toss out the shell.

I tried the light trick last night to no avail, there are far to many to try shelling them all. Any insight as far as fish goes would be greatly appriciated! The tank gets fed really well, and there is a TON of zoas in there so as long as any picking is in moderation I'm fine with it.

It has come down to a tassled file fish, bicolor angel or some species of butterfly.

i had the file fish for well a few months never touched a thing then one day wiped out most of my acans lol so but got rid of all my apistia for a few months then it just grows back :sad:

I think it is the matted filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) you are after not the tassled filefish. I tried one but it wasn't in my tank long enough to tell if it was eating the aptasia. I yanked it out since he was nibbling on my acans. They are generally not considered reef safe so just be aware of that.

Thanks, I will stick to butterflys/ angels then.

Have patience!

I'm going to try it again tonight, hopfully I will get some better results.
Levi

Leave the lights off for a few days, they will move, lack of light will not hurt the zoa's

Levi, I gave up on manual control of aiptasia and majano long ago. I did a raccoon butterfly for a little while, he massacred the aiptasia but didn't touch majano much .. and unfortunately had developed a taste for LPS before I lost him to my mysterious tank hiccup last September.

I have had now two matted filefish, the first one did eventually develop a taste for aiptasia but it took a while - he never touched anything else in that tank he was in (zoanthids and LPS, including Acan's). However I lost him to jumping.

I'm on my second matted filefish now, he is not touching the Acan's or the zoanthids or the other corals in that tank, although also isn't doing a whole heck of a lot against the aiptasia in that tank.

In my cube tank I have two C. ulietensis butterflies (common names "double-saddled" or "false falcula"), in their tank they have DESTROYED both majano and aiptasia (I got them because they have a reputation for majano control). However after only a month or so they started indiscriminately eating other things - LPS, SPS, gorgonians. About the only thing that they haven't really shown an interest in is clams. They seem to find tentacles irresistable - so anything with polyp extension or feeder tentacles is really what they'll pick at.

If it's just aiptasia you're dealing with, maybe you could consider a copperbanded. I had one for 3 years. This is a tricky recommendation because CBB's currently have an abhorrent track record in captivity and many people are recommending that they be left in the ocean. Mine took a while to develop a taste for aiptasia but once he did, he destroyed any he could find (my favourite trick was dangling a rock in the tank with my hand and letting him de-aiptasia it). He never did develop a taste for majano though. And he did pick at things like blasto and Acans, wasn't too bad at first but after a while I couldn't keep them anymore.

I'm thinking your best bet is the matted filefish (and patience, since they don't always seem to go after the aiptasia at first).

Hope you can find something to get rid of the pest's and not touch your zoa's as I would love to buy some frags from some if not all you colonies when you decide to frag.

Ahah :lol:, soon soon.

Thanks Tony,
I picked up a 3 inch Copperband from Wais today, so far so good but I'm going to keep a close eye on him. He seems to be picking @ the rocks and hasn't touched any of the coral, didn't go after frozen brine yet but he's brand new so time will tell.

Yeah, the first trick will be getting him to accept that what you offer is actually food. There are the occasional CBB's who take to flake or pellet, but they are rare. Mine never did, but at least he loved mysis so it was easy to get him to eat that everyday. Another treat I'd give him was mussel or food clams or oysters, but tangs will love that stuff too so make sure he gets some somehow.

Just basically keep an eye on your acan's. I never pieced it together at the time because I never saw him pick at them, but they stopped flourishing and started receding and there was no other reason for it - now that I think about it, I think it was happening at night when they had their feeders out.

Zoanthids were fine though. Good luck with him! This is one of my favouritest kinds of fish, I have a soft spot for all butterflies but CBB's in particular. Mine learned to recognize me as a provider of food, I could cup my hands around him in perfect trust. It absolutely broke my heart last year when he suddenly displayed a weird lesion above his eye one evening, and he was dead within 4 or 5 hours of my noticing. A few months shy of 3 years I had him.

Anyhow, definitely a beautiful little fish. Good luck!

I got a sweet CBB from Blue Water a few weeks ago, he is a pig for every thing from PE Mysis to pellet/flake. Have not seen him go after and corals or caught him munching down on any aiptasia yet. But he is now my favorite fish, he will even feed right out of my hand.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/x...5BFPics039.jpg

Elegance coral will kill them on contact but they tend to grow large. If you decide to try the elegance coral simply pick it up by the base and touch the tentacles to the pest anemone and it will die a quick death.

Doug

Have you tried Peppermint Shrimp? I've had good luck with them removing aptasia, and even some good size Manjos.

Have 4 of them in there, watched them eat aptasia at the LFS and then all they do is hide in my fish tank :\...

A friend of mine had a 200g infested with well over a thousand Majanos. We used dull pairs of scissors to pull (not cut) each one off the rocks. Worked very well & a permanent solution.

Hey Levi,

Whatever zoas you have left over, want to send them to my tank? I have a butterfly that I need to feed, honest! :lol:

Kien your tank is to nice as it is, you don't need anymore colorful butterfly food :lol:. So far so good, seems the little copperband has a taste for the asptasia as I have watched him pick at a few of them. Nothing for mojeno's, my coral or frozen food yet but he seems to be getting along with everyone so I'm hopeful on the frozen.
Levi

Good luck with this one. I hope no damage comes your zoas. I love zoas and your tank is awesome! Im tempted to make a special trip to pick up a few frags when you decide to frag. Awesome stuff.

Levi I recommend you pull out all the zoas and swith to sps.:razz: Just kidding. Fish are very hit & miss so be aware the a variety of fish that is said to work well in one tank may or may not work in yours. I think the "light" or "shell" tricks sound like the best plans of attack.

Our first salt tank that we rescued was infested with the little buggers. 3 years later we have none in the DT. Thanks in part to pepermints and a racoon buterfly. There are a few in the sump, but i use them as nutrient export. The shell trick only worked for the manjos for us. The apatasia are hardy things. Sometimes if they are not fully eaten they will hide till they feel there is no danger, then they rear there ugly heads and multiply again. Patience is a vertu. You will win the battle.

So far I'm really enjoying this copperband *Knock on wood*, he seems to be doing what I bought him for and has completely ignored all my other coral. That being said its only been 2 days and If I got rid of all my zoas I would have to become SPSElite and I don't think I have that mastered yet :lol:.
Did you raccoon pick @ anything else in the tank? Maybe I should just not feed for a week and see If I can starve my peppermints into hunting.

Your not going to like this, but the buterfly went after our zoas once he finished of with the apatasia. I hated to dismantle all the rock work to catch him, but off to the FOWLR he went. Did his job there then got taken down by our octopus. So now i live with them, when they get to big i hit them with app-x. Works realy well, but it has to be done is still water. They don't seem to come back after the treatment.

interesting
 

Check this link
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...ghlight=majano

:lol: That's a very... interesting thread. I will stick to my Copperband, much less chance of electrocuting myself and my reef.

Hows the pest situation going? Id love to get a copperband, not so much for its pest eating but there just an awesome fish. Tanks just not big enough.

Little guy hasn't touched any of the zoas, has nipped at a few of the smaller aptasias but no mojenos and is eating frozen. Wonderful fish to have in the tank, curious if anything he swims right up to me while I'm moving things around in the tank and gets along with everyone very well.