Fishes that help with coral pests.
- Thread starter Alitoo_81
- Start date
Western_reefer
Reef keeper
Wrasses. 
Alitoo_81
New member
Yes, I know but with one? six line ?thank u
All of them, get a variety of species. Melanerus gets good press, mine eats pests.
dzhuo
Active member
There are numerous fish reportedly used to control acro pests. Among the most popular are wrasses (such as six-line, Hawaiian 4 line, yellow coris etc) and certain pipe fish (such as dragonface pipefish). The problem is for every success stories, there are more failing ones. In other word, there is no guarantee that these fish will do anything so relying on them to control these pests can be very disappointing. The worse thing is you add the fish and they didn't do anything; now you have to get creative to get the fish out because you really don't like the fish that much.
In Germany, there is a more proof prove method involve the use of camel shrimp. It has been reported to be a lot successful in controlling pretty much all SPS pest including red bugs, AEFW and nudis. The basic principle is very simple: A hungry shrimp will find and eat just about anything. The set up involves using about 10 camel shrimps in a separate tank (say 10g). You starve the shrimp for a week or so without feeding and then rotate your infested SPS to that tank. The shrimps will start eating pretty much all known pests they can find within a few minutes. You would have to observe the process closely and be ready to pull the SPS out in about ~5 minutes or the shrimps will start eating the SPS after the pests are gone. This won't work if you can't take the SPS out, obviously.
What pest are you particularly fighting with?
In Germany, there is a more proof prove method involve the use of camel shrimp. It has been reported to be a lot successful in controlling pretty much all SPS pest including red bugs, AEFW and nudis. The basic principle is very simple: A hungry shrimp will find and eat just about anything. The set up involves using about 10 camel shrimps in a separate tank (say 10g). You starve the shrimp for a week or so without feeding and then rotate your infested SPS to that tank. The shrimps will start eating pretty much all known pests they can find within a few minutes. You would have to observe the process closely and be ready to pull the SPS out in about ~5 minutes or the shrimps will start eating the SPS after the pests are gone. This won't work if you can't take the SPS out, obviously.
What pest are you particularly fighting with?
wdt2000
Member
So will camel shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis) that are not starved eat SPS? From my understanding they only nip at soft corals and anemones.
http://www.korallen-zucht.de/index.php?article_id=52&clang=1
http://www.korallen-zucht.de/index.php?article_id=52&clang=1
Last edited:
Imo, wrasses are some of the most beautiful reef fish. So I would have them even without potential pest prevention. I think the op was just looking for something that might prevent infestation, rather than treat it. On a side note I have been successful in treating aefw with the basting and wrasses method, without having to tear apart my tank.
dzhuo
Active member
Most shrimps are opportunistic feeders so if given the choice, I don't think SPS, soft corals or anemones are their primary or preferred food source (at least not when the corals are healthy). I am pretty sure if they can't find enough food, they will eat just about anything. I suspect majority of cases where we report shrimps bothering corals falls into this category. I am not sure if we consider shrimps to be predatory but I believe majority of the time, they rely on scavenge to find foods. It's possible that in our tanks, especially SPS tanks, the environment is just too clean without much left over foods for them to eat which force them to take on something else.
There is a publication done on this particular shrimp and has shown to be very effective against AEFW (including the eggs). In just about a few minutes, all AEFW were consumed and the corals would have to be pulled out quickly before these hungry shrimp move on to pick on the corals.
There is a publication done on this particular shrimp and has shown to be very effective against AEFW (including the eggs). In just about a few minutes, all AEFW were consumed and the corals would have to be pulled out quickly before these hungry shrimp move on to pick on the corals.
dzhuo
Active member
In a few posts down, OP did show a photo of his acro with heavy red bug infestion.
Yes. With this method, you don't really need wrasses. Clown and chromis, for example, will eat them from the water column too. And yes wrasses are beautiful.
dzhuo
Active member
Yup. That's article when I first came across this method. There are few more reports in Germany with very good success rate against numerous SPS pests.
dzhuo
Active member
Btw, there is no way I would rely on wrasses or any fish as a good reliable preventive measure against SPS pests. That's simply not a realistic goal.
In a few posts down, OP did show a photo of his acro with heavy red bug infestion.
Yes. With this method, you don't really need wrasses. Clown and chromis, for example, will eat them from the water column too. And yes wrasses are beautiful.
Ahh, didnt see op's other thread
Agreed, several of my fish would eat the fw after blown off. My wrasses were much more savvy to the turkey baster, so as they would see it thd would get very excited and follow it around.
Quarantine is probably a good idea.
Western_reefer
Reef keeper
Alitoo_81
New member
dont know yet, I bought a digital microscop and y will take pics of all they things the came out of the corals and rock when I diped them. I will put this pic in this post later.
thank you
coralreefhq
New member
A wrasse is good for pests.
It should be a rule of thumb for anyone to keep SPS's is to keep wrasses in their tank, to prevent any outbreaks of not only pests, but pods that may overpopulate your system.
Tangs are good for algae, needless to say different tangs eat different types of algae.
It should be a rule of thumb for anyone to keep SPS's is to keep wrasses in their tank, to prevent any outbreaks of not only pests, but pods that may overpopulate your system.
Tangs are good for algae, needless to say different tangs eat different types of algae.
Similar threads
