aptasia anemones

I also bought a small troop of peppermint shrimps to help with the aptasia and not one of those little guys was ever seen munching away on aptasia, they seemed to make short work of everything else i fed the tank though.

 

as far as i know they feed at night, and as i mentioned iv never seen mine EAT them, what i have seen is the apitasia vanish from one location one day to the next.

 

oh and regarding the drip link, discard the tips and it does not mention that after 15-30 mins you can gently increase the flow, what you want is to have a soft stream for the last 15 mins.

so you start with a drop drop and finish with this soft streaming flow.

also dont forget to remove some water as the bucket fills up and throw it out. net the fish and place them in the tank would be best to avoid adding any of the water used in the bucket (though i catch my fish in the bucket with a glass jar since i fear the net might harm them, so i get some water from the bucket in my DT.)

 

ok so iv check my waters there fine and iv just brought 4 small pepper shrimps lets see what happens over the weeks hope it works

 

I also have an aiptasia problem. Luckily it is still contained in the sump, and I haven't seen any in the DT yet. But I read that Peppermint shrimp only "partially" eat the anemones. Which means that they will eventually grow back, or if the shrimp tears the anemone it can potentially spread. I put 2 peppermints in the sump(5.5gal) but no progress yet.

The only natural sure-fire way to get rid of them is a Berghia nudibranch. These nudibranchs exclusively eat aiptasia. Problem is, once the aiptasia are gone, the nudibranch will starve. I'm not ready to pay 15bucks plus 30bucks for shipping to get one. =/

 

you did the right thing in my opinion but you have to feed the shrimp and dose iodine for them to molt just like anybody or thing if they are starving they may eat coral so feed them about every 2 nights, my peps keep the nems gone

 

I just mentioned this in another thread, but I used the majanowand to kill all the aiptasia in my 120 mixed reef. The wand turns the anemone into a pile of white goo that you can suction out with a turkey baster. It's even purported to destroy the "spores" which the anemones release to spread! May be tedious for that many aips, but it's a good alternative to adding livestock which may or may not kill the aips, and still need to be taken care of after the aips are gone.

FWIW i used the wand to kill the last aip that was sheltering in a colony of zoas about 3 months ago, and top to bottom there is not sign of aiptasia in my tank any longer. The wand is precise enough to kill the aip and not harm a single head of zoa.

 

Good Job, I too had an aiptasia problem in the past. The peppermints worked well for me. Plus, I constantly see them pick at stuff on my larger fish like the sailfin tang. I love these guys they work well, and are fun to watch.

 

IMO apitasia is a natural problem i dont really understand people who are so one lined abolut this, do really one or two of them bother you? even if they do grow back it all part of a delicate balance.

 

One or Two turn into 20 or 30. A copper banded butterfly is said to eat then. They also pick on other items in a reef. Check F&S description on them.