Help! aiptasias everywhere!

[Peppermint Shrimp eat them, and people inject larger ones with kalkwasser paste, or boiling water, or the Alkalinity portion from B-Ionic.

HTH]
 
[I do not know your tank set-up, but a good Copperband Butterfly will eat all and any they can get to.]
 
[Thanks Marc and John! I bought ten peppermint shrimps and put them to work. Most of the aiptasias are gone within a week. Awesome! :)]
 
[I bought some lr from an established tank (to surprise my husband, while he was out of town). We did get lots of life, including aiptasia. I've been injecting w/ paste and/or vinegar. It works, but I'd like to add a peppermint. Will a peppermint go after the larger aiptasia?

Rick wasn't crazy 'bout my surprise- but he sees it as a way to get a copperband butterfly... but, I think we're to new to try that fish...

Thanks for the help,
Nancy]
 
@RickHarris wrote:
[I bought some lr from an established tank (to surprise my husband said:
[Sounds liek the tank is doing wonderful. Peppermints only have a taste for baby aptasia generally. They'll keep them under control once you have the bigger ones gone, but they probably would have to be really hungry for them to work as a control. A copperband or raccoon butterfly would be your best choice to get them under control, but they WILL eat coral polyps if exposed to them long term and they are hungry.

Kevin]
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[About Peppermints and aptasia. I have a Copperband Butterfly in my reef tank that takes care of them there. But in my 20 gallon refugium they getting pretty big and I was getting lax at trying to kill them with kalkwasser injections. So I figured I would put a couple of peppermints in there to take of any more that grew, so that the refugium would not be taken over by them. I never thought they would bother with the bigger ones that had grown in there. A few of them were probably 3", longer than either shrimp I put in. Well to my surprise they killed every single apatsia in the refugium, even the big ones. I can only see on left and it is in the middle of some caulerpa that has grown back up around it. And I do not know if it because it is just not out in the open where they can attack it. But I know they will kill at least 3" aptasia.]
 
[Kevin- the tank is doing good. But, we're aware of all that's left to learn.

thanks for the advice. yeah, I'd heard that 'bout peppermints and hoped to keep them out of the tank. we're down to 3 one inch aips and 1 tiny one. we're gonna inject them tonight and wait and see. I guess.

Rick does your copperband eat your polyps? I've read about that possibility too. I know...I know... it all depends on the individual fish... (we have a coral beauty tha's supposed to be eating my coral too.)]
 
[I'd go with the peppermints. From my experience they will eat large aiptasia anemones. I put one in a small nano reef, 12gal, that was completely infested with aiptasia. The little guy ate every single one. Several anemones were 2" across. I put another one in my 75 when I happened to notice three small aiptasias popped up. I saw the shrimp eating one this morning.
As far as the fish go, copperband I think would be fine.]
 
[@John M. wrote:
I'd go with the peppermints. From my experience they will eat large aiptasia anemones. I put one in a small nano reef said:
John, do you simply not feed the tank at that point, so the shrimp will eat the aptasia, or do you still drop in food each day?]



Edited By Marc on 1057523197
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[with the small 12 gal, I only have a cuple of small fish and would still feed a small pinch or two of flake food every day. The peppermint would eat some flake food. It just didn't seem to slow it's appitite for the aiptasia. I danced with glee whan I saw my new one eating the last aiptasia this morning in the 75. (interesting side note) I also witnessed a trumpet coral polyp eat the molt form the peppermint shrimp. It scared me at first because I thought what I was seeing was the shrimp half out of the coral! Still, kinda neat.]
 
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