Aiptasia

[New2Salt]

Got one of these that I just found in my tank, he is big, at least to me he is. I have read from the hitchhikers faqs area on one of these boards that a Berghia verrucicornis nudibranch would work, but I only have one that I know of but I've heard they spread, I also remember reading somewhere that hammer corals are good for getting rid of these too? Or it was something that was branching. Anyone have any recommendations of controlling this before it goes out of control??

Thanks! BTW below is a pic of it, although it's cool that it catches things and tries to eat things floating in the water, I'm not thrilled about the faq it will sting things.

well it won't let me post the pic sorry.

 

[New2Salt]

I also read that peppermint shrimp would work too, but I have 2 cleaner shrimp, would this cause problems getting a peppermint shrimp, I know they are in the same family but I don't want to have a shrimp fight on my hands

 

[loganj]

Don't think the pic made it. You can mix up some very concentrated kalkwasser and squirt in on the aiptasia...should kill it. Or, if there isn't anything on the rock that will be damaged too much by a minute out of the water, find the exact spot where in aiptasia is and pull the rock out of the water. Then, using your trusty bic lighter (a zippo will work too ), roast the little fella for a few seconds. He should be gone then. I have one in my tank...I'm leaving it alone for now. I have a peppermint shrimp also. I'm hoping he will keep things under control. They will allegedly eat the small ones. If I start to get a bunch of them, I'll start killing them. A copperband butterfly fish will also eat them. I've never had one, but I've read that they do a good job with aiptasia and are not extremely hard to keep.
Logan J

 

[New2Salt]

Thanks Logan, don't know what happened with the pic, it was only 52kb. Oh well. I think we may get a peppermint shrimp, I just hope the other two cleaner shrimp don't gang up on it. Can't do butterfly fish, heard they like to eat other things and we don't have a big enough tank for those. I've always wanted a nudibranch but I don't want to starve it if it eats any that are in the tank. Think the peppermint is the way to go, I'd do kalkwasser but have heard of people ODing and killing other corals with it. Thanks for the lighter advice may do that one too!

 

[loganj]

For what it's worth, I have a fire shrimp with my peppermint and they get along just fine.
Logan J

 

[Hara]

a quick squirt with boiling water works wonders.

 

[Hara]

eh? Got a message saying I could not post so soon after the last post...whats that all about?

 

[michealprater]

I have kept peppermints with all kinds of shrimp. The only shrimp I have ever seen that I have owned that was a killer are coral bandeds. I have never seen cleaners get aggressive. Also I have heard of peppermints keeping one aiptasia alive and then harvesting the new ones. Kind of like a farmer. So if it doesnt eat the one and you dont see them spreading new ones, this could be the case. good luck.

 

[loganj]

I had never heard that. Pretty neat! I was kinda hoping that the aiptasia I have might, by reproduction, keep the peppermint well fed. Guess we'll see how it goes there. Then again, I remember reading a post somewhere about peppermint shrimp. The guy said his sat beside the aiptasias watching TV and waiting to be fed .
Logan J

 

[glstine]

I had one aiptasia about 3 months ago. Now I have a tank full. I just got two peppermint shrimp last friday, and I haven't seem them it the aiptasia but it is disappearing rather rapidly. I also have a coral banded and cleaner. The coral banded was a little unhappy with the new guys at first but he has since settled down.

 

[kribbz]

i have a coral banded with a pepermint and they are happy as can be. i have never seen my pepermint eat the aptaisia but as soon as i put him in my tank the aptasia was gone within a week. pepermints normally come out the most at night so don't be suprised if you don't see him taking care of it during the daylight.

 

[Anemoneman]

If you're going to use Peppermint shrimpt o eat your Aiptasia, you may want to read this article on identifying the correct pepp shrimp to buy. There are two very similar in appearance but only one will eat Aiptasia. I'm fairly certain I got the wrong ones a year or so ago. The shrimp were rarely seen and the Aiptasia thrived.
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/hopkins_redfield.html

 

[loganj]

Great link Mark. That's the best description I've seen and I had done some looking before I bought my shrimp.
Logan J

 

[New2Salt]

Thank you so much for the link, we got one, but not sure from the link which one, I know it's horn it supposed to meet the antennae, here's a pic but I'm not sure if you will be able to tell either. When we first got it, it mainly hid for a couple days now it's out in the open as you can see it liked posing for pictures, seems like most of our fish or critters like to hamm it up. He's a cool shrimp if it turns out not to be that's fine, there's always the bic method

 

[Anemoneman]

bic method

?

Your lucky to have one that will come out ot be viewed. When I had some I never saw then except for the occasional glimpse after lights out and then that was rare.

 

[New2Salt]

Yep we are lucky, turns out he's one that will eat it, after I posted this the peppermint shrimp ate it! It's no longer there. As far as the bic method, someone wrote that I could take the rock out and use a lighter on the Aiptasia, guess I don't have to worry about that now.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Anemoneman]

Congrats! I'm glad you found a natural erradication method that works for you. I'm jealous.

 

[MGS]

I had one on a piece of LR. All I did was take the rock out of the tank, grabbed a pair of pliers and snapped that part of the rock off. As for the suggestion about using a butterfly fish, they work well from what I've been told, there is a BIG drawback though......they also love corals! If you have any coral in the tank, I'd steer away from any butterflyfish.

 

[alrmc4]

i had a tank full of these got 3 peppermints and they are completly gone now. worked great recommed more than one peppermint.