Darn aiptasia

[Andrew v.s wild]

so i spotted one of these guys on my rock :at_wits_end:
and want a natural way to get rid of him
i've heard of peppermint shrimp
and was wondering how good these guys work?

[carlinsa]

peppermint shrimp work great. they also have a aptasia eating file fish and some copperband butterflies.

best bet for the money is peppermint shrimp. usually can get them for a few bucks

[swiatrek]

They are the best, I tried that aptasia x and it would knock some back but more would pop up. After my port a trip I put some in and now there are none too be seen. I think a trip was just made, so I would try and score some.

[Andrew v.s wild]

how many should i get for a 29 gallon?

[Third Coast Tropical]

1,....2 max.....once they finished the aiptasia, they'll begin looking for other stuff to eat, scavenging and/or sometimes munching on things you do not want them to

[justahobby]

I also think highly of the peppermint method. The large aiptasia got a blast of aptasia x and let the peppermints do the rest. 15-20 aptasia turned into 0 within a week. In case you missed the threads, a couple of us lost LPS to the port a pepps, so don't keep em in too long.

[Andrew v.s wild]

thanks

[carlinsa]

i would go 1 max because like said before once they spot it an eat it they look for more and its not uncommon for them to think zoas are aptasia as well

[Kristy]

Hey Andrew -

If you just have the one or two aptasias and they have not spread out of control for you, there are a couple of other options you might want to try...

I have killed aptasia on rocks that are within reach by injecting them with a syringe full of lemon juice or lime juice. You have to really stab it down into the body cavity of the aptasia. This will kill them, but sometimes they come back a couple of times and it doesn't completely get them until the second or third attempt.

If the rock is one you can remove from your tank, the most satisfying way to remove them is to torch them. Take one of those candle clicker lighters and just fry the little guys.

If I only had 29 gallons and it wasn't just completely overrun with aptasia, I would give one of those methods a try before searching for peppermints. Peppermint shrimp have worked great for us on the tiny little aptasias and as a preventative but if the aptasia is already getting pretty big, they don't always get the job done.

Good luck!

[dmweise]

I have a copperband butterfly fish. He's great fun to watch swim and has a great personality. I would definitely recommend one.

[stoneroller]

Same is true with copperbands; there are reports that they can turn on your LPS and other corals.

Repeated treatment with Kalk, AiptasiaX, Joe's Juice etc. You just have to stay on top of it and keep repeating the treatment.