Aiptasia

[Jnance]

(Aiptasia) is this a kind of anemone? and if it is is it the commonly known glass anemone? i was wondering if a few peppermint shrimp would take care of the glass anemones in my tank...they are taking over!!!!!!!! i got one from my zoology professor and now i seriously have at least sixty or seventy.

 

[Krish]

They say the peppermint shrimp's are hit or miss as well as particular butterfly fish so it's a chance you'll have to take without any guarentees. Some people inject them with joe's juice or boiling water, but if you have atleast 60-70, you may be better off trying a combination.

Just my thoughts...Sorry to hear about your troubles and I wish you well

 

[Jnance]

thank you!

 

[Quigley]

We had the same problem less than a month ago. I can even pronouce the word Aiptasia we had so many. We did, lime, Peppermint shrimp and some scrubbing. They didn't help much. Then we got a Copperbanded Butterfly, I love that fish. The Aiptasia was gone in no time. It's hard work getting the fish used to the tank. We had to get rid of our Yellow Tang, but no Aiptasia!!!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

For that quantity, Joe's Juice, or kalk paste (Blue Life "Aiptasia Control") is the way to go. My one peppermint shrimp has kept my tank pretty much clean of them since I got him, but have also heard of others that just thumb their nose at them. Think the peppermints work best when the aiptasia are small.

Whatever you do, don't try to manual pluck them, or scrub them off. If you shred the tissue, it's just like blowing a dry dandelion with the seeds going everywhere.

 

[DonW]

My pepermint live in perfect harmony with the many aptasia in my overflows.
If your seeing aptasia popping up all over the place then youve got nutrient issues.

Don

 

[speedymichael]

Don-Can you elaborate on the nutrient issues. Is there any one nutrient that makes these spread?

I used lemon juice and injected them w/ a syringe and that seemed to work? I read it on a forum so I am not sure if that is the best solution. Thoughts?

 

[trido]

My pepermint live in perfect harmony with the many aptasia in my overflows.
If your seeing aptasia popping up all over the place then youve got nutrient issues.

Don

I dont understand this statement. Your peppermints live in the overflows with the aptasias, or the peppermints in your display eat any babies that spawn from the mother colonies in the overflows. I run my system like the latter half of the statement above. I keep one or two pepprmint shrimps in my 120at all times. They eradicate any and all aptasias that grow in there. They always have so Ive given up on kalking the aptasias. If I see one growning in my display I know that it is then time to buy a couple more shrimps.

 

[Scooterman]

There are two shrimps that look identical, one is a true Peppermint & the other is an offset, why you see some eating them & others that won't. Either Lee Or SteveS once posted the photos of the two & how to determine which is which.

 

[sihaya]

I finally rid myself of aptasia about a year ago. I used this to kill off the bulk of them:
http://www.asira.org/killingaiptasiaxeniaetc

Then I got a whole bunch of peppermint shrimp. I got several from different places because of what Scooterman is saying and because even if you get the right species, sometimes they just don't have a taste for aptasia. But I believe that if you get enough of them from a few different places, you'll likely get at least some that eat the anemones.

 

[DonW]

I dont understand this statement. Your peppermints live in the overflows with the aptasias, or the peppermints in your display eat any babies that spawn from the mother colonies in the overflows. I run my system like the latter half of the statement above. I keep one or two pepprmint shrimps in my 120at all times. They eradicate any and all aptasias that grow in there. They always have so Ive given up on kalking the aptasias. If I see one growning in my display I know that it is then time to buy a couple more shrimps.

Ive had no luck with pepermint shrimp. They just end up in my overflows and dont seem to mind living their. As of now their are 4 in one side and 2 in another along with a firefish. All have lived there for almost two years and they dont eat the aptasia that are currently in the the overflows.

Aptasia thrive in nutrient rich water. Before my system died I had no visible aptasia. Now it is of course its a aptasia farm and pretty gross.
I have never looked at aptasia as a pest but more of a sign that I was doing something wrong. Ive always been able to just get the nutriens down and the aptasia would starve. Ive never used joes juice or any of the other extermination methods to keep them out of my display.

The fact that they are now there in great numbers, only shows that the water is now perfect for them to thrive. More people stress about these little critters and try the oddest things to get rid of them all the while the solution to the problem is staring them in the face. Again if used as a tool they are a good measure of water quality.

Don

 

[Scooterman]

Don If you starve them as you say then they would die & not come back right? So If you don't see them, maybe hey have all they need with better quality water & don't need to expand out for food?

 

[DonW]

Don If you starve them as you say then they would die & not come back right? So If you don't see them, maybe hey have all they need with better quality water & don't need to expand out for food?

Acturally aptaisia population is used to determine water quality on real reefs like the GBR.
If you can make the home not welcoming for them they will not grow or spread. My overflows are full of them. I just never wanted to kill the shrimp so I never cleaned them. Now since my tank has gone to pot they are actually spreading all over the place. Your never going to rid a tank of aptasia if you have one you have many, but there is no reason to have the popping up top of your rock work unless your feeing them.

Don

 

[Scooterman]

That makes sense, thanks Don!

 

[DonW]

Another way to look at aptasia is to compare them to sps and or algae. If your sps grew and reproduced you would be elated and claim that youve created the perfect enviroment.
If your macro is growing wildly and your fuge is thriving youve created a enviroment that it likes.
If your aptasia is growing and reproducing youve also created the enviroment that it needs. So take away what it need just like sps and macro it will stop reproducing and die back.

Don

 

[Herefishyfishy]

What if your SPS and fuge is thriving yet no macro in the display?

 

[DonW]

What if your SPS and fuge is thriving yet no macro in the display?

I guess it depend on how low you want nutrients to be. If you take a look at alot of the zeo tanks they cant have fuges or they have died off. There arent enough nutrient to grow macro. No matter what it is it has to be fed. If its alive then your feeding it. In the case of the aptasia they would not thrive and reproduce unless they were happy.

Don

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Have no aptasia. Just noting that one can have a healthy fuge and growing SPS without nuisance anemones nor macros in the tank

 

[DonW]

Have no aptasia. Just noting that one can have a healthy fuge and growing SPS without nuisance anemones nor macros in the tank

I dont think I stated you couldnt have a heathy fuge. You cant have very low nutrients and have a healthy fuge. Thats a pretty simple concept. The proof is in the weeds, if your growing them your feeding them. Just that simple. The same goes for aptasia thus why I made the comparison. If you give something ideal enviroment it will grow and reproduce. Note that your sps dont reproduce obviously the enviroment that we provide is less than ideal.

Don