Peppermint for Aptasia?

[sfnt125]

Day 10 of cycle now. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10. Diatoms come and starting to recess. Aptasia on several rocks.

 

Safe to add peppermint? Feeding corals everyotherday day with oyster feast. Will shrimp take care of nuissance anenomes? Heard that if there is absence of other food stuffs they are good at controlling aptasia. Also read that they will snack on corals in absence of anenomes. Is this true?

 

Also, I ultimately planned on adding cleaner shrimp and I don't want any problems between the two species. Will I have to remove peppermint before adding cleaners?

 

Thanks

[Mozimo]

Day 10 of cycle now. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10. Diatoms come and starting to recess. Aptasia on several rocks.

 

Safe to add peppermint? Feeding corals everyotherday day with oyster feast. Will shrimp take care of nuissance anenomes? Heard that if there is absence of other food stuffs they are good at controlling aptasia. Also read that they will snack on corals in absence of anenomes. Is this true?

 

Also, I ultimately planned on adding cleaner shrimp and I don't want any problems between the two species. Will I have to remove peppermint before adding cleaners?

 

Thanks

 

I added a peppermint shrimp to my tank two weeks in, cycle was done in 8 days, it took care of all my aptasia overnight my tank is a little over three weeks now and am just getting a pair of clowns tonight!

[flampton]

Just a FYI live aquaria got in a batch of bona fide Peppermint aiptasia eaters today. Have no idea how long they'll last. Your tank size will determine if you're cleaners and peps will be able to live in harmony IMO.

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=3190

 

btw I am no way affiliated with live aquaria but if you want you can send me some money for the finders fee

[aquatect]

If you saw an ammonia spike accompanied by a nitrite spike and they've now returned to 0 you're likely good to go.

[sfnt125]

I added a peppermint shrimp to my tank two weeks in, cycle was done in 8 days, it took care of all my aptasia overnight my tank is a little over three weeks now and am just getting a pair of clowns tonight!

Grats, nice speed. How big is your tank and how many anenomes do you think you had? You worried about it eating corals if aptasia is not present?

 

Just a FYI live aquaria got in a batch of bona fide Peppermint aiptasia eaters today. Have no idea how long they'll last. Your tank size will determine if you're cleaners and peps will be able to live in harmony IMO.

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=3190

 

btw I am no way affiliated with live aquaria but if you want you can send me some money for the finders fee

Thanks for heads up. 20L tank. I guess I could bring back to LFS if they get job done and tank isn't harmonious w/2 different species.

[gabe3eb]

Peppermint's def helped me out. Especially with the small ones. I also used Aiptasia X with success on the bigger ones that needed to go away quickly.

[Iuvat]

With my annecdotal evidence the peppermint I got did nothing to my aiptasia , even when it had no other food source-_- . I belive it depends on wich peppermint you get. Some do, some don't.

[GokesReef]

Peppermint's def helped me out. Especially with the small ones. I also used Aiptasia X with success on the bigger ones that needed to go away quickly.

 

+1

 

They won't eat big ones - aiptasia X those bad boys before they spawn devil babies. Shrimp should clean up the small ones.

 

(but, for the record, I went through 3 that ended up disappearing, without touching the aiptasia, before I got the two that I have now who have been doing great at eating the aiptasia and not disappearing)

[sfnt125]

Peppermint's def helped me out. Especially with the small ones. I also used Aiptasia X with success on the bigger ones that needed to go away quickly.

I'm gonna call seascape and see if they've got it. Also, do you know if they take livestock back? I git needles from medic so I might try the hot water, lemon juice thing before buying aptasia x or shrimp.

 

 

With my annecdotal evidence the peppermint I got did nothing to my aiptasia , even when it had no other food source-_- . I belive it depends on wich peppermint you get. Some do, some don't.

There are a couple cool vids on YouTube about training your shrimp to eat them. Basically it involves spot feeding the anenomes flake food as well as your shrimp. Then stop feeding the shrimp and only anenomes. The shrimp get hungry for flakes and attack anenomes when they are fed. Thus eating anenomes when before they have a chance to really consume the food you spot fed them. Sounds easy but time consuming. Probably easier to shoot them with aptasia x or hot water/lemon juice combo.

[GokesReef]

Just for the record, you don't need to inject them.. just squirt it at their mouth area.

[sfnt125]

Just for the record, you don't need to inject them.. just squirt it at their mouth area.

Oh, nice. Mixed opinions on Internet on that. I'm gonna trust y'all on this site though. I was fully prepared to actually inject their bodies. Medic gave me some small gauged needles.

[gabe3eb]

Never tried the water/lemon juice, but the aiptasia X was administered by just squirting it on them. Good advice from all in this thread. My peppermints disappeared in the tank as well.

 

Never tried returning anything to seascape when I was there, but if you bought it from them just call them and see what they can do I would say. Pretty sure Aiptasia X is carried by Petco possibly too. Not 100% sure, but its a common item that I'm sure one of the LFS will have.

 

Go kill them all (the aiptasia)!

[GokesReef]

Oh, nice. Mixed opinions on Internet on that. I'm gonna trust y'all on this site though. I was fully prepared to actually inject their bodies. Medic gave me some small gauged needles.

 

No doubt.. the first time I fought mine, I got a needle from my step father (diabetic) and injected the lemon juice/water mix into their stalk. This was tough as many were in holes and there was a lot of jabbing rocks and almost poking my PITA clownfish.

 

Eventually, that wasn't working so I bought the aiptasia X and was surprised to see that while it did come with a syringe, there was no needle. That's when it all came together for me they retract when hit with the mix and just suck it all in. Dummies.

[gabe3eb]

No doubt.. the first time I fought mine, I got a needle from my step father (diabetic) and injected the lemon juice/water mix.

 

Eventually, that wasn't working so I bought the aiptasia X and was surprised to see that while it did come with a syringe, there was no needle. That's when it all came together for me they retract when hit with the mix and just suck it all in. Dummies.

 

Lol. Nice. I'm pretty sure if you just "piss them off" and don't actually kill them they will spit out some babies too, making it worse.

[GokesReef]

Lol. Nice. I'm pretty sure if you just "piss them off" and don't actually kill them they will spit out some babies too, making it worse.

 

Whether or not that's true - it sure felt like that's what was happening. They were spreading at an extremely alarming rate before the peppermints finally got to work.

[sfnt125]

Eventually, that wasn't working so I bought the aiptasia X and was surprised to see that while it did come with a syringe, there was no needle. That's when it all came together for me they retract when hit with the mix and just suck it all in. Dummies.

K, so you suggest going straight to aptasia x instead of lemon juice huh? I'm actually excited about killing these things

 

 

Lol. Nice. I'm pretty sure if you just "piss them off" and don't actually kill them they will spit out some babies too, making it worse.

Little F'ers! I might just video this.

 

Whether or not that's true - it sure felt like that's what was happening. They were spreading at an extremely alarming rate before the peppermints finally got to work.

Yeah, I've heard they can spread fast. I have a lot of pods all over rock and want to keep their populations up before addition of livestock. Don't want theses guys to be of any detriment to my tanks good population of critters.

[ALexpsycho]

The pepermints are hit or miss.I have one in my 34 gallon and doesnt care for those anemones...

I think it prefers my lps as I see my moon favia getting smaller and smaller.I had one in my previous setup and did very good work and I havnt seen any aptaisia for months then it did starved to death.

Aptaisia X is ok but the anemones release spores when melting and maybe you ll see hundreds of smaller ones after some days.Same with Salifert one and Tropic Marin..I dont think that zapper works and only joes juice i havnt tried yet and some people says that Kalkwasser works and lemon juice or boiled water.

[Hemlokk]

I am just starting a reef in my BC29...it was born on 7/7. Two aiptasia were visible from the start, and had been getting bigger. Finally added peppermint on 7/29.

 

It was funny...after he acclimated, I released him on the rocks, and within 20 seconds he literally stumbled into the larger aiptasia which was about 2.5" tall. My first thought was that he was going to attack it, but he just backed right into it, and then freaked out! It must have stung him, because he reacted like lightning and swam away to hide for the rest of the day...I didn't know if he was still alive, or if would be too scared to eat it.

 

Came back the very next morning, and while I still couldn't see the peppermint, both of the visible aiptasia were completely gone! I don't know what's considered a 'large' aiptasia, but the 2 in my tank were about about 2.5" tall, and he annihilated them! I've seen him around the tank lately, and he seems no worse for the wear.

[sfnt125]

It was funny...after he acclimated, I released him on the rocks, and within 20 seconds he literally stumbled into the larger aiptasia which was about 2.5" tall. My first thought was that he was going to attack it, but he just backed right into it, and then freaked out! It must have stung him, because he reacted like lightning and swam away to hide for the rest of the day...I didn't know if he was still alive, or if would be too scared to eat it.

LOL, he was pissed. Needed a bit to lick his wounds and then owned the night! Mine are small. Maybe the largest is 2cm but there are about a halfdozen I can see. Hard to approximate their sizes when each one grows in a hole.

[Mozimo]

Grats, nice speed. How big is your tank and how many anenomes do you think you had? You worried about it eating corals if aptasia is not present?

 

 

It's a 29 gallon, and I had a very small amount of aptasia, and naw I'm not worried, I feed him once to twice a week frozen mysis shrimp, and I see him scavenging all day long, planning on getting a skunk cleaner too

[sfnt125]

Happy to report Aiptasia X worked like a charm. No sign of life today! I will give it a little time before a full out celebration but I can say right now that it is a great product and really quite fun to apply!

[enenue]

I had a tiny aptasia on a frag I bought a week ago, and as I was getting the necessary equipment (syringe, etc) to remove it. The Aptasia seems to have disappeared from the frag completely..Did it maybe move? Get eaten? Hiding?

 

Any of these maybe eat it?

Sexy Shrimp

Fire Shrimp

Blue Knuckle Crab

Red Hermit Crab

Misc Small Hermit Crabs

[sfnt125]

I had a tiny aptasia on a frag I bought a week ago, and as I was getting the necessary equipment (syringe, etc) to remove it. The Aptasia seems to have disappeared from the frag completely..Did it maybe move? Get eaten? Hiding?

 

Any of these maybe eat it?

Sexy Shrimp

Fire Shrimp

Blue Knuckle Crab

Red Hermit Crab

Misc Small Hermit Crabs

All of the Aiptasia I previously attacked has been neutralized. There are a couple more polyps that need the treatment as well. I was curious to see how the initial treatments worked out before taking care of the rest. I have 2 red legged Cortez hermits and one blue leg. Haven't witnessed them snacking on anenomes as of yet.

I will probably kill the rest tomorrow. It's such fun!

[GokesReef]

I had a tiny aptasia on a frag I bought a week ago, and as I was getting the necessary equipment (syringe, etc) to remove it. The Aptasia seems to have disappeared from the frag completely..Did it maybe move? Get eaten? Hiding?

 

Any of these maybe eat it?

Sexy Shrimp

Fire Shrimp

Blue Knuckle Crab

Red Hermit Crab

Misc Small Hermit Crabs

 

They can move pretty quickly.. keep an eye out for it and the aip-x handy!

 

sftn - glad to hear everything's going well! Keep up the attack

[basser1]

Keep an eye(s) out for new sprouts poppin' up.

 

I've used Aip-X as well. It does kill the aiptasia, but the problem comes when the aiptasia releases "daughter cells" and you see new ones sprouting up.

 

 

Peppermint shrimp are hit and miss, even the aiptasia eating ones. Once they get a taste for shrimp, they ignore the aiptasia.

 

The only true remedy is berghia nudibranchs, aiptasia is all they eat. They do a thorough job of eliminating them and can get in places that other inverts can't.