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Peppermint shrimp or berghia nudibranches


InAtTheDeepEnd

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InAtTheDeepEnd

For dealing with an aiptasia issue which would be your preference? To me it seems shrimp are a bit hit and miss as to whether they will actually eat the aiptasia or not, whereas feeding berghia once the aiptasia was all gone would be an issue, although I think they seem like really cool creatures.

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I stay away from peppermint shrimp. In my experience they always end up bothering/eating LPS corals unless they are well fed. Berghia have been 100% effective every time, but yes, once the aiptasia are gone so are they. Use caution if you have rock hunters as berghia are an expensive snack.

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+1 for berghia. They only eat aptasia. with peppermint shrimp you may not only get one that doesn't eat aptasia, but you might get one that eats/irritates other corals.

 

berghia are slower, but with enough food, they can populate, and you can always pull a few out when you see them and offer them to reefer friends.

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Never had an issue with peppermint shrimp, you do need to watch what your buying though as other shrimp do sell as peppermint and won't eat aps. Mine keeps aps down, but when I get the odd explosion that the shrimp can't keep up with (I have literally 100s in my overflow weir) I use aiptasia x.. infact X is great to control zoas and GSP as well. 

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InAtTheDeepEnd

😂😂 this is not making my decision easier ..... I have a bunch of aiptasia and not sure how would be best to get rid of it. Do people really just get berghia then let them starve to death once the aiptasia is all gone?!?!  

 

And how can I make sure I AM 100% getting a peppermint? I was hoping to order from cellar marine if I went that route so it would be ordering online.....

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2 hours ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

For dealing with an aiptasia issue which would be your preference? To me it seems shrimp are a bit hit and miss as to whether they will actually eat the aiptasia or not, whereas feeding berghia once the aiptasia was all gone would be an issue, although I think they seem like really cool creatures.

Can you characterize your problem with a picture or at least more details about the system?

 

Aiptasia X is far more effective than peppermint shrimp or berghia nudi's for scenarios where it is practical.

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InAtTheDeepEnd

I can get pics tomorrow - not now, tank looks awful and frankly I'm a bit ashamed of the mess it's in. It's been really badly neglected of late, left it in the care of family and very little care (if any) has been done and it shows 😞 just hope it's salvageable

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56 minutes ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

I can get pics tomorrow - not now, tank looks awful and frankly I'm a bit ashamed of the mess it's in. It's been really badly neglected of late, left it in the care of family and very little care (if any) has been done and it shows 😞 just hope it's salvageable

If it's what I've just seen on Instagram, honestly the salinity is going to be through the roof nevermind phosphate and nitrates. I would hard reset.. by that I mean empty tank and rebuild. 😱

1 hour ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

😂😂 this is not making my decision easier ..... I have a bunch of aiptasia and not sure how would be best to get rid of it. Do people really just get berghia then let them starve to death once the aiptasia is all gone?!?!  

 

And how can I make sure I AM 100% getting a peppermint? I was hoping to order from cellar marine if I went that route so it would be ordering online.....

Cellar are my local shop.. brilliant service

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1 hour ago, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

I can get pics tomorrow - not now, tank looks awful and frankly I'm a bit ashamed of the mess it's in. It's been really badly neglected of late, left it in the care of family and very little care (if any) has been done and it shows 😞 just hope it's salvageable

If it was in good shape when you left it (a big "if"), then I'll say looks can be very deceiving.  

 

What we think of as "dirty" or "ugly" is merely natural, and nature's way of taking care of itself.

 

I've seen more than one tank "left alone too long" that was at least as good post-cleaning as it was pre-ignore.  Some have actually been better for it!  One in particular was a 90 gallon Acropora tank that had become totally overgrown with hair algae to the pint that the owner gave up for a while....but which had cured itself of AEFW during its "time on hiatus".  

 

Never underestimate a reef.  (We do it all the time.)

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4 hours ago, less than bread said:

All my peppermint shrimp does is sit there and rock back and forth like a crazy person and attack/tickle my hand when I go in the tank

You very likely don't have a peppermint then lol. You'll very rarely see a true peppermint during the day also, the tens to be our only during the dark hours.  

 

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/do-peppermint-shrimps-really-eat-aiptasia.605709/page-2

 

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+1 for berghia's, I had 4 pep shrimps which did nothing to control the aips. As you can see from my profile pic I'm a fan of the little critters, when they've cleaned up your rocks the best thing you can do is catch them if you can and pass them on to someone who needs them. Like others have said though if you have rock hunting fish they are a very expensive snack, my copperband loves them, he won't touch aips though 😞

 

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InAtTheDeepEnd
12 hours ago, mcarroll said:

If it was in good shape when you left it (a big "if"), then I'll say looks can be very deceiving.  

 

What we think of as "dirty" or "ugly" is merely natural, and nature's way of taking care of itself.

 

I've seen more than one tank "left alone too long" that was at least as good post-cleaning as it was pre-ignore.  Some have actually been better for it!  One in particular was a 90 gallon Acropora tank that had become totally overgrown with hair algae to the pint that the owner gave up for a while....but which had cured itself of AEFW during its "time on hiatus".  

 

Never underestimate a reef.  (We do it all the time.)

Tbh having given the glass a clean and done a water change today it's all ok. Was just a bit unsightly before, and the aips have got worse obviously. But really no major problems thankfully. Corals and snails all still ok.

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Can't see the Aiptasia in the pics....but jump on them with some joe's juice/aiptasia X/kalk paste ASAP.  Watch videos on how to do it because doing it wrong can actually make them spread.  Done correctly it's almost foolproof.

 

If it takes more than one sitting to get them all, try to be persistent and hit them every day.  

 

If it's really bad, limit your activity to small defined patches that you can 100% clean in one sitting. I also suggest in that scenario not to work for more than 20-30 min so you don't get burnt out on the effort.

 

(Pretty much the same advice applies to removing that algae.  Use your fingers like tweezers to pull the algae.  Pull as close to the rock as you can, try to get the whole plant when possible.)

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less than bread
9 hours ago, Murphych said:

You very likely don't have a peppermint then lol. You'll very rarely see a true peppermint during the day also, the tens to be our only during the dark hours.  

 

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/do-peppermint-shrimps-really-eat-aiptasia.605709/page-2

 

That very well could be. Got it online from SaltwaterAquarium.com I believe. Didn't get it for a specific purpose, just thought it looked cool and wasn't expensive. Doesn't look like it cares much for algae/coral, I think it scavenges for uneaten food mostly and will also pop out of its cave and grab some food at feeding time if any floats by. Certainly more active at night but I will usually see it sitting at the opening of its cave during the day (doing the rocking back and forth thing lol)

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InAtTheDeepEnd
1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

Can't see the Aiptasia in the pics....but jump on them with some joe's juice/aiptasia X/kalk paste ASAP.  Watch videos on how to do it because doing it wrong can actually make them spread.  Done correctly it's almost foolproof.

 

If it takes more than one sitting to get them all, try to be persistent and hit them every day.  

 

If it's really bad, limit your activity to small defined patches that you can 100% clean in one sitting. I also suggest in that scenario not to work for more than 20-30 min so you don't get burnt out on the effort.

 

(Pretty much the same advice applies to removing that algae.  Use your fingers like tweezers to pull the algae.  Pull as close to the rock as you can, try to get the whole plant when possible.)

They were retracted in the first pics, my phone doesn't take good photos in the reef lights unfortunately but they're definitely there. 😞

Started out with just one. I feel dumb for letting it get worse.

 

 

The algae is coming off ok, I'm just pulling a little bit away each morning by hand because I sit and have  coffee in front of the tank every day 

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Not great, but not a total outbreak either.

 

Be persistent like is sounds like you are being now.....as persistent as morning coffee at least!  Don't expect miracles, of course. 

 

You'll knock out the algae and aiptasia before you know it.

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InAtTheDeepEnd

Applied aiptasia X, will see. Was going to get a peppermint shrimp too but my lfs doesn't have any in stock and if I ordered online it wouldn't be arriving until 6-7 January at the earliest but I'll be back at uni by then (and doing exams as well so couldn't come back to unbox). 

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Shrimp are far from a sure thing.   Realize that you're just getting a shrimp.  If it eats the aiptasia it will be a small miracle.

 

(Folks that use these for aiptasia control release "herds" of them into the tank – probably 1-2 per every 10 gallons – and then trap them out when their job is done...before they starve to death or eat every living thing in the tank.)

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InAtTheDeepEnd
9 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Shrimp are far from a sure thing.   Realize that you're just getting a shrimp.  If it eats the aiptasia it will be a small miracle.

 

(Folks that use these for aiptasia control release "herds" of them into the tank – probably 1-2 per every 10 gallons – and then trap them out when their job is done...before they starve to death or eat every living thing in the tank.)

Oh yeah I know, I'm only planning on getting one at all because my mum has fallen in love and thinks they're adorable lol 😂  I wanted more critters anyway and when I go back to uni the maintenance will be down to her mostly so it seems fair

 

The aip x seems to have worked as well 😁😁😁 I'm sure I missed some when applying it, but where I did apply it....no more aiptasia. And my gsp, which I thought was dead, is not. So I'm pretty happy all in all.

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9 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Shrimp are far from a sure thing.   Realize that you're just getting a shrimp.  If it eats the aiptasia it will be a small miracle.

 

(Folks that use these for aiptasia control release "herds" of them into the tank – probably 1-2 per every 10 gallons – and then trap them out when their job is done...before they starve to death or eat every living thing in the tank.)

I've always enjoyed success with my single peppermint. As soon as a new zoa rock goes in, the shrimp is the first invert to go and pick through it and eat out any aips, detritus and what ever else it finds. Followed by the cleaner wrasse and six line who then proceed to worms and fans, and finishing off the hermits pick out anything that's left.  

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