aiptasia anemone removal question

[minime8600]

I just started a tank and the live rock i bought has some aiptasia anemones growing on it. I read that they can be removed with pepermint shrimp or Joe's Juice, but I'm just wondering if those things will kill off or harm the other small things growing in the tank that i want to keep.

 

[bigarn]

Go with Joe's Juice .... just follow the directions and it'll be fine.

 

[oceanists]

no disrespect to bigarn because ive heard great things about joes juice .......... BUT i would try the natural way first (being the peppermint shrimp) they are nice to have in the tank for future outbreaks..... i had aiptasia , i added 1 peppermint shrimp and it was gone the next day , .. last night i was looking at my rocks through a magnifying glass and i noticed a baby aiptasia growing in a hard to reach hole , 1 hour later it was gone the whole stalk was eaten ...... so i would go with the shrimp unless you plan on dosing everysingle peice of aiptasia everytime it breaks out .. once it is in your system it will always grow , which isnt a bad thing as long as you have soemthing that will take care of it , becvause it spread quick , also some butterflies will eat it

 

[diane4]

Oceanists - what size tank do you have and how many PS do you have in it?
And lastly, do you have any anemones in the tank (BTA, carpet etc)? If so, did the PS ever bother the pet anemones?
If I could be sure that the PS would not hurt my anemones, I would get some.
Maybe the answer is in the balance of how many PS for the size of tank you have.
Oceanists - how many do you recommend I get for a 75 gallon long tank (4' wide)? I have a well established reef tank, in fact too well, aptaisia and bristleworms are taking over and I hate the constant target fights with the aptasia.
What do you recommend for me? Thanks Oceanists - or anyone else that has a suggestion for me.

 

[corally]

Originally Posted by diane4
Oceanists - what size tank do you have and how many PS do you have in it?
And lastly, do you have any anemones in the tank (BTA, carpet etc)? If so, did the PS ever bother the pet anemones?
If I could be sure that the PS would not hurt my anemones, I would get some.
Maybe the answer is in the balance of how many PS for the size of tank you have.
Oceanists - how many do you recommend I get for a 75 gallon long tank (4' wide)? I have a well established reef tank, in fact too well, aptaisia and bristleworms are taking over and I hate the constant target fights with the aptasia.
What do you recommend for me? Thanks Oceanists - or anyone else that has a suggestion for me.

I have a 55 gallon with 3 Peppermints and 2 anemones and they don't bother them at all. But my peppermints also don't eat aiptasia, they have never touched it.

 

[unleashed]

get yourself a pearlscale butterfly fish I have one in my reef and it eats aiptasia like crazy.they are much hardier than a copperband but do not keep with sps corals. fine for softies leather and pollups

 

[pfitz44]

i have a 55, had a huge outbreak.... got 3 Peppermints, and they took care of all of them, except for 1 HUGE one, that moved to a shell, and i took it out then

 

[kiharaconn]

I also have had aiptasia. I have been using joes juice without any problems. Just turn the pumps and powerheads off so that it doesn't drift onto something else. It has stunted some of my polyps. But I do plan on getting a shrimp. There will always be some aiptasia on a rock that you can't get to without removing everything else around it. That means tearing the rocks apart then trying to find the aiptasia that has by then retracted and can't be seen. I have one now that is on the back of a rock that is on the bottom of the tank. So I plan on using both the joes juice and the shrimp method.

 

[milomlo]

I use Joes Juice so far so good! I have a peppermint shrimp and he hasn't touched it. The newly growing aiptasia is very small so he could eat it, he just doesn't. JUST MY LUCK I GUESS

 

[wax32]

My peppermint shrimp never saw an Aiptasia, but it did eat my Ricordea. Joe's Juice is totally safe when used as directed.

 

[i<3fish]

My Raccoon Butterfly took care of ALL my Aiptasia. I had a ton, and in 3 days it was all gone! He was the best. Noticed how I said was... :'(

 

[parameat]

I have a 46 gallon with 5 peppermints (2 are babies) and I never see any aiptasia anymore, and they don't bother my condi anemone except when trying to steal some squid