aptasia to be or not to be

[thehat]

Ok I need all of your quick fixes on how to get rid of this crap. its getting out of contol and chem clean is the biggest marketing scam of a product that I have ever used.

 

[cichlidguy22]

What i did was pull th rock out of the tank i took a razor blade and cut it off as close to the rock as i could. Then i took the razor blade and scraped off the area of te rock where it was its been a month or 2 and absolutly no regrowth to date

 

[bang guy]

Don't try cutting them again. That's the quickest way to get them to spread

 

[pbuck]

I agree that you should NOT try to cut or scrub them off. Get a syringe and mix up a pasty solution of kalkwasser and squirt some on top of the aptasia. You do not have to inject them with it. This mixture will stick to the animal and will not harm any other of your inhabitants. You can kill dozens of them in a week and not hurt your tank with this mixture.

 

[reefaddicted]

My peppermint shrimp have taken care of all of mine. I had a few small ones that were propogated off of some macro algae I bought from my LFS. The Pep's ate 'em all.
I have read in this forum that this can be hit or miss, however.
I have 7 Peppermint shrimp in my tank, this probably helps.

 

[pbuck]

Have you ever noticed your peppermint eating any coral polyps?

 

[cdgrover]

I agree with many of the posts. I had at one time counted up to 28 stalks of aptasia. I bought I think 7 peppermint shrimps. Within 1 onth's time. . . GONE with no ill effects on other livesock in the tank.

 

[pbuck]

cdgrover,
What are the shrimp up to now that they have eaten the aptasia? I would be worried they would eat zooanthids and yellow polyps.

 

[ags]

I bought a piece of LR that had one. filled a syringe and needle with liquid calcium and injected. Did the same for mojano anemone. No problem after that. I have also used tweezers and ripped it from the base of the stalk.

 

[cdgrover]

pbuck,
I have some zoo's for a while now and the peppermint shrimp haven't touched them. I do not have any other polyps in the tank so I cannot say.

 

[chris l]

If you have any blue mushrooms watch out. I had one that ate 6 out of ten shrooms I had before I got him out. But once again that is a hit or miss also.

 

[bigcity]

I had a big problem with aptasia for the longest time. I got some "Stop Aptasia" from my LFS and it worked like a charm. Cost like 16 bucks for a bottle, but I still have it 4 months later and every once and a while a couple pop up, i squirt 'em and there go away. Best stuff on the market

 

[cdgrover]

I am not saying this is it but. . . I bought the Stop Aptasia before I resorted to the "natural" way(peppermint shrimp) and I lost 6 corals. At the time my water parameters were fine and everything was thriving. It may be a coincidence but within a week of puting that stuff in the tank I had lost some shrooms, leathers and one acro. Dn't know if this is what caused it but. . .
CHRIS

 

[mlm]

The only ill effects I have ever seen from using peppermint is that they eat the worms in your sandbed. I don't know if this is the case in everyone else's tank but it is in mine.