Question regarding Peppermint shrimp and Aptasia

[chrisnym]

I currently have a cleaner shrimp and a sexy shrimp in my 75 gallon. I recently noticed two aptasia anenomes. How effective are peppermint shrimp to rid my tank of aptasia?

 

[ithorian_r]

some peppermints will remove it and some wont, just depends on the shrimp. if you trust the lfs ask them if they've seen one of theirs eat the pest anemones. course they could lie to ya just to sell it, but ya never know.

 

[reefnut]

Results very... I have always had really good luck with them... but others have not. Even if you do get a pep that eats the aptasia they usually will not eat bigger ones. Those will have to be dealt with manually.

 

[m/0(*.*)0]

I have also had mixed success with peppermints.. Joes juice worked real well for me though..squirt a tiny bit right down into them and they die curl up instantly

 

[chrisnym]

Here is the deal. My aptasia is right next to a mushroom family. Will this joes juice or other treatment harm the mushrooms?

 

[viet-tin]

IN order for peppermint shrimp to work youd have to get shrimp fomr the same area as the aiptasia. Also if they have a taste for aiptasia they will most likely (not 100%) gain a taste for your other polyps. I really dont recommend using chemicals as they can release unknown chemicals into your water that may be harmful to your inverts and since aiptasia are closely related to your other soft corals such as zoos and other polyps these chemicals will most likely have an effect on them as well. The best way to rid a tank of aiptasia that IMO is berghia. Their diet consist of only aiptasia and ive seen them first hand taking on aiptasia as soon as they get the scent of it. There is a website but im not allowed to post that sell these. This guy is one of very few in the world that breed these guys (Larry aka Instar) He ships world wide and due to the difficulty of breeding and raising and demand of these guys theyre only available at certain times. His site also helps you understand aiptasia helping you choose a way to rid these pest. If you would like a link to his site just shoot me an email and ill reply back. email= supersaiyanviettin@yahoo.com ( I know its long and childish but this is an old email address I never changed

)

 

[realnew]

I suffered with an outbreak of Aptasia and purchased some Peppermint shrimp for the same reason, I was worried about other things in the tank having an adverse reaction to the chemical method. It has taken the shimp a little while to realize what they were missing, but now I only have 2 Aptasia left in my tank.