Removing Aiptasia......naturally

[jesse92]

Hi all... i currently have a several aiptasia growing rapidly in my reef and was thinking of purchasing a nice copperband to wipe them out. when thinking about this decided against the copperband because there is already plenty of fish in the tang and i dont want to edge towards over stocking. now ive heard peppermint shrimp are good for controlling aiptasia. is this true?...are there any other small critters that can keep this pest at bay? or should i just quit wasting time and nuc the pests with the lime method?
thanks

 

[DrHank]

I've had very good success with peppermint shrimp. Bear in mind that there is only one type that eats aiptasia. This is the one you want.

Peppermint Shrimp - Lysmata wurdemanni

 

[seafansar]

Some peppermint shrimp will eat them and some won't. I had three in my tank and I don't know if they just didn't like the taste of aiptasia or they were afraid to come out of the rocks due to my big wrasses, but they didn't seem to be eating the aiptasia.

I say you should try to nuc them yourself and throw in a peppermint shrimp if you see them coming back. Also I don't think peppermints like to eat the big aiptasia, just baby ones.

 

[ReefKeepers]

The best thing I have found is Berghia nudibranchs. They only eat aiptasia then they die when there is no more food (that is the downside). Peppermint shrimp will also forest on polyps, polycheat worms, feather dusters well you get the idea. Copperbands will find something else to munch on, as well, if you can keep them that long, as they are a bit sensitive. If using Berghia, it is not a quick fix, it will take a little time, but they get the ones you don't see yet too. Jeff

 

[burntricer]

get yourself some syring's and fill with lemon juice, and inject the aptasia, they will disolve

 

[ReefKeepers]

The problem I have found using any of the commercially available solutions, joe's juice, aiptasia-X, etc. is that the attack on aiptasia evokes a defensive response of survival, and that is to release planulae larvae into the water. Each has the potential of growing into a baby in 1-3 months, so you risk a major bloom of aiptasia problems at that time. They're ubiquitous little buggers. Jeff

 

[BobBursek]

FYI, mentor has had your problem, thank god I have not, the only thing that worked for him in the long run was the Nudi's, he did the Kalk, and chem stuff, but the weed caim back till he bought the Nudi's.