will peppermint shrimp eat aiptasia?

[new reefer 03]

hola,
i bought a combo rock with corals and i got 17-19 aiptasias on it aswell ( yay me! ) i dont want to use chemicals, only a last resort thing. will peppermint shrimp eat aiptasia? i have heard there are 2 kinds of peppermint shrimp, but my LFS only sells one kind ( called Peppermint Shrimp... ).

could you tell me your experiences with these? i know they are supposed to eat them, but do most of them?

DIE AIPTASIAS!!! :look: thats my cool cartoon

 

[reefmasta]

most of the ones ive seen do =) or use a pure calcium concentration and use a syringe or something to DIRECTLY burn it away for good, (make sure you get it right on his mouth) AND your just dosing a small dose of calcium =)

 

[Varga]

I have had peppermints station around a bunch of aipstasia for months and never touch one and now I dont have any shrimp and dont have a single aipstasia. I thought maybe since the peppermints are ugly looking the stores came up with some thing to make us buy them?

 

[Stacef]

I have had good luck with them, I have only two medium sized pepps in my 72g, they took care of my aip, I had a LOT of it, and some very big ones too. They did a great job, but I may have just been lucky!

 

[chrome91]

hit and miss

 

[dianezoo]

They have always gotten rid of Aptaisia in my tank. Thank goodness I dont have fish that eat the pepermints.i

 

[TonyD]

The key is to get them younger and small so they haven't alredy developed a taste for pellets and/or flake.

 

[CATALYST]

I can't find any aptasia in my tank...peppermints are awesome...

 

[BigJay]

Just keep in mind they may enjoy munching on your other softies just as much. A healthy coral can sometimes survive the pestering or nipping but a handful of peppermints can do some serious damage.
I am usually one to say take the most natural route you can to solve the problem but I'd go with some type of chemical remedy before putting peppermints in the tank. Then again I loathe them and truely believe they are not reef safe.

 

[new reefer 03]

so,
i can dose kent liquid calcium, to kill my aiptasias? im fine with that, i can use joes juice as a LAST RESORT. will that calcium "concentrate" kill them if i target feed em ???
thanks!

 

[JNicho]

Hit and miss here too...my problem is they also seem to have an appetite or my tube nem and some of my LPS corals too!

 

[jski711]

i didnt vote because they are such a hit or miss kinda a thing. good luck though.

Jake

 

[new reefer 03]

thanks

 

[new reefer 03]

now my question is, will kent liquid calium kill them? i will take it right form the bottle, it will be as strong as can e. my real question is does concentrated calcium kill aiptasias??
last night i was feeding my sebae anemone, and i saw a aiptaisa so i poked it with a shishcobob stick ( i use to feed my nem ) and it is right back sticking out again today ??? i stabbed it multiple times !!!

 

[chrome91]

now my question is, will kent liquid calium kill them? i will take it right form the bottle, it will be as strong as can e. my real question is does concentrated calcium kill aiptasias??
last night i was feeding my sebae anemone, and i saw a aiptaisa so i poked it with a shishcobob stick ( i use to feed my nem ) and it is right back sticking out again today ??? i stabbed it multiple times !!!

dont stab it, any loose pieces of it will fly off and grow to another mother aiptasia, thats why youre not supposed to scrape off aiptasia too, it will just grow back

 

[sandyc]

peppermint shrimp worked for me! aiptasia free now.

 

[new reefer 03]

i have heard that they nibble corals, is this true?
i would like to "dose" my aiptasias kent liquid calcium would this kill the aiptasias? i can get peppermints aswell, i just dont want them hurting my precious Xenias, i also have joes juice as a last resort.

do any other reef safe creatures eat aiptasias??

Thanks!

 

[BigJay]

They will attack nems especially if its not 100% healthy or in the process of expelling its waste and is deflated. Its not gauranteed they will or they won't. I've seen them pester any and every type of soft coral tissue (thats soft and LPS).
The calcium is suppose to burn the aiptasia like it will any other coral. I've tried it a few times, only to notice it just forced the aiptasia to move not actually die. Oddly I've seen it in my tank now a few times but it disappears so something in my tank is taking care of it but I have no idea what.
The direct inject method seems pretty str8 foward but in an outbreak I assume it would be a minor pain in the butt. I'd still go that route before rolling the dice with shrimp. If you do decide the shrimp method is the way to go put that rock with the shrimp in a seperate tank. Keep your eye on it.

 

[new reefer 03]

thanks jay,
sound like a shrimmp wouldnt be best for my sebae anemone.

 

[new reefer 03]

u am thinking about getting 2 peppermints and putting them in, are they hard to catch if they misbehave? i am finding aiptasias all over now
do any other reef safe creatures eat aiptasias??