Aptasia

Son of a gun i have aptasia.  I know this is a common pest but my tank is too new for this.  only been up a couple months.  I got a bubble coral and some mushrooms from The Aquarium.  The first one i noticed was right on the back of the bubble coral and then i found some small ones on the mushroom rock.  I then seen some on my UT dry rock that had nothing else.  So i think they are pretty widespread now.  I have counted 5 and i think one is in my sand but its hard to tell.

Peppermint shrimp will take care of the little ones if they are hungry. Almost anything hot or caustic will kill the big ones if you inject them with it. Somethings people have had luck with are Joe's Juice, Aiptasia X, Kalkwasser paste, Boiling water, or a small torch (flame).

Chevmaro wrote: ...I know they are impossible to get rid of.  Or are they?   I dont think i could inject them as they are in a hard to reach places.  Is it worth tearing my tank down?  I dont think so.

It's good that you are checking your tank so well that you have discovered the Aiptasia.
Okay let's dispel some myths you must have heard:

1. They are easy to get rid of at this point in your tank's life.
2. If you can see them, you can inject them.
3. Tearing down the tank is not even in my vocabulary. I have never had to do it. There are ways to control all pests without much trouble when control starts in the early stages as you are in.

The best and if you are lucky, the only thing you will need to do, as long as you don't have any Triggers or Hawkfish, is arrange to buy a few hungry Peppermint Shrimp. To ensure they are hungry, check to see what and how much the LFS has been feeding them. If they were just received and have not been fed much, so much the better. There are some techniques for making them hungrier before you set them loose in your tank. We can go over that later. The number of shrimp depends on the size of the tank.

I recently got a beautiful rock covered with protopalythoa and feather duster worms from a friend and WMAS member. To my chagrin, there were a few Aiptasia. Within a month three hungry Peppermint Shrimp were added to my 75 and I totally forgot about the Aiptasia because they are nowhere to be seen. It's been 2 months since they were introduced and the two remaining shrimp are so cute. I just took some pics but it's too late. I'll post them later.

oh yea and how fast do they grow?  These ones seemed to popup out of nowhere.  I closely inspect my tank every day.  do a head count of fish.  look for new growth and what not.  Theres no way i would have missed them and they werent there yesterday.

Is it bad if they die?  If I have to sacrifice a few bugs to save my tank I will.

I agree with peppermint shrimp i had an outbreak and i throw 3 in there and they took care of it!  Forgot they were even in my tank at any point.  I even kept them with a coral banded shrimp.  As long as the tank is big enough and they have hiding places the coral banded didnt bother them.  the Aquirium seems to keep them in stock, they are 8 bucks, kinda pricey, but well worth it!

Im not avoiding the suggestion of Peppermint shrimp.  I am just trying to figure out the most successfull solution.  Everyone has there own opinions.  I'll pickup a few shrimp.  Im going out of town this weekend and all next week.  My tank will be neglected other then my wife feeding the fish.  I dont want things to get out of whack while im gone.  I'll get some added asap.  Thanks for everyones help.

It always good to add one more than needed to allow for normal mortality. We (my wife loves it when I include her in my writing) put 3 in our 75 which is the same footprint as a 90. Lost one but two is plenty to do the job. If there are Aiptasia in the fuge you can either let it feed the peppermints with baby aiptasia or put one there to be moved later if it is eating all the pods.
Be sure to acclimate slightly slower than for fish. Shrimp tend to be a little more sensitive.

If you want to be sure they are hungry, place them into the tank for a day or two in a small container with a bridal veil lid. We often use the quart size salad containers for keeping things in the tank that I don't want immediately exposed to the tanks inhabitants. An elastic holds the bridal veil in place of the lid and a small rock inside keeps the container from floating away.

FYI, this method works well for introducing new fish that may find themselves entering a territorial dispute. It seems to soften the blow and if the actions of the territorial fish toward the fish in the container indicate excessive aggression toward the new guy, he can be easily removed without ever witnessing a fight.

This placing of the new fish in a "cage" within the tank also allows training of the resident fishes before releasing the new one. If you haven't heard of the fish training method just ask.


Edited by Mark Peterson - January 06 2009 at 5:29pm

Camille, I'm thinking that the chances are, of those 20 you got from Kris, 5 would have done the job. It was the luck of the draw in getting some that liked Aiptasia and were hungry for it. I never give up on Peppermint Shrimp. That's why I suggest making them hungry before letting them loose. Better chance they will eat anything, especially Aiptasia.

Camille did have some awesome Glass Anemones (Aiptasia)