Do peppermint shrimp REALLY kill aiptasia???

[homer1475]

Literally skewered my 2 pepermints I got from @AlgaeBarn. Never touched an aiptasia, but man did they love my hammer!

Never again will a pepermint go in my tank. @Frank's Tanks "F" aiptasia is my go to now. Works 100% better then any of the other "remedies" out there.

 

[jordan10]

I added 5 peppermint shrimps in my DT and still have Aiptasia. When I see new ones I treat them with Aiptasia-X with good results but then after a week they pop up elsewhere. Never in the same spot though. I just keep on killing them and thereby the aiptasia population is under control. But in my case it’s not going away.

Because if u don't cover the hole thing they spit out spores and that's why u see them I. Different spots. I am in the battle right now. Got filefish started nipping at sps got him in my sump for now. He's going back for some peppermint shrimp. I have tryed the X and the F with same results but the F kills corals if it dripps on them so just a heads up. And my LFS said that nuds would just get sucked in to ur filtration but idk how true that is. Best luck. If I can't get under control. I will be starting my tank over. It makes me sick to my stomach when I look in my tank and my eyes got to all these aptasia.

 

[Phyber]

Nudis work ! But you have to be patient , it takes about two months. Got 10 for $120 from Salty Underground , just get the 1/4 inch place them careful on the rocks with the pipette. You wont see any diff for about 6 weeks, then all of a sudden Bam, ALL aptasia were completely gone. The nudis grow big and they multiply like crazy .After I had a hundred in the sump on a 139 gal system. But sadly they turn white and start to die off when no aptasia left.

I've got Aip in my overflow and who knows where else. I could use an army!

 

[DarthSimon]

I use F-Apstasia. It really does work and kills off the visable ones. The problem is the apstasia you can't see. The ones hidden in rock work.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

I’ve got what we’re supposed to be 2 peppermints, they’ve done nothing. I’ve pretty much given up on aiptasiaX. Back in February I added about 6 Berghia from Reeftown, never seen them again and aiptasia is still spreading.

 

[mattfish]

I’ve got what we’re supposed to be 2 peppermints, they’ve done nothing. I’ve pretty much given up on aiptasiaX. Back in February I added about 6 Berghia from Reeftown, never seen them again and aiptasia is still spreading.

You have to have to have certain type of pepperment , The Nudis work but it takes about two months , you wont see any change for 6 weeks then all of a sudden gone, F aptisa and X is a pain in the butt especially when you have a lot , the tiny ones are hard to get in the crevices. I even had the Majano wand which works good but still it becomes a tedious chore when you have a lot. Nudis is best just be patient.

 

[TerraFerma]

Never had any luck at all with Pep's. But they are good for stealing food from corals and munching on polyps (and to be fair probably the baby Aips)

Never had any luck with Copper Bands or the file fish that are supposed to eat Aiptasia.

The only thing that ever worked for me was a Golden Butterfly. Wiped them all out in 24 hours. Had to take him out because he moved on to corals after that. But years later I still don't have an Aip in my tank.

 

[Nanorock1970]

I have a 56 gallon tank and I had one peppermint shrimp. It took about 3 weeks for the shimp to come out of hiding but after that I slowly saw the aiptasia disappear. My aiptasia was never very large, maybe double the size of a pea stacked? Just my experience.

 

[Joekovar]

When I first noticed tiny aiptasia looking things in my 55G tank I picked up two of the ones that look like A.

In a couple of days, the things I had seen were gone, and I haven't seen anymore since.

What I did have was so tiny, I'm not even 100% sure they were aiptasia. So it's tough to say definitively.

There is different kinds of peppermint shrimps. Some arent even true peppermint shrimp but still sold as a "peppermint shrimp". I believe A (Lysmata wurdemanni) is the true aiptasia eating peppermint shrimp.

 

[eric.tech]

I had a few in my refugium and within 10min of me putting the peppermints in, there were no more aiptasia

 

[jsvand5]

I’ve had good luck with the peppermints that my LFS gets in from the keys. I have a few in my 210g. I didn’t see any change for about a month after adding them then one day I noticed all the aiptasia were gone. I did still have a couple left in the overflow weir but I was able to zap them with vinegar in a syringe.

 

[Robin316us]

Nudis work ! But you have to be patient , it takes about two months. Got 10 for $120 from Salty Underground , just get the 1/4 inch place them careful on the rocks with the pipette. You wont see any diff for about 6 weeks, then all of a sudden Bam, ALL aptasia were completely gone. The nudis grow big and they multiply like crazy .After I had a hundred in the sump on a 139 gal system. But sadly they turn white and start to die off when no aptasia left.

do They nuke the tank? I got saw 3-4 aptasia and thinki what to get?

 

[Phyber]

I ended up ordering some nudis. Places them in the tank and saw one eating a tiny aiptasia but I haven't seen them again.

Hopefully we'll see some results soon!

 

[PR_nano]

I ended up ordering some nudis.

Where did you purchase them from? I'm thinking about picking a peppermint tomorrow but have heard so many mixed review not sure what to do. I have a few Aiptasia on the rocks, sand, and some frags and it's getting worst by the day.

 

[vetteguy53081]

if THEY FEEL LIKE IT. there IS SO MANY VARIATIONS OF PEPPERMINT AND IF YOU GET THE WRONG ONE- SAY BYE TO ZOAS AND SIMILAR.

 

[Phyber]

Where did you purchase them from? I'm thinking about picking a peppermint tomorrow but have heard so many mixed review not sure what to do. I have a few Aiptasia on the rocks, sand, and some frags and it's getting worst by the day.

salty underground. I waited for the latest batch of 1/2" nudis. They shipped great and looked lively when they got here.

 

[MabuyaQ]

A peppermint shrimp that eats Aiptasia isn't reefsafe. At some point they will start eating from some other animal, most likely LPS, but mine started eating the polyps of my Stylophora and Pocillopora.

 

[Schnizzle]

I haven't looked to see how far you are from me but I have too many Peppermint Shrimp if you want three? I have seen mine eating at Aiptasia but they haven't cleared them out. I didn't realize how big they get...

This is only if your nudis dont make it. I was told they would eat the nudis right up. I didn't want to test it.

 

[DiaTom]

I had about a dozen small aiptasia on a large rock that I bought from another reefer. I added two peppermint shrimp and the aiptasia were gone within a few days. I called around to local LFS and asked them if they for sure had peppermint shrimp. I trust them and so far so good. One of the shrimp is much bigger than the other and eats like crazy. This is also the one that has bothered some of my coral. I'm guessing that is also the one that took care of the aiptasia.

Here are some of my observations:

1. On two different occasions when adding euphyllia, this shrimp went crazy. As soon as the coral where in the tank, the shrimp was flying all over the tank and came up to the coral and appeared to try to eat it. I don't know if it wanted to eat the coral itself, the slime coat, or something that was on the coral. Both times I aggressively chased the shrimp off and back to his cave. To the best of my knowledge, it hasn't bothered these coral again.

2. The large shrimp will go after food anywhere - on the surface of the water, in coral, etc. It will pull mysis shrimp out of coral if I let it. When I feed my tank, I put mysis shrimp in the back of the tank for the fish first and the shrimp go after it there. I then feed the coral. I have to guard the coral the whole time or the shrimp may eventually come up to steel mysis out of the coral, especially from the duncan. I always aggressively chase the shrimp away with tweezers. The smaller shrimp does not come up to the corals anymore after I chased it away a few different times.

3. After these shrimp expire, I won't get more unless I have another aiptasia issue. Shrimp appear to be a bit of a gamble and a nuisance in a reef tank (this is the only shrimp that I've kept, so I'm making some assumptions here about other shrimp). Anything capable of eating glass anemones is probably also capable of eating other things.

Sorry for the long post...

 

[Klaas]

Because if u don't cover the hole thing they spit out spores and that's why u see them I. Different spots. I am in the battle right now. Got filefish started nipping at sps got him in my sump for now. He's going back for some peppermint shrimp. I have tryed the X and the F with same results but the F kills corals if it dripps on them so just a heads up. And my LFS said that nuds would just get sucked in to ur filtration but idk how true that is. Best luck. If I can't get under control. I will be starting my tank over. It makes me sick to my stomach when I look in my tank and my eyes got to all these aptasia.

Thanks for the feedback Jordan. As of now I just use X as soon as I see one popping up. Seems to do the job but to get completely rid of them? Maybe not. Also some may be lurking inside the rock work where I can’t see and reach them. Frustrating but for manageable. Take care and hope you ll get rid of most of them.