Aptasia in a Biocube - question

[jpc763]

While I wouldn't say I have an Aiptasia problem, I have had to treat a half dozen in the cube since setting it up. Mostly they are solo heads that show up in different places. A little Joe's Juice and they are gone.

Over the weekend I noticed the tell tale signs of a head coming out of my overflow chamber! There are 2 heads (at least) growing inside of it and sticking their heads out of the grill.

Last night, after work I was off to the LFS to pick up a couple of peppermit shrimp which I acclimated and then dumped into chamber one. This morning one of them was still in chamber one but the other had decided to move on to a better place and had made it into my fllter floss on top of my InTank media basket! I rescued him and put him back into chamber 1, but now I suspect that it will happen again.

How long do these guys take to eat Aptasia?

 

[FinsUp]

It depends entirely on the shrimp. Some will have a voracious appetite, others will turn up their noses at it completely.

 

[jda123]

If you got some from the Keys, they will likely much it very quickly. If you got some from other parts of the gulf, then they might not at all. The ones that I get from reeftopia that are for-sure Keys shrimp are awesome. Even the best peps won't tackle a super huge one, so you might have to kill 'em back a bit by hand.

Boiling water in a syringe will get 'em pretty good too.

 

[jpc763]

I picked up 2 shrimp from Great White Aquatics in Fort Collins. They are in a tank where they put rocks with aptasia and the shrimp keep them clean. I am hoping that will help. Problem is that the chamber is really small so getting to them is difficult.

J

 

[303travism]

Aptasia in a Biocube - question

It depends entirely on the shrimp. Some will have a voracious appetite, others will turn up their noses at it completely.

+1 it's a roll of the dice.

 

[daverf]

If you got some from the Keys, they will likely much it very quickly. If you got some from other parts of the gulf, then they might not at all. The ones that I get from reeftopia that are for-sure Keys shrimp are awesome. Even the best peps won't tackle a super huge one, so you might have to kill 'em back a bit by hand.

Boiling water in a syringe will get 'em pretty good too.

+1. There are lots of species sold as peppermint shrimp that come from oceans all over the world. Liveaquaria says the species below consume aiptasia most readily. Your source should be able to tell you where their shrimp came from (pacific, atlantic, caribbean). Aquamart generally knows on theirs, if your LFS doesn't. Highest chance they will take to aiptasia is if they are from the caribbean or gulf as JDA123 says.

Florida Bay and Atlantic - L. wurdemanni
Caribbean - L. ankeri
Florida Bay and Gulf of Mexico - L. boggessi
South Western Florida Keys - L. rafa

 

[Aaron]

I'd recommend injecting them with lemon juice, the cheap stuff that comes in yellow bottles works ~5ml per dose. You can get diabetic needles over the counter at a pharmacy; I just told them they were for medicating fish. They shrivel up right away so it's easy to miss but after 1-2 tries and they are toast. All 4 of my tanks have been Aptasia free for years, and I occasionally get one on a frag; it's inevitable.

The problem with peppermint shrimp is that they are nocturnal (you don't see them much) and don't really survive long term; personally I wouldn't risk starving an animal to solve a temporary problem (btw, I initially bought a few from Great White a few years ago when they first opened, they lived about 6 months and then starved to death).

 

[jda123]

You can just squirt them with near-boiling water. This might work out OK down a return or something. The tank water will quickly take care of a few ounces of hot water - I have done this within 1" of SPS and the SPS never even slime with a few ML of boiling water nearby.

Turkey baster or Salifert 5ml syringe work well.

They ones that I have gotten from the keys also tend to get along with my cleaners too... which is nice.

 

[KatahdinKid]

Depends on teh dhrimp like everyone else has posted, i got a few from Aquamart and they cleaned house overnight! Over the past 8 years i've used everything from syringes and kalk/vinegar/etc to pep shrimp. The only problem with syringe is that they seemed to keep popping up, probably from a head i couldnt see or reach, the shrimp tend to really get in there. ive had success with keeping them alive since they seem to love the flake food i feed my clowns and firefish as part of the food rotation.

The natural method tends to work the best over time, just my opinion.

 

[jpc763]

Well my pair of shrimp did the trick! Looks like the aiptasia is gone. Off to the display to keep it clean for them!

 

[303travism]

Aptasia in a Biocube - question

Well my pair of shrimp did the trick! Looks like the aiptasia is gone. Off to the display to keep it clean for them!

Nice!