Aiptasia and peppermint

[Giffin]

I would like to add that books buy
Scott W Michael
Are books that I have personal used for years and even seen lfs use them. I would recommend any of his books for this hobby.

 

[Young@Heart]

How big is the infestation? This may or may not be feasible for you. Take the rocks that have aptasia and separate them into a separate tank/container and put a peppermint shrimp in with them. Lunch time. I mentioned I had a an aptasia on one of the corals I got from them. - well they offered that since I did not have a peppermint shrimp - that I could bring in the offender and they would put it in with their peppermint shrimp - Those guys went craazy and no more aptasia and my coral is fine. My coral was a Kenya Tree. I don't know how peppermints will react to Zoa's I would be interested in knowing as I have zoa's and might consider a peppermint shrimp.

 

[iemsparticus]

How big is the infestation? This may or may not be feasible for you. Take the rocks that have aptasia and separate them into a separate tank/container and put a peppermint shrimp in with them. Lunch time. I mentioned I had a an aptasia on one of the corals I got from them. - well they offered that since I did not have a peppermint shrimp - that I could bring in the offender and they would put it in with their peppermint shrimp - Those guys went craazy and no more aptasia and my coral is fine. My coral was a Kenya Tree. I don't know how peppermints will react to Zoa's I would be interested in knowing as I have zoa's and might consider a peppermint shrimp.

I think it just depends on the shrimp. As was covered earlier, a lot of peppermints are perfectly reef safe, and don't mess with any corals at all. In my particular case, I don't recall my little assassin going after my Zoas... he went after my hammer, and my red Acan Lord. He did feel around one of my Zoas, my Duncan, and my War Coral, but I never saw any evidence of him actually trying to eat them. Feel free to add them, just watch them for signs of harassment.

My personal view on them is that they don't really do much that other, more consistently reef safe choices do, aside from dealing with Aptasia... so I won't consider (or recommend others considering) them as part of the default clean up crew, unless there is the need to handle an Aptasia issue... and then I would certainly consider them, and watch them for signs of eating corals/snails.

 

[Mangelotta1]

I have had my share of issues aptasia but peppermint shrimp seem to be the key. I almost lost control of my 65 gallon DT. I purchase 6 shrimp, a few always die, and few weeks later the problem was almost gone. Aptasia X works well only if you catch the issue ASAP. At least, that's my experience with this pest.

 

[Murica]

Is it possible that people's negative experience with peppermints is because they may be camels?

 

[iemsparticus]

Is it possible that people's negative experience with peppermints is because they may be camels?

I believe I addressed this already... could be wrong because this was an older thread... but I know the difference between camel and peppermint shrimp, and both of mine were peppermints. One was an assassin, and one is still happily in my tank, being a stand-up citizen.

Peppermints absolutely can and do eat snails and corals... but not all of them. They are individuals. But, as much as mistaken identity CAN happen, it isn’t the reason for each case of peppermint aggression.

 

[Murica]

I believe I addressed this already... could be wrong because this was an older thread... but I know the difference between camel and peppermint shrimp, and both of mine were peppermints. One was an assassin, and one is still happily in my tank, being a stand-up citizen.

Peppermints absolutely can and do eat snails and corals... but not all of them. They are individuals. But, as much as mistaken identity CAN happen, it isn’t the reason for each case of peppermint aggression.

Sorry I think you're right, it's been a while since I visited this thread and I now remember you saying that. I guess I'm just in a dilemma...

Peppermint can be bad
Berghias can be good but they're expensive and I have a lot of their predators in my tank... Could be a lot of wasted money.
Can't do a cbb because I really want to stay in the reef safe category and from the sounds of it they are very difficult to get eating.
I can't zap all of them with aiptasia x, if I do I'd be doing it constantly because I'm sure I'm not going to get every single one.

What to do...

 

[iemsparticus]

Sorry I think you're right, it's been a while since I visited this thread and I now remember you saying that. I guess I'm just in a dilemma...

Peppermint can be bad
Berghias can be good but they're expensive and I have a lot of their predators in my tank... Could be a lot of wasted money.
Can't do a cbb because I really want to stay in the reef safe category and from the sounds of it they are very difficult to get eating.
I can't zap all of them with aiptasia x, if I do I'd be doing it constantly because I'm sure I'm not going to get every single one.

What to do...

If it was me, I would do either CBB or Peppermint Shrimp, and just be prepared to monitor the tank.