Aiptasia

[sandym]

What's the best way to get rid of this stuff? I tried store bought stuff which the name escapes me right now but it seems to be a temporary fix.

[strout]

You will here different thoughts on this but I had the same problem as you. My LFS told me to get, and sold me a Copper Banded butter fly fish, said it would do the trick. The fish started eating my zoas and polyps, I had to pretty much destroy my tank to get him out. I then got some peppermint shrimp and they are doing a great job. No, they don't get all of them but instead of going thru a bottle of the stuff you buy at the LFS every 3 weeks, I go thru a bottle every three months. I would get some for your tank, and maybe another two for your sump and one or two for your overflow if you have one.

[lowrider]

hey my name is lewis my tank was full of them big to small ones. i mean full so i bought a Copper Banded butter fly fish and boy did he go to work but he also took out my feather dusters but its life he was fast about it too he also looks good hope this helps

[rkelley_10]

3:1 RO water to kalkwasser mix. This paste has a pH of about 20. Take a syringe with an 18 gauge or less needle or a small pipette and lay some on the plate near the mouth. Be careful not to release too much excess into the tank. The CBB is a huge hit or miss. Remember, fish should be evaluated on an individual basis. Also, IME with peppermint shrimp, they will usually take a month or two to start working on aptasia. They will also conserve some of the population as to insure a consistently available food source.

[Fishfood]

I don't know about them conserving them for future food. I had about 4 aptasia in my small tank and joes juice and or kalk mix only took care of 2 of them. It caused one of the others to split into about 3 or 4 new ones. I put a pepermint shrimp in and it took all of them out in a matter of days. Now they were very small ones. The peppermints don't typically go after the really big ones.

[sandym]

Thanks everyone for your help. Peppermint shrimp with the kalk mix I shall try. Maybe both together I can at least keep them under control. I had to catch a misbehaving fish from my tank a few years ago and the only choice is destroying the tank which is not fun so thanks for the tips on the butterfly fish.

[rkelley_10]

That was only an assumption. I had about 60 aptaisa an. The peppermints leave about 5 or so smaller ones in various places