Aiptasia in tightly packed coral.

audifeesh

audifeesh

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Aug 18, 2010
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So today I was looking in my tank and i noticed some heads on a small Zoa frag were closed up, and when i looked closer i noticed a small Aiptasia growing off the side of the plug. My question is what is the best way to remove this without harming the coral. I was thinking that peppermint shrimp would be the most delicate and effective way to have it done, but I'm afraid that my banded coral shrimp wont allow me to add anymore shrimp to the aquarium. I would like to avoid chemicals at all costs.
Thanks!
 
Suck it out? Don't they reproduce by pedal laceration or w/e?

Either way I've decided to take the shrimp to my Lfs and trade him in on a peppermint or two. I noticed some aggression between him and my juvie mocha clown, which I couldn't bear to lose. (the CBS is almost full grown @ 3.5" head to tail, the clown is young and barely 2" long)

Now here's the part 2 of this. Will peppermints hurt sexies? I'd LOVE to keep 5 or so sexies as my main inverts (I only have snails and some hitch hiker brittle stars) but would never introduce new livestock that may not make it with what I already have. (the CBS was free and I was hoping she'd play nice)
 
The potential risk is there. Most crustaceans are opportunists, so if the sexy shrimp are vulnerable enough (such as during a molt) and the peppermints aren't well-fed, the possibility is there.
 
audifeesh said:
Suck it out? Don't they reproduce by pedal laceration or w/e?

Nope, Physical damage such as lacerationS to body (syringe will def do lot more than that) would destroy this nuisance (unable to control Osmosis/Diffusion gradient)
Have kept them well under control via this method over 2 decades.
Worked better than shrimps/copperband bfy without any risks to corals.

Only drawback is some maybe hard to reach with syringe. FOr those hard to get ones, there are other ways to cause enough damages for them to just fall apart/recover without much efforts...
Click to expand...
 
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i gotcha. i had just been told not to ever rip them off before so i wanted to double check. makes sense though!

I guess I'll give that a shot on one or two of them since I've found a few more (i relocated a powerhead and moved some things around.... so now i've got a bunch of them popping up where i guess i just couldn't see them before lol) and If that doesn't work out for any reason then it's on to the shrimp.
 
Usually used 10 cc hypodermic syringe (about 2" needle). One Suction is powerful enough to tear most of it, if not all.

Make sure you get the true Pepp Shrimps when you do.

Good Luck!
 
well, I'm going to try and sneak some pictures tomorrow (the new guys are shy lol)

but i've now got two medium sized peps and two sexies.
i knew sexies were small... but holy cow. these things are BARELY half an inch tip to tail and maybe an 1/8 of an inch thick. sooooo tiny... but very happy it seems (and taking small pellets from me) in their new home. home being my ever-spreading carpet of GSP.

the peps haven't ventured out much yet as they've only been in a couple days but i have seen them a couple times with the lights on and they've colored back up and are at least crawling around my rock-work and foraging for something. they got pretty washed-out looking on the ride back home from the LFS, but appear to be doing well.




on the crappier side of things i've found more and more and more aiptasia still.... i had none and then BAM. two or three.... none of them have moved, but more keep popping up... i dont get it. oh well, I'm gonna start taking out rocks and torching these things if i have the option too... other than that i hope the shrimp can handle them.
 
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