Aiptasia

[Reefland]

Well we are about a week and a half into having the copperband as a part of our family. The good news is the fish is doing great and appears to have settled in. The bad news is I have still only seen him eat the tiniest of Aiptasia and has not touched any of the monsters (which is the bulk of the tank). I am not giving up on him though. Everyone pray to the copperband gods for me.
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[Reefland]

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[kevinpo]

Scott,
I think he must be finding too much other food, like feather dusters and spaghetti worms. When they are gone I'm sure he will eat all the Aiptasia.

Cheers,
Kevin

[villanueva]

So i read through most of this thread, and I have just one final question. What is the consensus? The copperband? peppermint shrimp? or the boiling water? Final thoughts over time on the copperband Reefland? Or should I get the livestock and do the boiling water treatments? And maybe a stupid question, but necessary nonetheless; is the boiling water supposed to be R/O water?

[NanoReefer1]

The peppermint shrimp have worked AWESOME! No aiptasia in sight! They are prolly the best investment I have made in my tank so far. If you have aiptasia problems they are the way to go. Even my fair sized aiptasia that was the size of a Bic Pen was ate if you starve them a little they will eat everything (other than what is valuable) they can get their grubby claws on.

The water treatment should be done in RO.

If you got the "right" peppermint (I got two of them first try, and I dont think it is hard to get the right ones either) all aiptasia was gone in a week (even the stubborn ones that always retracted).

[Ninong]

If you got the "right" peppermint (I got two of them first try, and I dont think it is hard to get the right ones either)

The "right" peppermint shrimp are Lysmata wurdemanni and not L. rathbunae. Both species are peppermint shrimp, as well as at least two or three more species, including one on the West Coast.

L. rathbunae's range is along the eastern coast of Florida. L. wurdemanni's range is just south of L. rathbunae's range. Both species are wild collected and sold as "peppermint shrimp." ORA is now captive-breeding L. wurdemanni, so there's really no reason to collect them in the wild except that collecting them is probably cheaper than breeding them.

Differences between L. wurdemanni and L. rathbunae.