Peppermint Shrimp vs. Aptasia

[The Shrimp X]

Their are atleast 2 diffrent species of pep shrimp... the diffrences in the species are very very subtle...
So far i have tried pep in my 29 and didnt really notice any diffrence, but never really had a prob with aptasia. but now my 75 is having a big prob with aptasia, and havnt had a chance to get any shrimp... and am kinda weary cause i have gone throguh many of them in the past that didnt do crap and for some reason only lasted for about a month or so =[

 

[TomDe]

Not that it is any help at this point but I used "Stop Aiptasia" from Dr. Fosters and Smith.

All 4 that I hit never came back after the first squirt.

 

[zoster.keeper]

Joe's Juice is supposedly very effective and not expensive, however I haven't tried it yet.

I may get some peppermint shrimp... Do they need any food just for them or will they survive on just the stuff from the live rock?

This thread has been very helpful to me so far...

 

[ReeferAl]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8298822#post8298822 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zoster.keeper
Joe's Juice is supposedly very effective and not expensive,

For the tiny size of the bottle, I would disagree about the "not expensive". It does seem to work though. I have had results at least as good by mixing a little lye into some kalk paste (to give it a little more killing power). That is a whole lot less expensive and the aiptasia don't seem to retract away any more than with Joe's Juice.

Allen

 

[neyugn0w01]

Joe Juice and all the other Kalk paste type chemicals work to a certain degree, but requires constant monitoring a work.

Update:
Well, its been three days now and I have not seen an peppermint shrimps. Hopefully the larger cleaner shrimps have not killed them. Also, no change in aptasia population. Might buy some more nudibranch in a week or so.

 

[badpacket]

Hmm

Hmm

The standard bottle is 2-50 ml I think, however that will allow you to fill the included syringe probably 40-50 times, and you can hit a large number of apt's with 1 syringe. In fact, I use the remainder in a syringe after an aptasia slash and burn to denude waves of GSP's invading my zoa's.
I thought I read that Joe's may be kalk and salt. It does not dilute well with water though, which is weird. Too bad I don't know anyone in the Mass Spec. lab at work.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8299583#post8299583 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReeferAl
For the tiny size of the bottle, I would disagree about the "not expensive". It does seem to work though. I have had results at least as good by mixing a little lye into some kalk paste (to give it a little more killing power). That is a whole lot less expensive and the aiptasia don't seem to retract away any more than with Joe's Juice.

Allen

 

[ReeferAl]

Re: Hmm

Re: Hmm

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8301661#post8301661 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badpacket
The standard bottle is 2-50 ml I think, however that will allow you to fill the included syringe probably 40-50 times, and you can hit a large number of apt's with 1 syringe.

I'm not sure what 2-50 means, but the standard bottle is 20 ml, While it is possible to hit more than 1 aiptasia sitting in an easily accessible area with each syringe, when they are in an area that is harder to get to it can easily take a whole syringe on each to do the job- especially if it is also a large one. That is a minor point though. A price of about $7.00 for 20 ml still seems rather high to me.

Allen

 

[nebraskareef]

I just hate the fact that after its initial use, it becomes clumped and will not flow out of the syringe tip, has anyone had the same problem? I'm sure I'm closing the bottle completely, but it just doesn't flow after the first application, forcing me to buy multiple bottles on a 90 day aiptasia "season".

 

[badpacket]

Allen, getting anything on an out of the way area is a pain I agree. However The majority of mine end up being relatively accessible from the top of my 72 bowfront, and I hit 5-6 with half a syringe. I assume everyone else turns of their powerheads, and have relatively still water when doing this. I've probably killed 30 aptasia in the past 2 months, and think I still have more than half the bottle, including the GSP denudings. Longer syringes work well too, but you need a thick bore tip.
I really thinkI can end up killing 75-100 aptasia with this size bottle if I had that many. While I expect someone will find out the chemical composition of this stuff sooner or later with it ending up costing maybe $1 a gallon, considering this hobby, I don't see it as a bad price.
But the clumping is a bit of a pain.

 

[bpatrol]

using kalk powder with hotwater=kills aptasia dead. with a syringe. good for the big ones but for all the ones you see imagine the ones you dont see.. peppermint shrimps for the small ones.nuff said..bpatrol

 

[SDguy]

I think sometimes people expect results too quickly. I dropped peppermints into my tank over a month ago. Slowly but surely, every so often I see one less aptasia. I'm happy with this rate. I think the key is to add them BEFORE you have 100+ aptasias

FWIW, I had no luck with Joe's Juice in my old tank. It's like I had smart aptasia, they would always be between polyps, or on vertical sufaces. I would think the JJ got them, but sure enough, they were back in a week or two...looking ragged, but back.

 

[IndyMatt]

Don't peppermints eat featherdusters too? What are some of the drawbacks with these?

 

[Hal]

I haven't had any luck with Joe's Juice either. First, most of the aptasia's retract as soon as the syringe gets close to them, and the ones I have dosed close in on themselves for a couple of days and emerge smaller but alive.

 

[fours2many]

I had no luck with

I had no luck with

joe's juice, kalk paste either. Everytime I tried it, I would end up with 5 more!!! Its like the stuff made them spread. I bought peppermint shrimp months and months ago. They didn't eat one apastia. I finally got rid of my fish (I want a more peaceful tank) and stopped feeding the tank. Finally the peppermint shrimp ate all of the apastia, even the very big ones. I guess they had to get hungry enough. I just saw a new apastia yesterday, within an hour it was gone. Myabe I was over feeding my fish and the peppermints were to full from scaverging the left overs. I really don't know. I am just glad they are eating them now.

Kristin

 

[badpacket]

I don't know about anyone else, but my aptasia seem to feed on the JJ's as dose it. I make sure not to disturb their tentacles as they pull back at that, and I usually try to let the JJ's rain on their open mouth area. Once I give them a little dose that they appear to ingest, I kind of like to give em a good squirt to freak em out on the ouside as well Some of the smaller rocks where I had 6-7 med sized ones were killed with one shot, and weeks later, the rock is still ap-free. I think its an application error, or maybe some are trying to bath them in it. Seems to works best when they eat it.

 

[Conky]

After discouraging results with kalk injections, I've been using formalin (at the suggestion of my boss) to inject the aiptasia. It seems to work fairly well even when I just spray it on the oral disk. Corals nearby retract after treatment, but seem fine the next day. I probably wouldn't recommend this in a small system, though.

 

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8322398#post8322398 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by badpacket
I don't know about anyone else, but my aptasia seem to feed on the JJ's as dose it. I make sure not to disturb their tentacles as they pull back at that, and I usually try to let the JJ's rain on their open mouth area. Once I give them a little dose that they appear to ingest, I kind of like to give em a good squirt to freak em out on the ouside as well Some of the smaller rocks where I had 6-7 med sized ones were killed with one shot, and weeks later, the rock is still ap-free. I think its an application error, or maybe some are trying to bath them in it. Seems to works best when they eat it.

Yes, that's absolutely correct. Mine too would consume the JJ. I tried both ways...letting them eat it. When that didn't work, I tried bathing them in it. A no go as well. Perhaps there are different species/subspecies/variants of aptasia....some react differently to JJ. Just a thought.

 

[dippin61]

hit and miss.

when i had mine, they cleaned the whole tank of em. well.. there was only like 10.. but still

 

[HolyScoly]

i got 2 pepermint shrimp thay got rid of the aptasia problem.now do aptasia tend to pick on corals?

 

[HolyScoly]

SORRY I MENT THE PEPERMINT SHRIMP NOT APTASIA