Aptasia and peppermint shrimp

[hiimsean]

I've had a small out break of aptasia over the last few weeks, I thought I eradicated them from a few frags I had before moving tanks in December. It hasn't been too bad maybe two dozen total but then I noticed some small ones popping up in nooks of my rock. Yesterday I grabbed 5 peppermint shrimp from Optimum. They vanished pretty quickly since me melanurus was being very interested in them. Well I hate to count my chickens before they hatch but quite a few of the largest aptasia are completely gone and a lot of smaller ones I've been noticing are too. Hopefully they will continue to snack on the aptasia before my melanurus snacks on them.

 

[jeffmuse]

I find that peppermint shrimp are very effective at keep the aptasia in check; however, you never actually see them do their work. Mine hide 90% of the time, but so far my aptasia problems have been kept under control.

 

[cshack5405]

I have one peppermint and I had like 3-4 aiptasia like 1 1/2 years ago and I've never had one since

 

[cshack5405]

I got mine from pure reef

 

[shanepike]

Same here. Once I even intentionally put a coral with aiptasia in the center of my tank, away from the rocks where the shrimp hung out. The next morning, the aiptasia was gone completely. As long as I had the shrimp, I never had aiptasia.