Peppermint Shrimp / Aptasia---WOW!
I have just recently started adding some live stock to my 12g JBJ nano. I also have a small Aptasia growing on a piece of LR. I wasn't to concerned about it because it was so small. I was going to get rid of it, but didn't think it was a huge threat at the moment. Anyway, I got a nice piece of Candy Cane coral and placed it in a perfect location in my tank. It happened to be about 2" away from the small Aptasia. It was far enough away (I thought) so it couldn't be stung. The next morning after putting it in the tank i noticed a small portion of flesh on the head of the candy cane was missing. The flesh was gone and a small part of the skeletal structure was showing. Mind you, this is very, very small but it wasn't there the day before. So I began to think that maybe the Aptasia stung it during the night. Would a sting from the Aptasia cause a "burn" in the flesh that quickly? Well, I went out to the LFS to get something to kill the Aptasia. I have read about many things used to kill Aptasia like Joe's Juice, Coral Banded Butterfly (prob. the best soloution IMO but not suitable for my 12g nano), Some other fish that is supposed to have a good appetite for Aptasia but I can't think of the name for the life of me, and last but not least a peppermint shrimp. I have read just as many success stories as well as failures when it comes to using peppermint shrimp to fight Aptasia. It's either hit or miss. Well to make an already long story shorter I got 2-peppermint shrimp. This was my first shot at getting rid of the Aptasia and I figured I would try the cheapest method first. Well, not 30 seconds after I put them in the tank my Aptasia was TOTALLY gone! It's like they knew why they were being put in the tank in the first place. I dropped them in and one of them went right at it and BANG! started ripping and pulling at it not missing a piece. Needless to say I was very happy. Now I have to decide weather or not to keep them in there. These guys seem very energetic. I have read that they can sometimes destroy SPS and zoos both of which I have in my tank. On the other hand they are very good scavengers and help greatly with keeping the place clean. I was thinking of maybe keeping 1 of them and taking the bigger of the 2 back to the LFS. What do you guys think? Do any of you have opinions on these guys? I'd love to hear some stories good or bad about them. Or if any of you have an Aptasia problem I would be happy to send you the one that took care of mine. I think if someone had a real Aptasia problem this guy would take care of it overnight.
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