# ridding my refugium of aiptasia



## im_a_clownfish (Sep 19, 2005)

Hi All,

My refugium became pretty infested with aiptasia, and so I drained it and filled it with freshwater. It's been about a day so far - Will this work to kill the aiptasia? I left my cheatomorpha in there in the hopes that the freshwater would kill the aiptasia before it killed the cheato but was wondering if you had any feedback? (the cheato is entwined with aiptasia and i dont have a source for new cheato) I would have let it dry out (or used chlorinated water) but I figured that would take too long (going away for a week this weekend), and it would also kill all the beneficial bacteria in the fuge, and the mud that is in there.

Any idea how long the aiptasia could survive in fresh water?


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## CollegeReefer (Sep 1, 2006)

i would have used peperment shrimp


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## Ice (Sep 25, 2006)

Or Joe's Juice ...


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## im_a_clownfish (Sep 19, 2005)

nono, it's like packed with aiptasia - I had to essentially irradicate the whole refuge of aiptasia. Do you think a day or 2 in freshwater would kill all the aiptasia in the refugium?

Also, how have you faired by using peppermint shrimp? I've gotten some over the past year, but they keep dying and don't seem to really be interested in aiptasia...they tend to hang from my powerheads near the top of the tank instead (and they definitely werent camel shrimp)....Has anyone had any real luck with the peppermint shrimp eating the aiptasia?
Or how about a copperband butterfly fish? Although I don't really want it to make my whole tank sick!

Thanks so much!

-James


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

First there are 2 different species of peppermint shrimp, one that eats them and one that doesn't. Lysmata rathbunae will not but is almost indistinguishable from Lysmata wurdemanni which is what you want.


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

just get a berghia nudibranch, it will chew right through any aptasia you have in no time. sadly it will starve to death after, so try to find a new aptasia infested home to take it too,


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## CollegeReefer (Sep 1, 2006)

the pepermint shrimp in my 45 cleaned all of the pest in only a few days and there was an investation. But as damon said you need to make sure you get the right one.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

leveldrummer said:


> just get a berghia nudibranch, it will chew right through any aptasia you have in no time. sadly it will starve to death after, so try to find a new aptasia infested home to take it too,


So true and they are not cheap when you can find a reliable source for them. You may also have to constantly move them around your tank as they dont wander far from the spot they are often.


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