Chris_200

I am looking for a good combination of creatures to form a clean up crew in my tank. Currently I have 6 turbo snails, one other snail for which I do not know the name, one hermit crab, one brittle starfish, one tuxedo urchin, and recently added three peppermint shrimp in an attempt to rid my tank of the aiptasia infestation I am dealing with. I suspect I don't have an adequate group of scavengers and this has caused the nutrient level to get too high (which I've learned helps aiptasia thrive). How many crabs, snails etc should I have in a 65 gallon tank? Should I keep only hermits or is it safe to add different types of crabs?

harpua2002

Aiptasia will thrive pretty much regardless of water parameters... LOL! Our tank is only 20 gallons but we've been nuking them like crazy with Joe's Juice. Problem is, the little baby ones keep popping up, and sometimes they are so small that I can't Juice them, or they are so close to corals I don't want to try. We got one peppermint shrimp and the aiptasia have all but disappeared. We've been really impressed. I'd say give your new peppermints some time and see what happens. If they aren't eating large aiptasia, I would suggest going after them with Joe's Juice. They should take care of the small ones though.

As far as nutrient levels, are yours out of whack? I'd suspect stocking levels and/or maintenance routine as more likely causes rather than your clean up crew. Have you tested your water lately, and can you describe your maintenance routine?

Chris_200

Thanks for the info. I have not tested the water lately and usually perform a 20% water change every couple of weeks. Everything I read about aiptasia suggested overfeeding was a major cause of outbreaks. I know the original 'pest' hitchiked on the infested rock and then they started to prop up all over after attempting to get rid of them using aiptasia-x. It worked well on a couple of little ones but did not kill the larger ones. The peppermint shrimp have decimated the population overnight though. I put them in Sunday and there are only a couple aiptasia left. I think I will purchase some more hermits and then start testing the water diligently to try to keep everything in harmony.