There was finally probably about 50-70 of the buggers in the tank ranging from head-of-a-pin size to tennis ball size. I would frequently see tiny "babies" floating in the water column, looking for the next place to attach.
i had an aiptasia growing on a small piece of dead coral, i was able to take it out and burn it over my stove.. it felt good.. however, a much larger aiptasia was growing on a large piece of rock.. after i took out the whole rock, i haven't had any aiptasia in my main tank for months... i gave the rock to my bros.. since he's tank is fish only.. lil buggers have been popping up everywhere in his tank, good thing i took it out early..
I have an Aiptasia plague in my 20 gallon and seriously considered adding peppermint shrimps until I read on wetwebmedia.com that they can pose a threat to corals- especially soft corals like xenia. My tank is a soft coral only tank with lots of xenia, GSPs, some zoos, leathers, and mushroom anemones.
Has anyone had any problems with peppermint shrimps hurting their prized corals?
I have not had problems with peppermint shrimp touching aiptasia. Copperband butterflies on the other hand.... ate every single feather duster and polyp in my tank in two days. Stick with the shrimp. They never bothered any of my corals (xenia, yellow polyps, mushrooms, gorgonian...) or either of my cleaner shrimp. Just get a small one to be sure. Of course every animal is different so watch carefully.
