Snorkeler's Cube

In January I spotted one Aiptasia in the display tank, then shortly after another one. Bought some Aiptasia-X a few weeks later and killed them both.

Well, two months later (March) I spotted them again... a large one on the substrate, and 3 smaller ones on the rock. The large one and one of the smaller ones were almost exactly where the two ones I killed in January were.... humm.... I re-read Aiptasia-X's instructions, applied it on them again, and gone they were (the four of them).

About a month later (April) they reappeared again.... not fun.

So I decided I needed a peppermint shrimp again, my previous one had died on Nov 24th. I bought a pair in early May and set them loose in the DT. Well, they didn't last long.... apparently my six-line wrasse (Mr. Six) killed them. I say apparently because my wife spotted him harassing one of the shrimp, and not much later it disappeared. And shortly after the other one had the same fate. Well, the shrimp were small ones, so maybe not a match for Mr. Six's aggressiveness.

I bought a larger/older one a few weeks later (May 14th), but I first put it in my QT because it was apparently going to molt, which it did in 2 days. I waited about 1 day and added it to the DT. Well, it lasted two days after that...

In the meantime the Aiptasias really got comfortable in there.... and spread out... I can say my tank became an Aiptasia garden... Here is one of the rocks with lots of them, when they were still relatively small (May 14th):


They were not only ugly and spreading but also eating up part of the food I put in the tank, same rock from a different angle (May 24th):


Some were even sticking to the glass (June 2nd), I got an interesting picture of their foot anatomy here (notice the really big one at the lower right hand side of that picture, it was huge):


This bugger was on a spot really close to where my MP10 was at the time, and he never let go of the rock, for weeks:


And here the same shot I showed above, on June 4th, see how they grew:


Well, I guess I had no other option but to get Mr. Six out of the tank, so I could add some shrimp in there (yes, I knew there is an Aiptasia eating nudibranch, but, I never saw them for sale here so I had no hope for that option)....

But how in the world was I ever to get him out, given his speed and reflexes...