Interesting things about Berghia Nudibranches

[Whoyah]

Along for the ride. I have been interested in Aiptasia-X since I have heard of it.

[AuntKaren]

lol welcome!
OK Rugger your turn!

[The Rugger]

You do have to treat each single guy, but it seems to be working so far. I have been watching and I had a couple small guys seem to have regenerated from the goo shell that was left behind as if it didn’t die completely from the first dose. All the large guys were gone. I have administered a second dose to these fellows. I will let you know how it goes. Almost 95% were gone so I am not discouraged. They may not have taken a large enough dose the first time around.

I do have the advantage of treating my rock outside of my main display so ca only imagine that getting to each individual is easier for me than it would be for someone with a large well established tank with stacks of rock.

As I see it the problem with the peppermint Shrimp and Berghia is that when they attack/eat the Aiptasia the larva are released thus just spreading the problem. This will work in controlling but never solve the problem. I would think that a healthy balance would eventually be achieved.

I plan on just treating each as I find them. My hope is that with a little patience and some persistence that this solution will eventually remove it from my system for good. My system is small enough for now that I can approach it this way.

As always feel free to comment or ask questions...

[AuntKaren]

....and I'll keep y'all posted after I get my berghia. I've ordered 17 of them some are going in my sump some in the 2 towers (berlin system) and most in the DT. I've not heard back from berghia.net but I did give them the wrong email address LOL.

[Whoyah]

I give Aiptasia-X two thumbs up. I picked some up on Saturday and went to war on my out break of tulip anemones. You squeeze a little on to the oral disk, they close up and never come back. 24 hours later the anemones have pretty much dissolved. Very cool stuff. Nothing else seems effected by it. I have done three full applications and still have 3/4 quarters of a bottle. I like it.

[The Rugger]

Glad to hear you had success as well.

[Sweetpea]

Great to hear about the Aptasia X - I have had it in my shopping cart @ xyz store for several weeks now... just have to go click the button, lol. Marlin's tank is overrun with those nasties - some of them are huge (1 inch or so - gross)!!!

[AuntKaren]

Well the little Berghia arrived last week. LOL it took forever to place those little critters. They were about 1/2" long at most and curled up into little teeny balls. You have to place them UNDER ledges and stuff. Have you ever tried to put something into your tank using a plastic spoon? It took me five minutes to put just one on the ledge. He then had to crawl off the stupid spoon! Well we used a specially made pipette for the other 17! (They provided one for us but suggested we try the spoon first.)

We left the pumps off for the night so that they could crawl around without getting blown into the current. In the morning we couldn't see any of them. We were told that after you put them in the tank you won't see them again as they are nocturnal and match the rock so well that you probably won't see them. But we DO see results already! Within a week one end of the tank where there were huge aiptasia and bunches of tiny aiptasia is nearly clear! They will live in our tank for years to come with all the aiptasia spreading under the sump where we can't get to it. We are grateful to have found something that will be ongoing to control our scourge!

Our single peppermint shrimp went into the sump where he is happily munching on the aiptasia population in the sump area. Peppermints and camel shrimps are the two critters we put into our reef tanks that WILL eat berghia. Thank goodness we only had one to catch!

So.... all said and done if you are willing to wait for the Berghia Nudibranches and have the patience to properly acclimate them and to be very careful with the critters they do seem to do what it's claimed they do. They eat aiptasia and then they eat some more and then they make babies who eat aiptasia and eat some more and make their own babies ad infinatum.... It will take time to clear the 180 of all seen aiptasia but we know that it's being done and we aren't spreading more through the tank by trying to kill them singly.

Berghia Nudibranches get a "two thumbs up" from the Lain household!

[The Rugger]

Good to hear you are having success, thanks for sharing...

[Sweetpea]

Great to hear things are working out, long-term, too!