Aiptasia / Berghia Nudibranch / Study

[GoVols]

This research study provides in-depth detail, with time lapsed dated photos as the study played out.

In 2012 had a Aiptasia breakout, they were totally wiped by using Berghia nudibranch‘s.
To be honest, I took those Berghia for granted.

In 2017 had another Aiptasia outbreak hit my reef, l felt like the Berghia could do it again.

This time, no matter what the outcome would come to, wanted to fully document the entire study.

Study was preformed back in 2017 on my build thread, after things settled down, felt like this study needed to be wrote in a separate forum / thread to helps others (as one method) during a Aiptasia outbreak.

The below link includes specs, on how I introduced the Berghia nudibranch‘s in the reef.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/berghia-nudibranchs-for-the-dreaded-aiptasia-anemone.317481/
Post #2, 3, 19 and 32 go into a lot of detail.

As @prsnlty / Jackie noted, preforming a 3 day blackout with a mature reef could speed up the process.

Research study conclusion:
As in 2012, this study came to the same results. The Berghia nudibranch‘s wiped out every Aiptasia in the reef.

 

[blaxsun]

Any chance they also like xenias? :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[GoVols]

Any chance they also like xenias? :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Lol
flip their rocks upside down… :face-with-tongue:

 

[MnFish1]

This research study provides in-depth detail, with time lapsed dated photos as the study played out.

In 2012 had a Aptasia breakout, they were totally wiped by using Berghia nudibranch‘s.
To be honest, I took those Berghia for granted.

In 2017 had another Aptasia outbreak hit my reef, l felt like the Berghia could do it again.

This time, no matter what the outcome would come to, wanted to fully document the entire study.

Study was preformed back in 2017 on my build thread, after things settled down, felt like this study needed to be wrote in a separate forum / thread to helps others (as one method) during a Aptasia outbreak.

The below link includes specs, on how I introduced the Berghia nudibranch‘s in the reef.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/berghia-nudibranchs-for-the-dreaded-aiptasia-anemone.317481/
Post #2, 3, 19 and 32 go into a lot of detail.

As @prsnlty / Jackie noted, preforming a 3 day blackout with a mature reef could speed up the process.

Research study conclusion:
As in 2012, this study came to the same results. The Berghia nudibranch‘s wiped out every Aptasia in the reef.

Excellent.

 

[MnFish1]

This research study provides in-depth detail, with time lapsed dated photos as the study played out.

In 2012 had a Aptasia breakout, they were totally wiped by using Berghia nudibranch‘s.
To be honest, I took those Berghia for granted.

In 2017 had another Aptasia outbreak hit my reef, l felt like the Berghia could do it again.

This time, no matter what the outcome would come to, wanted to fully document the entire study.

Study was preformed back in 2017 on my build thread, after things settled down, felt like this study needed to be wrote in a separate forum / thread to helps others (as one method) during a Aptasia outbreak.

The below link includes specs, on how I introduced the Berghia nudibranch‘s in the reef.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/berghia-nudibranchs-for-the-dreaded-aiptasia-anemone.317481/
Post #2, 3, 19 and 32 go into a lot of detail.

As @prsnlty / Jackie noted, preforming a 3 day blackout with a mature reef could speed up the process.

Research study conclusion:
As in 2012, this study came to the same results. The Berghia nudibranch‘s wiped out every Aptasia in the reef.

Curious - did you happen to have any control - where berghia were not present? Thanks for reporting on this!!

 

[GoVols]

Curious - did you happen to have any control - where berghia were not present? Thanks for reporting on this!!

no

I did hit those with Aiptasia-X, but it made matters worse and went into a full blown outbreak.

I have never tried known fish species or shrimp that may eat aiptasia on both occasions.

Within my build thread I showed shots of my Blastos, where the aiptasia remained.
There was one member that replied I needed to super glue those, but that would have tainted this research.

If your reef conditions are right:
Since the sole diet for Berghia is aiptasia, they will eat, or they will starve.

Thank you.

 

[bnord]

Any chance they also like xenias? :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

have you tried F Xenia (TM)?

 

[MnFish1]

no

I did hit those with Aiptasia-X, but it made matters worse and went into a full blown outbreak.

I have never tried known fish species or shrimp that may eat aiptasia on both occasions.

Within my build thread I showed shots of my Blastos, where the aiptasia remained.
There was one member that replied I needed to super glue those, but that would have tainted this research.

If your reef conditions are right:
Since the sole diet for Berghia is aiptasia, they will eat, or they will starve.

Thank you.

I found them to work perfectly

 

[NanJ]

@GoVols, my husband and I had similar success with Berghia nudibranchs in our 300 gallon tank reef tank. Your write up and threads are great and so helpful to others in the hobby. I want to add a couple of points we learned.

-- Berghia are expensive but going cheap on this battle may not win the battle. We ordered from Reeftown and followed Jeff's guidance on the number to seed in the tank. The aiptasia were in the hundreds and all over the tank. We seeded several Berghia across multiple locations in the tank. The Berghia have to increase their numbers by breeding so the more the merrier. Just a couple per location probably won't be enough to tackle a large infestation.

--IT TAKES WEEKS FOR THE BERGHIA TO WIPE OUT THE AIPTASIA! Berghia are not a quick fix. How many times have experienced hobbyists told us newbies, Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank?

--The Berghia should be allowed to crawl out of their container on their own. They are delicate and trying to transfer them with pipettes might damage them. To seed the Berghia, we transferred the acclimated Berghia from their shipping container to several glass jars filled with our tank water - 4-8 per jar. Holding the jar upright, we gently lowered the jar into the tank, allowing it to fill to the rim. Then we carefully turned the jar upside down and placed it on the rocks near - but not ON - a cluster of aiptasia. We left the jar in place until all the Berghia had crawled out. That took from several hours up to overnight. (Flow pumps were turned off during this period.)

--We saw no progress in the battle for 3-4 weeks. But once the Berghia got going, it was so gratifying to watch the aiptasia numbers dwindle!

--Our tank was about 3 years old when we had the aiptasia outbreak. We had had a file fish for probably a year and would see an aiptasia here and there, but never enough to be concerned. The file fish acted abnormally for a week or so and then died. A week or so later the aiptasia began growing in numbers.

What I learned from Jeff at Reeftown about file fish: "the scoop with filefish is that yes they do eat Aiptasia, and are "trashy" eaters. They throw cells of the Aiptasia all over the tank, which grow new Aiptasia. They prefer a "crop" of small aiptasia. That will explain why the surge in Aiptasia when your filefish died. " Jeff also pointed out that fish that eat Aiptasia can also eat Berghia so a "two pronged approach" might not work in this case.

--As others have said, once the Berghia crawled in the rocks, we never saw them again, not a single one. My husband would check the rocks several hours after the lights went out and never spotted one. During those early weeks after seeding we were sure we had wasted our money.