Berghia Nudibranchs for the Dreaded Aiptasia Anemone

[GoVols]

Lol...

As @MrMichael said to me one time... "Going big or Going Home"

 

[Murica]

Anyone in new Hampshire who has these?

 

[Fishfinder]

Will they eat other anemones? Curious if my BTA will be safe?

 

[XNavyDiver]

Will they eat other anemones? Curious if my BTA will be safe?

Your bta is safe.

 

[lou dog420]

Yeah they never touched my RBTA

 

[GoVols]

Update:

Just wanted to let everyone know that my reef remains aiptasia free and "hope" that this thread / article has been helpful to others.

Regards, GoVols

 

[coweyes298]

I introduced nudi from Salty Underground too at around end of October. I noticed these few weeks some area of my rock with infested Aptasia, several Aptasia were missing. I haven't seen any nudi during the day or night and I have a big cori wrasse, but hopefully nudis are still surviving and doing their job.

 

[GoVols]

I introduced nudi from Salty Underground too at around end of October. I noticed these few weeks some area of my rock with infested Aptasia, several Aptasia were missing. I haven't seen any nudi during the day or night and I have a big cori wrasse, but hopefully nudis are still surviving and doing their job.

coweyes298,

Thanks for the update.
I never saw the nudi's back out until they were down to one aiptasia.

 

[NoahMMTV]

Wow, thank you for sharing this amazing process! My last tank had a huge problem with aiptasia, and the peppermint shrimp method failed for me multiple times. I only heard about these guys a few months ago, and I was skeptical until I read this thread. If I ever get an aiptasia outbreak, I will definitely take this method into consideration. I do see a big aiptasia in a hard-to-reach area of my tank right now, but only one, so I'll see if I can get rid of it before it spreads.

 

[GoVols]

Wow, thank you for sharing this amazing process! My last tank had a huge problem with aiptasia, and the peppermint shrimp method failed for me multiple times. I only heard about these guys a few months ago, and I was skeptical until I read this thread. If I ever get an aiptasia outbreak, I will definitely take this method into consideration. I do see a big aiptasia in a hard-to-reach area of my tank right now, but only one, so I'll see if I can get rid of it before it spreads.

Thanks for the heads up... , and wish you all the best.

Welcome to "our" Reef 2 Reef family , and hope you have felt at home!!

 

[GentlePuffer]

Will the nudis find their way to the back compartments of the AIO filters by themselves to get the aiptasia in the filter area?

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Wow... amazing write up Freddie. Thanks so much for this. My confidence is now double what it was.. I am expecting an order in a week or so...

Appreciate the time and effort you must have put into this. Super thorough and I have no questions left after this read.

Thanks again sir.
#r2r4life
#r2rforlife

 

[GoVols]

5/12/22
Thread has been moved to the R2R Experiment / Research forum

Any R2R member, with constructive questions or incite would be highly appreciated

 

[ukgeoff]

This is such a good write up it's been a great read, thanks!

I've just spotted a few small aiptasia in my 40-gallon and have been using Joe's juice to zap them, but they're in crevices I just can't get into so thinking about getting 5 Berghia's to help out.

I don't have a massive outbreak as I've been zapping them as soon as I see them. As my outbreak is so tiny, do you think there's enough aiptasia for them to eat? My concern is that while Joe's juice is killing the aiptasia in my tank, it may cause a massive outbreak in the future due to how it explodes the aiptasia, causing the aiptasia to multiply to plague proportions.

Right now, I think prevention is better than cure but worried there's not enough aiptasia in my tank for them to find.

 

[DE FISH]

Great write up thanks for documenting this

 

[Pete Witteried]

This is such a good write up it's been a great read, thanks!

I've just spotted a few small aiptasia in my 40-gallon and have been using Joe's juice to zap them, but they're in crevices I just can't get into so thinking about getting 5 Berghia's to help out.

I don't have a massive outbreak as I've been zapping them as soon as I see them. As my outbreak is so tiny, do you think there's enough aiptasia for them to eat? My concern is that while Joe's juice is killing the aiptasia in my tank, it may cause a massive outbreak in the future due to how it explodes the aiptasia, causing the aiptasia to multiply to plague proportions.

Right now, I think prevention is better than cure but worried there's not enough aiptasia in my tank for them to find.

If you only have a few aiptasia I think I would consider a peppermint shrimp or aiptasia eating file fish as they will feed on other food sources as aiptasia is only part of their diet.

 

[ukgeoff]

If you only have a few aiptasia I think I would consider a peppermint shrimp or aiptasia eating file fish as they will feed on other food sources as aiptasia is only part of their diet.

Thanks for getting back to me, I'm a bit worried about getting a peppermint shrimp as I read a few reports about them getting a taste for good corals. Joe's Juice seems to be working at the moment, I'll keep an eye on things and update you if I decide to go with the nudi's... they seem to be a great option.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Thanks for getting back to me, I'm a bit worried about getting a peppermint shrimp as I read a few reports about them getting a taste for good corals. Joe's Juice seems to be working at the moment, I'll keep an eye on things and update you if I decide to go with the nudi's... they seem to be a great option.

They are, but the problem in the end is finding a fine balance where the nudibranchs maintain a large enough population to steadily decrease the aiptasia without undergoing a population explosion which may seem them starve to death before eradicating the last few microscopic polyps. Berghia nudibranchs wiped out aiptasia in one of my tanks, and then all starved to death when their food source ran out. I noticed a few new aiptasia polyps pop up again over the past month -- some must have been hiding in some inaccessible duct.

If I did this again I'd probably destroy any nudi eggs that I saw on the glass. I must have ended up with about fifty adult nudibranchs from the four that I originally bought.