Got Aptasia and a microscope

[William Bruckmann]

I am going to be looking into the viability of shipping Berghia Nudibranch egg spirals first class mail instead of overnight.
Berghia eat the pest Aptasia and only Aptasia. They eat, sleep, and make spirals with hundreds babies. Then they die off when your Aptasia is gone, so they are the perfect Aptasia clean up crew. Unfortunately, they are expensive to buy and you need a good number of them to get your colony going. Couple that with $50+ shipping and most people spend north of $150 to get results. I am hoping the egg spirals are hardier than the adult Berghia, and can survive the harsher conditions of 1st class mail instead of overnight. So, if you have Aptasia and a microscope let me know and maybe we can get this experiment off the ground. Berghia larva are active in their egg sac when alive, so that is what you will be looking for. See the video below.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Best of luck!!

 

[Devaji]

I am going to be looking into the viability of shipping Berghia Nudibranch egg spirals first class mail instead of overnight.
Berghia eat the pest Aptasia and only Aptasia. They eat, sleep, and make spirals with hundreds babies. Then they die off when your Aptasia is gone, so they are the perfect Aptasia clean up crew. Unfortunately, they are expensive to buy and you need a good number of them to get your colony going. Couple that with $50+ shipping and most people spend north of $150 to get results. I am hoping the egg spirals are hardier than the adult Berghia, and can survive the harsher conditions of 1st class mail instead of overnight. So, if you have Aptasia and a microscope let me know and maybe we can get this experiment off the ground. Berghia larva are active in their egg sac when alive, so that is what you will be looking for. See the video below.

man I needed you 6 months ago my RS 650P was overgrow with it. spread way faster than I thought it would. sadly i took the tank down.

but LOVE this idea hopfully it works out and we find a better solution for Aptasia control.

 

[Kasrift]

@OrchidMiss Do you have a microscope? This is a cool experiment.

@William Bruckmann what zoom do you need on a microscope?

 

[TheHarold]

Is 200x sufficient? I would be interested in trying!

 

[exnisstech]

Sorry but I'm slow at times. What exactly do you need from us? The ability to verify the eggs are still alive when they arrive and aptasia for them to eat?

 

[bakbay]

I'm game -- my secondary tank is infested with aiptasias! I bought 3 peppermint shrimps but have not seen an impact to the aiptasia population lately. Besides, I have seen those shrimps in the last 2 weeks. Heard they're nocturnal or worse -- been eaten? I have mostly tangs and no wrasses though.

Anyway, I'll be very happy to participate and will buy a microscope to confirm the egg's health. I'm on the West Coast & happy to pay for shipping to test things out.

 

[William Bruckmann]

@OrchidMiss Do you have a microscope? This is a cool experiment.

@William Bruckmann what zoom do you need on a microscope?

4x objective with 20x eyepieces is what I use.

 

[William Bruckmann]

I'm game -- my secondary tank is infested with aiptasias! I bought 3 peppermint shrimps but have not seen an impact to the aiptasia population lately. Besides, I have seen those shrimps in the last 2 weeks. Heard they're nocturnal or worse -- been eaten? I have mostly tangs and no wrasses though.

Anyway, I'll be very happy to participate and will buy a microscope to confirm the egg's health. I'm on the West Coast & happy to pay for shipping to test things out.

Awesome....Sorry for the delay...my adult spiral layers died and am just now getting new spirals from the younger ones. These first spirals are usually pretty light on eggs but their 2nd batch are usually full. I will be in touch when I get some full spirals.

 

[William Bruckmann]

Sorry but I'm slow at times. What exactly do you need from us? The ability to verify the eggs are still alive when they arrive and aptasia for them to eat?

Correct... a cheap $20 ebay microscope should do it. You don't necessarily need Aptasi. You could just dump them down the drain. Survivability, after 3-5 days in the mail is all I am interested in.

 

[StatelineReefer]

I happen to have a microscope that fits this requirement! I also have a LFS that can supply food nems for a return journey.

 

[William Bruckmann]

I happen to have a microscope that fits this requirement! I also have a LFS that can supply food nems for a return journey.

Awesome...just waiting on some really good spirals. Right now I have 1 that is kind of clear, meaning not mant eggs.

 

[William Bruckmann]

Sorry but I'm slow at times. What exactly do you need from us? The ability to verify the eggs are still alive when they arrive and aptasia for them to eat?

4x objective with 20x eyepiece should do it

 

[DaJMasta]

Do you know how long it takes for the eggs to develop? It's an interesting idea, but without much water or food, you may have best results with newly laid eggs, giving the maximum incubation time in transit. There's also some chance that temperature will play a big role in development speed, so even in first class mail, it may be good to try and use a small insulated box over a padded envelope or something, just to limit the speed of fluctuations and hopefully the maximum excursion.

To make sure the eggs are newest, you could probably devise some substrate you add in to where they're kept that they like to lay on, and then rotate it out daily to make sure collected eggs are no more than a day old when shipped.

 

[exnisstech]

4x objective with 20x eyepiece should do it

I have a digital one that states 50_1000x Not sure if it would work for this purpose or not, I haven't used it yet. I just got some slides and have some dinos to try and ID. I'll check back if it works well

 

[Jmp998]

Interesting idea.

Disclaimer-I am biased as I sell adult Berghia (which I think are the better product), but as you say are expensive mostly because it is a pain in the behind to grow enough aiptasia to raise/feed them. Adult Berghia do not ship well unless you use overnight.

My suggestion-if you are trying to come up with a cheaper way to do this, why not just try shipping larvae or small juveniles? These are easy to generate and viability after delivery is easily verified with a simple hand lens. Even the little guys will survive 2-3 days without food, and you could just include a couple of tiny aiptasia in the container anyway. For small juveniles even an 8 ounce jar is virtually an ocean of water so there probably won’t be any issues with oxygen depletion, ammonia, etc.

 

[Jmp998]

FYI I use this $40 scope which is more than adequate to see newly hatched Berghia larvae (as well as other critters).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09SNSPHXX

 

[exnisstech]

FYI I use this $40 scope which is more than adequate to see newly hatched Berghia larvae (as well as other critters).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09SNSPHXX

Very similar to the one I have (but haven't used yet) except mine mounts on a focus rail.

 

[LJLKRL05]

I am going to be looking into the viability of shipping Berghia Nudibranch egg spirals first class mail instead of overnight.
Berghia eat the pest Aptasia and only Aptasia. They eat, sleep, and make spirals with hundreds babies. Then they die off when your Aptasia is gone, so they are the perfect Aptasia clean up crew. Unfortunately, they are expensive to buy and you need a good number of them to get your colony going. Couple that with $50+ shipping and most people spend north of $150 to get results. I am hoping the egg spirals are hardier than the adult Berghia, and can survive the harsher conditions of 1st class mail instead of overnight. So, if you have Aptasia and a microscope let me know and maybe we can get this experiment off the ground. Berghia larva are active in their egg sac when alive, so that is what you will be looking for. See the video below.

You could try mailing some to yourself. That would probably work well and you can put them back in your own tank

 

[Cell]

Put some in a box. Set it outside. Kick it a few times per day. On the last day really give it hell. Then inspect.