Aiptasia control with Berghia nudibranchs

[Photon]

Mike,
I have been waiting to post, but I have been holding my breath waiting to see if some of the aiptasia are actually gone or just in hiding. I can actually say that they are disappearing slowly! The area that I put them in had a large quantity and some large specimens. Some of the largest ones are totally gone!
They appear to be working! I will continue to keep you posted.
James

 

[Justin74]

:thumbsup:

-Justin

 

[Wee-Reef Master]

Hey James,

Thanks for the update! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, but it sounds like so far so good!

 

[saltyunderground]

Here's my thought on a Christmas wrasse and berghia... Berghia are noctural eaters. Christmas wrasses bury themselves in sand at night. Mine goes into the sand at about 5 or 6 PM. It comes out at about 7AM. So in theory, berghia and Christmas wrasses conveniently keep opposite hours. If a berghia is out during the day searching for food, as they may do as the aiptasia in the tank dwindles, the wrasse might try to take a taste, but that's iffy.

 

[JahReefster]

Well, the Klein's worked great. No more aiptasia that I can see. My toadstool leather is toast too, but I think that's a rather small price to pay.

 

[Photon]

Fred,
Where did you find the Klein's? Did it bother anything other than the toadstool? What about ricordia?
The berghia are working, but it is a slow process. While some aiptasia are disappearing, others are growing and growing.
James

 

[WarrenG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8171059#post8171059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Photon
Fred,
Where did you find the Klein's?

Mentioned on this page a few posts up...



For those who have tried the peppermint shrimp, how have they worked?

 

[ReefRian]

I have used many peppermints for aptasia control and they have all worked wonders, frankly I don't understand how some people have problems with them not taking care of the aptasias. Once the shrimp get use to the tank and stop hiding 24/7 the aptasias disappear within a week. I do recommend if you have large aptasias to cut off the head so it can't eat your shrimp. I know some of you don't like this idea since it will spread their body parts all over the tank and cause new ones to grow, but the babies are the easiest for them to eat and if your peppermints are eating them, you will never see them come up. Just be sure you don't have anything that will eat the peppermints. We had to stop using them for a while because our sixline wrasse kept eating them, and the aptasias grew. Once the fish passed away we were able to get them again and the aptasias were gone quickly. If you don't have peppermint eaters I would recommend this route before trying any more expensive means.

Rian

 

[wombat2]

Great point Rian. The only reason I've had to resort to a Klein's was in a tank containing a flame hawk and neon dottyback that like to tag team peppermints.

 

[ReefRian]

An extremely important point. Make sure you get peppermit shrimp, don't confuse them with camel shrimp or other Lysmata (sp?) relatives. Often times stores have them mislabelled.

Rian

 

[JahReefster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8171059#post8171059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Photon
Fred,
Where did you find the Klein's? Did it bother anything other than the toadstool? What about ricordia?
The berghia are working, but it is a slow process. While some aiptasia are disappearing, others are growing and growing.
James

James, the Klein's didn't bother any of my mushrooms although it definitely ate all the polyps off the toadstool leather. I also have some blastomussa merletti I was a worried about, but it didn't seem to bother them any.

When I got the Klein's at the Coral Reef Shop they only had one, but the owner was very friendly and I'm sure they'd pick up some more if there is an interest. At $19, pretty economical (relatively speaking, of course )

 

[JahReefster]

Hey James, what's the latest on your critters? Do the job?

 

[Photon]

Actually, they cleared off a couple of places, but by the time they cleared another location, they started to reappear on the original site. I have sort of given up on them, and I am not sure if they are still alive. I bought a copperband butterfly to help out, but so far, I can't tell that it has had any impact on any of the healthy aiptasia. Eric Borneman said that berghia worked best if they were in a separate tank and you took the rock out of your main tank--piece by piece--and let the berghia do their work. I can't do that because the pieces are too large and the whole structure could possibly collapse.
The war continues!
James

 

[Wee-Reef Master]

Hi James! Haven't seen you in a bit and hope all is well. Sorry to hear about those friggin' pests. See you soon.