Berghia Nudibranches

[dustinlclarke]

Has anyone had any dealings with these I have a major aptasia problem in a 115 DAS, have tried peppermint shrimp, banded butterfly, matte filefish, and to make it worse unintentionally Kalk & Aptasia X. I've been doing a lot of reading on berghia.net and these guys seem like a good deal just want to see if anyone has had any dealings with them or any results other than starting over... don't mind spending a couple hundred dollars for a system that's been established for over three years just don't want to waste more money

 

[Eric the half-bee]

I've purchased from them before. My mistake was placing them in a tank that contained 3 wrasses. I never saw them after 2-3 days. I thought due to their size and nocturnal patterns, they'd go unnoticed. Not so.

 

[Acronymous]

just got one yesterday. put a rock infested with aiptasia in the acclimation bowl and for some reason, whenever the nudi touched the aiptasia both would twitch and the nudi just went the other way. I heard this is all they eat. what gives?

 

[kjreiner72]

I was thinking of getting some nudi but I was told that you should buy some and have them in a separate tank to bred so that you can keep your display tank stocked as if you have a really bad infestation the nudis will die before they eat them all. Is this true??

 

[Moort82]

Like most nudis these do have a short lifespan but they are easy to breed and they should reach a population that will take care of the aiptasias if you don't have any predators that will kill them.
You need to be sensible though, a couple of these in a 6ft tank won't cut it. I think i've heard 1 to 2 per 40 liters before but it depends on how much rock and how many aiptasia you have. As they are so small they don't go through them that fast, hence why more are needed. You can see when they are full as their cirri turn the same colour as the aiptasia where they store its nematocysts for defense.

It sounds like you have a real problem, so it may be better to setup a tank and rotate the rock through it. that way they can eat the aiptasia without the threat of predators and you may build up a bigger population which speeds it all up.

 

[ocellaris123]

so is anyone using them with success

I used four for a 29 gallon reef with a moderate infestation. All aptasia where gone in two months time.

 

[jim.l]

just got one yesterday. put a rock infested with aiptasia in the acclimation bowl and for some reason, whenever the nudi touched the aiptasia both would twitch and the nudi just went the other way. I heard this is all they eat. what gives?

Could you have mojano's instead of apt's? I've been told that berghia won't eat them.

 

[potterjon]

Peppermint shrimp will eat them and skimmers can suck them up also. I tried some in my 150 gallon, but I don't think I ordered enough of them.

 

[OodleyBoodely]

I bought a trio and bred them in 1 quart jars until I had a couple batches of eggs hatched. I had to farm aiptasia to feed them, lol! They take a couple months for the eggs to hatch, but, otherwise are easy to breed. Just change the jar water daily, no airstones or anything else needed, just drop some aiptasias in to feed them. Grow them out until they are about 1/8" long before adding to your tank. Anything and every thing will eat them and thier eggs...such as peppermint shrimp, wrasses, and even amphipods, so, your best results will come from breeding them in jars and adding to the tank to keep a supply going.

Mine wiped out all my aiptasia and then died off with no more aips to eat. Unfortunately, after 3 or 4 months (and I did not add anything to the tanks to reintroduce them!) I have all the old aiptasia back. That's right...all the aiptasia I thought had been devoured have returned. I always wondered how such a highly specialized predator could survive if they eat all the aiptasia then die of starvation...well, apparently the aiptasia manage to regenerate from even just a few molocules and the long gestation time of the nudibract eggs ensure enough food to regenerate to prevent extinction in the wild. Still, even if they will eventually come back, the nudies are still a great way to get a really bad outbreak under control.

 

[kjreiner72]

It doesn't sound to hard but looks can be misleading. Awesome idea to breed them in a quart jar. They are so small that they don't need alot of room. Way to save money too!! I will keep this in mind.

 

[bobbychullo]

yeah. ive used them and they worked. my cuc ate their eggs, saw some bristle worms and amphipods taking the eggs.

i too have some aiptasia growing back, small babies. i had one nudi that survived and i bought two more and threw them in there. they are slowly taking care of the new babies, hopefully it'll eventually be gone :/

+1 one getting an outbreak under control, its exactly what worked for me.

they do get caught in the overflow etc...

they die after 5 to 7 days IF they haven't eaten. if they keep eating, they will keep living. they estimate a complete lifespan to be about 10 months if they have continuous food. you can tell if theyve been eating by looking at the sacks on their backs, if they have color, they've eaten, if they are white then they need some aiptasia...

 

[Gotcha!]

I tried 4 of these after I ended up with a severe problem. $100 down the drain. They never worked for me at all. I purchased a filefish and in 1 - 2 weeks it cleaned the tank up spotless. If I ever had an issue again I would introduce a filefish again and never look back. Filefish are tricky. Some have not had success yet I would just try to get a new filefish and return the other and keep attempting it till you have a filefish that loves them to death. GL.

 

[bobbychullo]

I tried 4 of these after I ended up with a severe problem. $100 down the drain. They never worked for me at all. I purchased a filefish and in 1 - 2 weeks it cleaned the tank up spotless. If I ever had an issue again I would introduce a filefish again and never look back. Filefish are tricky. Some have not had success yet I would just try to get a new filefish and return the other and keep attempting it till you have a filefish that loves them to death. GL.

how did you acclimate/introduce them to the tank? what kind of fish do you have?

the one's i got literally went right for the aiptasia as soon as I put them in the tank. the 2 guys left are cleaning up my left-overs...

 

[grallster]

I ordered 3 and bred them in plastic coffee containers until I had 50 or 60 and introduced them to my infested 75 gal. They totally wiped them out but after the berghia starved, all the aiptasia came back--seemingly from outta nowhere.

 

[Dave Garrett]

If you have a Fowler Tank. Try a Raccoon Butterfly. These fish are busy aptaisia eating machines. But Will eat any corals also. They are also very hardy fish and never quit eating. ...dgarrett

 

[Lorenz725]

i am picking mine up tomorrow night. i will let you know how it goes.

 

[Waylander]

Lottsa luck! I spent 2 years fighting aiptasia with kalk, vinegar, copperband butterflies, peppermints, freezing rock, baking rock in the oven, colorful language, and anything else that I could think of to use. Eventually, I decided that I had 'won'. A year later (nothing added to the tank), I noticed aipitasia in the sump. Pulled it and all plumbing and bleached or replaced everything. I had a serious 'attitude' by this time and was willing to go anywhere up to and including dynamite. I spent the next 2-3 months pulling rock out of the tank if I spotted one and it went to sit on the deck for a few months. Yes, there were a few nights of a demented man pulling 200 lbs of rock to get a particular rock out. I pulled 5-6 rocks over that period and I considered small animal sacrifices to the reef gods.

It's been over 5 years with none sighted...but I have not declared victory yet. I still have the dynamite option, though. Use a nite light in your bedroom just in case they break from the tank and start stalking you.