Will Berghia Eat my BTA?

[namsupak]

I have a BTA and I have had him for about 1-2months and today I noticed this nudibranch on the BTA. It looks like Berghia (the aiptasia nudibranch. I extracted him from the tank, the nudi didnt appear to be harming the BTA more like irritating it or maybe the BTA was trying to eat it. Should I consider this nudi benificial or should I just not chance it and get rid of him?

Anyhow I have this nudi in plastic cup now and was wondering if I should reintroduce him to the tank or euthanize him.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[55semireef]

sump

 

[dantodd]

berghia will not eat anything but aiptasia, they are a specific feeder and will not bother your BTA.

 

[TOURKID]

i had a lettece nudi.. my bta ate it.. then spit it out later. killed the nudi, dident harm the bta.

whatever you decide to do with it.. nudis have NO grip... every morning it would be stuck to my intake screen and id have to get it out. they do really bad with any flow

 

[organism]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8022406#post8022406 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dantodd
berghia will not eat anything but aiptasia, they are a specific feeder and will not bother your BTA.

the berghia could also be eating zoos, softies, montis, or any number of things... while they have specialized diets, it's hard to know what they're eating until you actively see them eating it.
chances are that it's feeding off of something else in your tank, if you recently introduced zoos, or have any in your tank, I'd take a very close look on the colony to see if there's any others on there

 

[dantodd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8023035#post8023035 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by organism
the berghia could also be eating zoos, softies, montis, or any number of things... while they have specialized diets, it's hard to know what they're eating until you actively see them eating it.
chances are that it's feeding off of something else in your tank, if you recently introduced zoos, or have any in your tank, I'd take a very close look on the colony to see if there's any others on there

Can you point me to anything that documents an alternative diet for berghia? I have NEVER heard of berghia eating ANYTHING but aiptasia. There are a few people breeding berghia and if you know of an alternative diet I'm sure it would be a big plus to those trying to raise them.

 

[organism]

berghia is the genus name, there are many species within that genus. actually the berghias that you are referring to aren't berghias, berghia was a misname when the aiptasia eating nudibranchs were studied, in reality there isn't a single species of berghia that eats aptasia as their sole diet, their real name is Aeolidiella Stephanieae, you can find more info on berghias and the aiptasia eating Aeolidiella Stephanieae at these links

Aeolidiella Stephanieae

Berghia Verrucicornis

More Berghia and Sea Slugs

 

[Phyto]

namsupak;
ask saltyunderground

 

[dantodd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8023637#post8023637 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by organism
berghia is the genus name, there are many species within that genus. actually the berghias that you are referring to aren't berghias, berghia was a misname when the aiptasia eating nudibranchs were studied, in reality there isn't a single species of berghia that eats aptasia as their sole diet, their real name is Aeolidiella Stephanieae, you can find more info on berghias and the aiptasia eating Aeolidiella Stephanieae at these links

Aeolidiella Stephanieae

Berghia Verrucicornis

More Berghia and Sea Slugs

Thanks for the info, I really learned alot. However; I didn't see anything that suggested the "aiptasia nudibranch" as the OP asked about has anything in its diet other than aiptasia. There are a lot of messages in the seaslug database and I may have missed it, can you point me a little more directly to definitive info?

Thanks again,
Dan

 

[organism]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8024660#post8024660 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dantodd
However; I didn't see anything that suggested the "aiptasia nudibranch" as the OP asked about has anything in its diet other than aiptasia.

I have no idea what that sentence means, sorry, what's OP?

you totally lost me on "definitive info" too, that top link is about as definitive as it gets, the Aeolidiella Stephanieae is the nudibranch sold in reefkeeping as the aiptasia berghia... what can be seen in those links though is that berghias have varied tastes, not only limited to aiptasia


either way, before going off on a tangent again, there's no telling what kind of nudibranch it was, berghia or otherwise, although my guess would be a zoo eating nudi since they're the most prolific in reefkeeping, namsupak is there any chance that your zoos have similar nudis on them? was it red or orangeish in color?

did it look at all like this one?

 

[dantodd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8024812#post8024812 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by organism
I have no idea what that sentence means, sorry, what's OP?

There is a FAQ (frequently asked question) document somewhere here on abbreviations commonly used. I don't have the link handy.

you totally lost me on "definitive info" too, that top link is about as definitive as it gets, the Aeolidiella Stephanieae is the nudibranch sold in reefkeeping as the aiptasia berghia... what can be seen in those links though is that berghias have varied tastes, not only limited to aiptasia

I looked again and still found nothing that suggested that A. stephanieae (FYI. species names aren't capitalized) have an appetite for anything other than aiptasia.

 

[organism]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8024862#post8024862 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dantodd

I looked again and still found nothing that suggested that A. stephanieae (FYI. species names aren't capitalized) have an appetite for anything other than aiptasia.

um, ok... again I totally don't understand the argument, I was just answering your statement that berghias only eat aiptasia, I don't see how the berghia tangent came about, since the nudi was stated to "look like a berghia", I was just pointing out that the nudi could be eating anything in the tank, and a good idea would be to check and see if anything in the tank might be feeding them (zoos, montis, etc...). I'm not trying to get drawn into an argument, but I'm sensing a lot of hostility that I totally don't understand (such as telling me what OP means), I'm sorry if you thought that me stating that the nudi could be eating anything in the tank was to be taken as a personal attack. I'm merely trying to help a reefer to narrow down if the nudi is possibly one of many that could be attacking their corals, definitely an important thing to narrow down when finding a nudi, I don't know how that was seen as a call to arms, sorry again if you thought it was in any way a personal attack...

 

[namsupak]

well the only thing it that tank is an ocellaris clown and the bta and a condylactis. I noticed the other day this nudi I called it bergia cause that is what it looked like to me, so I took the bta out and extracted the nudi. Inspected the bta and I want to get him in the main tank again asap, but just wanted to make sure if this thing was symbiotic or parasitic.

 

[dantodd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8025059#post8025059 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by organism
I was just answering your statement that berghias only eat aiptasia,

Now that makes perfect sense. You assumed that he had not properly IDed his nudi. You should have just said so. I took him at his word that it was "the aiptasia nudibranch."

If you assume the ID is wrong, then there is no reason to believe your other organisms are safe. I thought you were saying that "the aiptasia nudibranch" would eat other non-aiptasia organisms in his tank and I was getting very frustrated at not being able to find the documentation in the links you were sending.

 

[organism]

well, if there's nothing else in your tank chances are you're ok, it would probably have been parasitic, and are generally a good idea to get rid of or id quickly when you see them, those things can be a pain if they start eating a certain kind of corals

 

[darkstar339]

I came upon this thread while doing research for my thesis. A. stephanieae aka Berghia will most definitly eat other anemones other than Aiptasia. In this paper (Incorporated nematocysts in Aeolidiella stephanieae (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, Aeolidoidea) mature by acidification shown by the pH sensitive fluorescing) the authors look at the effect of different anemones on defense of A. stephanieae.