Berghia Nudibranch

[Al Sayani]

Hey,
Has anyone used Berghia Nudibranch for aiptasia control? Did they work for you? Did your wrasses attack them? They are quite pricey $13 to $15 each and have to have quite a few to be effective in s tank. Are they worth the investment? Please advice..

 

[FutureInterest]

They are mostly nocturnal so your wrasses won't make that much of a dent in them. They will wander in the daytime if hungry though so some do get picked off. The issue I've seen is that they will often not get everything... and you'll have to treat again. How big is your tank? Copperband butterfly fish have worked well for me. I keep one in each tank just because of aptasia and they do a great job.

 

[lmm1967]

Hey,
Has anyone used Berghia Nudibranch for aiptasia control? Did they work for you? Did your wrasses attack them? They are quite pricey $13 to $15 each and have to have quite a few to be effective in s tank. Are they worth the investment? Please advice..

One thing to note. Several of the reliable vendors are not shipping Berghia until after the holidays.

 

[Rickdareefa]

They are mostly nocturnal so your wrasses won't make that much of a dent in them. They will wander in the daytime if hungry though so some do get picked off. The issue I've seen is that they will often not get everything... and you'll have to treat again. How big is your tank? Copperband butterfly fish have worked well for me. I keep one in each tank just because of aptasia and they do a great job.

Have you ever had any problems with the Cb butterfly munching coral?

 

[FutureInterest]

Have you ever had any problems with the Cb butterfly munching coral?

Of the three that I currently have... 1 has shown a propensity to go for acans but no other lps or clams. The other two have not gone for any coral at all. It is hit or miss...

The very best bet is to pick one up from a reefer who is breaking their tank down... then you'll know it eats regular foods and whether it goes for any coral. That's how I got 1 of mine... and he's worth his weight in gold to me .

Most likely you have to roll the dice on the coral part...

One thing you must not chance though is that the CBB needs to be eating voraciously in the store. I mean aggressively eating at the store... not just a tiny nibble one time. If they don't eat aggressively then they're generally not going to make it. I've had to pass on so many CBB until you find one that is a winner. I've had especially good luck with Southern Aquatics for this. They have a large selection of fish and most of their CBB were eating very well. I ended up picking up a smaller one that was eating like a champ but had white splotches on his fins. Don't be afraid of the large white splotches as this is just a stress related viral infection that is not a big deal and goes away quickly on its own.

G'luck

 

[Adam]

Berghia's do work, it takes 4-6 months but they do work. The big thing is they will not get every last one. A multi prong approach is the best bet. going with the nudi's and a aptasia eating file fish or CBB. Once the nudi's knock back the aptasia, the fish will keep any future outbreaks from happening. After putting the nudi's in your tank, 4 to 8 weeks may go by and you'll not notice any changes in the aptasia numbers. Then one day you'll look in and see a whole area of the tank cleared out. From there things progress quickly. Once you start seeing them during the day or on the glass you'll know they are running out of food. If your going to try and sell some of them off that is the time to try and get them.

With predation by wrasses. Like Jin said they are nocturnal and the wrasses bed down for the night, so they don't cross paths often. Once the nudi's are eating well they transport the toxins in the aptasia to their backs. That's what gives them their color. If they're all white with no color they haven't been eating. Once they are colored up, if a wrasse picks at one they usually spit them out because of those toxins. It doesn't take too many times of that happening before they leave the nudi's alone.

I would look to buy them right after the holidays. With the vendors not shipping now (if shipping there may be no guarantee's) they will have a larger volume of them that they'll need to move. If those vendors have to many nudi's they'll start having problems with having enough aptasia to feed them. That's when they have sales to move out stock.

This is where I got mine and had very good luck with them. Lots of good info to read there as well.

Salty Underground: The best online store for saltwater livestock

Salty Underground is the online store for the saltwater aquarium hobbyist. We have a large selection of saltwater fish and other marine livestock for sale and always free shipping after $99.

saltyunderground.com

Just keep looking at the site for sales. They even say look for better pricing on 1/2/20.

 

[raz0945]

I have 2 file fish-125g and 90g and CB-265g, I move rocks from my other tanks for them to clean. They have been very helpful. The only problems that I've had is that my purple and sailfin tangs have tried to hurt the CB. I took the CB and put him in my 90 to let him fatten up and grow some(returned to 265g)and got him eating frozen food because there are never enough pest anemones for a CB they will get thin and die. Make sure they eat frozen at the store!

 

[lmm1967]

Initially my filefish was great at keeping the aiptasia in check - now he ignores it.

Considering putting him in a tank with no other fish, a rock with aiptasia on it and don't feed him for a couple days to see if I can "reboot" him into doing his job again.

 

[Tanster2]

How bad is your infestation? If you have a small amount it might be easier to manage it with a product like Aiptasia X, hot water, or lemon juice. I kill maybe 2 aiptasia a month, and that's about it. I've accepted I'll never totally eradicate them, but if their numbers are already low, you can just zap a few every other week. Works great for me.

 

[Adam]

How bad is your infestation? If you have a small amount it might be easier to manage it with a product like Aiptasia X, hot water, or lemon juice. I kill maybe 2 aiptasia a month, and that's about it. I've accepted I'll never totally eradicate them, but if their numbers are already low, you can just zap a few every other week. Works great for me.

Every time I've used AptasiaX it created a bigger problem and they ended up everywhere. I would try Joe's Juice and never use the AptasiaX, if you're determined to use AptasiaX I'll gladly give you the rest of the bottle I've got. Well more than half full too.

 

[Tanster2]

It works wonderful for me! I always make sure they retreat into their holes and then I'll try and fill their hole with it so they can't expel their spores. Different things work for different folks

 

[hiimsean]

Fish are always going to be a hit or miss same with inverts. Your only true 100% shot of something eating aptasia is nudis.

 

[Al Sayani]

Berghia's do work, it takes 4-6 months but they do work. The big thing is they will not get every last one. A multi prong approach is the best bet. going with the nudi's and a aptasia eating file fish or CBB. Once the nudi's knock back the aptasia, the fish will keep any future outbreaks from happening. After putting the nudi's in your tank, 4 to 8 weeks may go by and you'll not notice any changes in the aptasia numbers. Then one day you'll look in and see a whole area of the tank cleared out. From there things progress quickly. Once you start seeing them during the day or on the glass you'll know they are running out of food. If your going to try and sell some of them off that is the time to try and get them.

With predation by wrasses. Like Jin said they are nocturnal and the wrasses bed down for the night, so they don't cross paths often. Once the nudi's are eating well they transport the toxins in the aptasia to their backs. That's what gives them their color. If they're all white with no color they haven't been eating. Once they are colored up, if a wrasse picks at one they usually spit them out because of those toxins. It doesn't take too many times of that happening before they leave the nudi's alone.

I would look to buy them right after the holidays. With the vendors not shipping now (if shipping there may be no guarantee's) they will have a larger volume of them that they'll need to move. If those vendors have to many nudi's they'll start having problems with having enough aptasia to feed them. That's when they have sales to move out stock.

This is where I got mine and had very good luck with them. Lots of good info to read there as well.

Salty Underground: The best online store for saltwater livestock

Salty Underground is the online store for the saltwater aquarium hobbyist. We have a large selection of saltwater fish and other marine livestock for sale and always free shipping after $99.

saltyunderground.com

Just keep looking at the site for sales. They even say look for better pricing on 1/2/20.

Great feedback. Thank you

 

[Al Sayani]

Every time I've used AptasiaX it created a bigger problem and they ended up everywhere. I would try Joe's Juice and never use the AptasiaX, if you're determined to use AptasiaX I'll gladly give you the rest of the bottle I've got. Well more than half full too.

Same, i have used lots of AptasiaX, and still have more pop u each day-

 

[Al Sayani]

I have 2 file fish-125g and 90g and CB-265g, I move rocks from my other tanks for them to clean. They have been very helpful. The only problems that I've had is that my purple and sailfin tangs have tried to hurt the CB. I took the CB and put him in my 90 to let him fatten up and grow some(returned to 265g)and got him eating frozen food because there are never enough pest anemones for a CB they will get thin and die. Make sure they eat frozen at the store!

I tried a copperband, but was chased around by my tangs, so had to pull him out.. Will try filefish next. I had a file fish that did a great job a few years ago, but then went after my coral after, so i had to get rid of him.

 

[Al Sayani]

They are mostly nocturnal so your wrasses won't make that much of a dent in them. They will wander in the daytime if hungry though so some do get picked off. The issue I've seen is that they will often not get everything... and you'll have to treat again. How big is your tank? Copperband butterfly fish have worked well for me. I keep one in each tank just because of aptasia and they do a great job.

Thank for the feedback. I added a copperband last month but had to pull him out because my tangs gave him a hard time and gang attacked him. In 1 day poor guy was begging to be pulled out-