Berghia vs sand bed aiptasia

[wantsummora acropora]

I discovered a few aiptasia in my sand bed in an impossible to reach location. I bought some berghia to handle the problem. I called them after receiving them with the question, "can the berghia burrow to get the aiptasia attached to the bottom glass". The answer was, "I don't know". Not a stroke of confidence. Does anyone have any good info to add to this dilemma?

 

[Adam]

I would not count on the Nudi's getting everything that's in the sand bed. There would have to be virtually no flow in the tank and they'd have to avoid predation. In other words they'd have to be very hungry to venture out there.

If you have them in the sand be rest assured there are dozens in areas you can see. I would suck out the ones in the sand and let the Nudi's take care of the rock. You should also look towards a multi pronged approach. File fish, Peppermints, a Copperband (if you're willing to try and keep one alive) and a laser, all in addition to the Nudi's. No one thing will ever get them all and once the numbers are knocked down the Nudi's will die off, this is where the other things will keep them from getting to plague levels.

 

[wantsummora acropora]

So, I found 12 aiptasia. I removed 7 I'm sure 100%. 1 I missed trying to cut it out. I had company so I said I'd come back for it. When I came back it was gone. 2 I will have to use chemicals to kill and 2 disappeared over night. My hope is that the Nudi's got them in the night. I'll probably use F Aiptasia on one. The other is right above a BTA with no way to seal it in or cut it out so I'm not sure how to handle that. I'm open to suggestions. I have "true" peppermint shrimp on the way.

 

[Adam]

So, I found 12 aiptasia. I removed 7 I'm sure 100%. 1 I missed trying to cut it out. I had company so I said I'd come back for it. When I came back it was gone. 2 I will have to use chemicals to kill and 2 disappeared over night. My hope is that the Nudi's got them in the night. I'll probably use F Aiptasia on one. The other is right above a BTA with no way to seal it in or cut it out so I'm not sure how to handle that. I'm open to suggestions. I have "true" peppermint shrimp on the way.

Maybe you could use something like this to coat hard to reach one's. You can be pretty precise and force paste into crevices.

GRIVER Super Long Industrial Syringes with 14 Gauge 13.5 Inch Luer Lock Needle Tip,Ideal for Aquarium Planting,Dispensing and Industrial Fluid Sampling (2, Needle Length of 13.5-Inch): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

GRIVER Super Long Industrial Syringes with 14 Gauge 13.5 Inch Luer Lock Needle Tip,Ideal for Aquarium Planting,Dispensing and Industrial Fluid Sampling (2, Needle Length of 13.5-Inch): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

 

[wantsummora acropora]

Maybe you could use something like this to coat hard to reach one's. You can be pretty precise and force paste into crevices.

GRIVER Super Long Industrial Syringes with 14 Gauge 13.5 Inch Luer Lock Needle Tip,Ideal for Aquarium Planting,Dispensing and Industrial Fluid Sampling (2, Needle Length of 13.5-Inch): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

GRIVER Super Long Industrial Syringes with 14 Gauge 13.5 Inch Luer Lock Needle Tip,Ideal for Aquarium Planting,Dispensing and Industrial Fluid Sampling (2, Needle Length of 13.5-Inch): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

ordered right away. thx

 

[gill]

Filefish FTW. I tried everything. EVERYTHING. Filefish wiped them out, and does not nip at my corals (I do not have zoas, though).

 

[wantsummora acropora]

I've adopted a 1) remove if possible as my 1st option, 2) Berghia, 3) true peppermint shrimp, 4) chemicals. So far, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I'm winning. I have 1 to kill today, there are 2 more that I know of that I can't find at the moment ( but I'm ALWAYS on the hunt for them). I have some nice zoas so a filefish is off the table (at the moment). I'm learning by the day how to handle them. They are truly spawn of the devil

 

[wantsummora acropora]

UPDATE: so I bought some berghia a few weeks back, put them in the tank late at night lights off. Haven’t seen them since, even late at night. I received 3 true peppermint shrimp several days ago and I guess they are a little skittish right now and won’t come out even at night. I say all this to say, it’s been all me, manually removing when possible then using F aiptasia if I can smother them or IC gel superglue if they are under something. So far I think it’s working. I cannot find any large ones. Just babies and very few. Other tools I’ve been using are: a strong flashlight, a very long syringe needle for the hard to reach areas (thanks @Adam) and constant pressure on the population.

 

[Adam]

UPDATE: so I bought some berghia a few weeks back, put them in the tank late at night lights off. Haven’t seen them since, even late at night. I received 3 true peppermint shrimp several days ago and I guess they are a little skittish right now and won’t come out even at night. I say all this to say, it’s been all me, manually removing when possible then using F aiptasia if I can smother them or IC gel superglue if they are under something. So far I think it’s working. I cannot find any large ones. Just babies and very few. Other tools I’ve been using are: a strong flashlight, a very long syringe needle for the hard to reach areas (thanks @Adam) and constant pressure on the population.

What size tank and how many berghia?

 

[wantsummora acropora]

What size tank and how many berghia?

150G and only 7 berghias but my scape is divided into three separate rocks. They are all on one rock.

 

[Adam]

150G and only 7 berghias but my scape is divided into three separate rocks. They are all on one rock.

7 is about the min if they were 3/4". 10-12 would have been better. Expect 8-10 weeks before you see much of an effect. Then one day you'll look at the tank and be like damn that section of rock has no aiptasia. By October the tank should be cleared of all visible aiptasia. I put 25 in my 220 and that's the time frame they worked for me. I wouldn't treat or kill any. You're removing their only source of food.

If the nudi's were small 1/4 to 1/2" expect the time to be doubled or more. By the time you actually see them in any numbers it's because they are starving and out looking for something to eat.

 

[wantsummora acropora]

Yeah, I debated on removing the aiptasia myself. The amount I had when I first discovered them was small. The bergs I got were probably the smallest you can get. If I waited until October the aiptasia would reach plague levels and that is a no brainer. Right now all my corals are small, most areas of my tank are visible so I can see really good and most of the corals have been moved to the sand bed. The bergs will have to run a gauntlet of my greedy fox face, cleaner shrimp, wrasse and peppermint shrimp. So if I waited until October or later the aiptasia would grow by the hundreds. Can’t do that. I may be naive but I’m keeping the numbers down holding out hope that the peppermint shrimp will step up and cleanup.

 

[Adam]

Then don't rely on the nudi's to do anything major. I would be surprised if they've gotten eaten, there aren't too many things that will eat them. If they were really tiny there is a small chance the peppermints might. As the nudi's eat they move the toxins from the aiptasia to their backs and that's what gives them their color. If a wrasse ate one it'd spit it right back out. Now when the whole body of the nudi is white and slightly translucent they are in the verge of death from starvation and would be easy picking for most anything. If there isn't a sufficient amount of aiptasia some may have already starved.

 

[wantsummora acropora]

So when I got them only 1 had color, like aiptasia tentacles on its back and it was larger than the rest. The rest were small and white. I'm sure they got eaten. 2 days ago I killed 4 aiptasia. Only 1 was new and they all were small. I haven't discovered any new ones since. At this point I'm hunting babies and it requires a magnifying glass and light tricks to find them. That is encouraging. F Aiptasia has become a favorite go to if I can't remove it myself. The stuff just works. Aiptasia X has just not been reliable for me. The IC gel superglue also works great and is harder to see once it dries.