Berghia Nudibranches

[auntkaren]

We have a 180 gallon reef tank. There has been an outbreak of the dreaded aiptasia in the display tank.....like 30 or so aiptasias. We've been using Joes Juice on the ones we can reach but it's barely effecting the growth.
In the sump...geeze there are hundreds and hundreds of aiptasia. I've been reading about the berghia nudibranches and wonder who has used them.
How many do you think we would need to get. We'd put some in both sections of the tank but the majority would be in the sump. I'm not afraid that they would starve that's for sure.
Any thoughts or suggestionsn??

 

[bronco300]

they work, but without having a lot of them they dont seem very effective...i put one in a 75and lost it real quick...i would imagine 10 or so...that's just my opinion.

 

[nano reefer]

buy a pregnant one. places where you can buy them online usually sell pregnant ones for a slightly higher price, but its well worth it. They work great, and look cool. But once the aptasia is gone, they will die because that is all they eat.

 

[auntkaren]

I just ordered some. All my research plus talking with the scientist at the place that has the berghia, I learned that it might take up to a year or more to get rid of ALL the aiptasia.
I learned (and noticed) that when you use something like joe's juice it kills the one you zap but before the aiptasia dies it sends out microscopic parts that multiply and won't show for weeks or months. In other words it's like popping a bubble algae....it just spreads microscopic little clones. This said, the nudibranches can always find some food and will live maybe 9 months to a year in your tank.
They DO have natural enemies...in the form of peppermint and camel shrimps. None of the other shrimps bother with them. So our peppermint is going to a new home and will be replaced with a couple of cleaner shrimp LOL.
The phone call was worth the cost and I've learned that eradicating aiptasia is a long process.
Thanks for your responses they were helpful.

 

[natclanwy]

I have used them and they are very effective once you get a decent population. I started with three and I set up my 10g quarintine tank and cycled it with some aiptasia covered rock from my DT and used it as a nursery, first couple of months were uneventful looked like the aiptasia had died from lack of food and light more so than being eaten. Thought that maybe the bergia had died then I finally found one and then a couple more so I replaced the rock with more aiptasia covered rock and they cleared it in a few weeks and I continued the cycle of swapping rock and transfered a few bergia back to my DT. Don't know how many were in my 10g but they could clear several hundred aiptasia in two weeks. Ended up losing them when my job sent me out of town for a couple of months and my wife forgot to add water to the quarantine tank came home to a salt brine tank

.
The key to eradicating them with Joes Juice is to treat them all at once and then continue to kill each any that pop up as soon as you see it can't say that you will 100% eradicate them this way since I haven't achieved an aiptasia free tank yet but I took my population from several thousand to less than 30 in my 55g with joes juice alone and I am slowly killing these off too but the ones that are left are in difficult to reach areas so it makes it difficult to get enough solution on them.