Tank is about 9 months along and I guess with the addition of corals, I’ve gotten some undesirables. Specifically Aiptasia. I’ve tried to control it with Red Sea Aiptasia-x, but they are reproducing faster than I can find them.
I‘m thinking of going to live control and getting some Berghia Nudibranches. My thoughts are that they would be better than peppermint shrimp it Copper banded Butterfly fish. I’ve never had them before and am looking for thoughts from those who have. I realize if they do a good job, they will die when their food supply is exhausted, but they seem to be the best answer to get this pest under control.
Any thoughts on them and where might be the best place to get some?
Jetson
Berghia work if you have a lot of aptaisia. If you have a few here and there they won't find them all and die.
They are spreading, Imo, because aptaisia x, and the like aren't 100%. If you don't get them just right, they release there gammets. (white like stringy things out of the mouth) That will produce 100's and if you don't get it completly, 1 cell missed can produce 1 aptasia.
F-aptaisia works for the ones you can get. If the aptaisia is upside down or on a face, good luck. You won't be killing that one.
Shrimp work if you get the right ones. If you run out of aptaisia, they may go after acans or other lps.
Berghia are best introduced at night near aptaisia, not on. If you have wrasse, they sleep at night, berghia sleep during the day. I have done berghia twice in my current setup with wrasse and have had positive results.
Do not do 2 means of eradication at the same time. Peppermint eat aptaisia and berghia will taste like aptaisia when they are brown. (means they ate one) using Kalk paste and F-aptaisia may also kill a berghia.
Berghia will need time to work to build up numbers. Don't expect it to work in a week or a month. It could be 4 to 6 months before you see noticeable results.
I found you would need a minimum of 10 medium size berghia. They are egg laying that size and they hunt in a pack. Websites have minimums for tank sizes but really you just need 1 hunting pack to make it work. It may take longer but it will happen. Quicker results need more berghia, it's all up to you.
As I said, I have done this 2x in my setup. 1st time I didn't have a lot of pests and it was good for a couple of years. In that time, if one aptaisia popped up I used Kalk paste or F-aptaisia. After a while my tank had 100's.
It's been about 3 years since my last round. I have seen 5 aptaisia in my tank in that time. 1 I got out using lemon juice. 100% worked but you need a ton of patience. 1 was on my clam shell. It got cover in GHA and disappeared. (so did the hair) Not sure what happened. The other 3 were a small cluster I zapped heavily with Kalk paste. I don't currently see any in my tank.
HTH
