Berghia Nudibranchs

[Nathaniellund17]

I’m working with a bad aiptasia infestation and am attempting to solve it with Berghias that I added weeks ago. I’ve been monitoring the tank at night and I think I’m beginning to see some “baby” Nudis but am not sure if that’s what these are. They don’t have the same tentacles as the other baby nudis that I first added. I want to be excited that I’m finally getting enough to handle the problem, but want to temper my expectations of those aren’t nudis. You can see a number of white critters on the rocks if you zoom in. Hopefully the picture works, it’s hard to focus on the critters.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Looks like there's plenty to eat.

 

[Nathaniellund17]

I see that the original post doesn’t have a question in it. I’m asking if anybody can confirm that those small white critters are in fact Berghia’s?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

I can't see any detail from the pictures, so we can not make an ID. Closer picture so we can see the supposed young berghia will be necessary to make a positive ID.

When I first saw young berghia in my tank I instantly knew that they were berghia. They should look exactly like the adults, just smaller.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I see that the original post doesn’t have a question in it. I’m asking if anybody can confirm that those small white critters are in fact Berghia’s?

I cant see any due to brightness but these below are Berghias:

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, closer pics are needed here - if you can pull one of the baby nudibranchs out in a container of tank water for pics, that would be helpful.

 

[Jmp998]

I know it is not always easy to take clear pics of critters in tank. I have posted some videos of various sizes of Berghia if you want to compare to what you are seeing:

jmp9981

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

 

[SPR1968]

I can’t see anything in the picture, maybe need close ups, but the babies are just smaller than the adults generally.

 

[Nathaniellund17]

I zoomed in on the picture, not sure if this helps. To earlier post, I was expecting to see something that looks like larger berghias(which I am seeing a few of those). I was hoping these white critters were berghias s as well as that would mean the next round of berghias is coming in at scale and should really help to manage the outbreak. Let me know if this helps. If not, I’ll try to pull a few out.

 

[Nathaniellund17]

I zoomed in on the picture, not sure if this helps. To earlier post, I was expecting to see something that looks like larger berghias(which I am seeing a few of those). I was hoping these white critters were berghias s as well as that would mean the next round of berghias is coming in at scale and should really help to manage the outbreak. Let me know if this helps. If not, I’ll try to pull a few out.

Hmmm not seeing the picture… let me try this again.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hmmm not seeing the picture… let me try this again.

Hard to say for sure from the pic, but those look more like chitons than nudibranchs from what I can see.

 

[Dburr1014]

Hard to say for sure from the pic, but those look more like chitons than nudibranchs from what I can see.

Or a flat worm?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Or a flat worm?

Possibly - chiton would be my first thought, then an Arminid nudibranch of some kind, but I'm not sure what all is in the tank that Arminids could feed on. There are some black and white flatworms, but they're not terribly common, especially not with that consistent striping on the skirt (which is actually what has me thinking these may be chitons).

 

[stewy14]

I see berghias imo

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hard to say for sure from the pic, but those look more like chitons than nudibranchs from what I can see.

Looking at some of the larger specimens near the top of the pic, it may not be a true skirt around the edges at all - it might just be blurring between cerata from the pixels being stretched in the image; in that case, I could see those looking like the juveniles shared in @Jmp998 's video above.

 

[dwest]

I thought chitons

 

[Jmp998]

Berghia with ample food grow pretty fast. In a week or two they should be significantly bigger and it will be easy to tell.

 

[Nathaniellund17]

Thanks for the replies. I've been monitoring the tank over the past week, and haven't seen a change in these guys... so the posts that state Berghia's grow fast with ample food (I'm pretty sure I can say I have ample food) I'm thinking these aren't baby Berghia's. I agree that these are probably Chiton's - which I hadn't heard of until now. From researching, appear Chiton's a reef safe, and help with algae - so I shouldn't be worried about these guys.

I definitely have Berghia's, so hopefully they're able to reproduce to scale to knock out the infestation.

If anything changes, will post again... really appreciate the replies and help!

 

[dwest]

Thanks for the replies. I've been monitoring the tank over the past week, and haven't seen a change in these guys... so the posts that state Berghia's grow fast with ample food (I'm pretty sure I can say I have ample food) I'm thinking these aren't baby Berghia's. I agree that these are probably Chiton's - which I hadn't heard of until now. From researching, appear Chiton's a reef safe, and help with algae - so I shouldn't be worried about these guys.

I definitely have Berghia's, so hopefully they're able to reproduce to scale to knock out the infestation.

If anything changes, will post again... really appreciate the replies and help!

Yep, chitons are good guys.