Berghia Nudi's to the Rescue

[DaKraKeN]

Almost 600 gallons TWV. Thousands...literally...of aptasia. Within 30 days we had so many baby nudibranchs we couldn't count them....they have completely eradicated all the visible aptisia. I will never use anything except the nudibranchs. We started with 16 medium nudibranchs. It's really amazing.

 

[bif24701]

I had thousands of aiptasia and bought 8 nudis because that's all I could afford. That was Oct. now just a few aiptasia spots left and maybe hundreds of the nudis. These things are great!!!!!

 

[DaKraKeN]

I've used them in large systems before and I've always been happy with the results.

 

[jasonrusso]

The aiptasia always did a good job for me, but they always left one or 2. I always saw the eggs but never saw new nudis. I think that something in my tank was eating them.

 

[shornik]

Thanks for everyone's posts. I guess I should do an update as its about 2 months since I introduced my nudis. I'd say the nudi's have worked effectively but not completely. My aquascape has 2 rock sections, one smaller then the other. When I put the nudi's in I put them on the smaller structure. All the aphasia is gone from that area. After time I didn't see the Nudi's but definitely noticed aptaisa's disappearing. Then I started to see some of the Nudi's made it over the other rock structure and aphasia slowly disappearing there, so they do work. However, I never see more than one, and so I don't know (or think) they are breeding. I suspect too that something might be eating them or the egg cases/eggs/newly hatched. I think most likely I should have purchased more than I did originally to ensure the population was enough. So overall I'm very happy, I think the estimate for complete eradication is around 3-4 months so I'm not there yet and will report back around that time if not sooner.

 

[Reeftown]

Thanks for everyone's posts. I guess I should do an update as its about 2 months since I introduced my nudis. I'd say the nudi's have worked effectively but not completely. My aquascape has 2 rock sections, one smaller then the other. When I put the nudi's in I put them on the smaller structure. All the aphasia is gone from that area. After time I didn't see the Nudi's but definitely noticed aptaisa's disappearing. Then I started to see some of the Nudi's made it over the other rock structure and aphasia slowly disappearing there, so they do work. However, I never see more than one, and so I don't know (or think) they are breeding. I suspect too that something might be eating them or the egg cases/eggs/newly hatched. I think most likely I should have purchased more than I did originally to ensure the population was enough. So overall I'm very happy, I think the estimate for complete eradication is around 3-4 months so I'm not there yet and will report back around that time if not sooner.

Following the thread, I'm a new R2R sponsor and thank you for all the kind words, I am truly humbled "Shornik". Happy to answer any questions in depth about these little buggers if anyone wants. Remember, there is Life After Aiptasia.

 

[I'm a natural blue]

Update?

 

[shornik]

@I'm a natural blue , thanks for the prompt. So, sorry for not following through with this thread. I'm happy to report that sometime around the end of March beginning of April my tank was Aptasia free. These little guys really work. I can also say that while I would see them occasionally it was more like one day I looked at my tank and said, "wow all the aptasia is gone"! Afterwards I would still occasionally see a Berghia, they obviously were still breeding and hatching, but without food they didn't last. It's now almost August and while I'll occasionally see one or two or maybe three aptasia in my tank, those are easily controlled by a little Aptasia X.

So would I do it again, absolutely, though I hope my tank will not need it, at least for a long while.

 

[I'm a natural blue]

@shornik, so glad to hear they worked for you! Praying I never have to battle them. Thanks to your post I know how to deal should I ever need....

 

[Reeftown]

@I'm a natural blue , thanks for the prompt. So, sorry for not following through with this thread. I'm happy to report that sometime around the end of March beginning of April my tank was Aptasia free. These little guys really work. I can also say that while I would see them occasionally it was more like one day I looked at my tank and said, "wow all the aptasia is gone"! Afterwards I would still occasionally see a Berghia, they obviously were still breeding and hatching, but without food they didn't last. It's now almost August and while I'll occasionally see one or two or maybe three aptasia in my tank, those are easily controlled by a little Aptasia X.

So would I do it again, absolutely, though I hope my tank will not need it, at least for a long while.

Glad to hear you are Aiptasia free, but CAUTION......you shouldn't be using Aiptasia X unless you want your aiptasia to return in your tank. If you did "nothing" when seeing 1 or 2 Aiptasia, you would have 1 or 2 Aiptasia several months from now. They would not reproduce at any great manner....once you attack them, however, even if you kill them, with a chemical or something the Aiptasia will have released it's Planulae Larvae in the water column and you will be contacting me again way sooner than you would otherwise need to. I know it's hard to break old habits. Remember, even though we "hate" Aiptasia, they have a function in the water, they are great filter feeders snagging all kinds of particulates floating around, and only dangerous once they start reproducing too much where they threaten your corals.

 

[jasonrusso]

Glad to hear you are Aiptasia free, but CAUTION......you shouldn't be using Aiptasia X unless you want your aiptasia to return in your tank. If you did "nothing" when seeing 1 or 2 Aiptasia, you would have 1 or 2 Aiptasia several months from now. They would not reproduce at any great manner....once you attack them, however, even if you kill them, with a chemical or something the Aiptasia will have released it's Planulae Larvae in the water column and you will be contacting me again way sooner than you would otherwise need to. I know it's hard to break old habits. Remember, even though we "hate" Aiptasia, they have a function in the water, they are great filter feeders snagging all kinds of particulates floating around, and only dangerous once they start reproducing too much where they threaten your corals.

I disagree with this. When I had an aiptasia problem, I saw one. I never did anything about it and it spread like wildfire.

 

[Reeftown]

I disagree with this. When I had an aiptasia problem, I saw one. I never did anything about it and it spread like wildfire.

There are many things that can cause Aiptasia to "spread like wildfire" without treating them......example, if your tank had an incident and the temperature went too high, causing death and mayhem in your tank....When all is said and done the Aiptasia will bloom like crazy....Any time an Aiptasia feels threatened or attacked it stimulates a survival instinct for the species causing it to send out planulae larvae. If, however, it is happy, in a good lighting and nutritional area it will typically only reproduce by basal disc laceration or budding, seldom resorting to sending out larvae. It typically takes 3-6 weeks after an incident to see the settled planulae larvae popping up in very small babies. So the "what" that caused your Aiptasia to spread so fast is unknown to me but maybe you can share some insight into all things that happened to your tank up to 2 months before the explosion started...Remember, this is a typical senario and there are always exceptions to every rule.