How effective are Berghia Nudibranch

[Azedenkae]

This is all very reassuring that the berghia I bought will eventually do the trick....but at this point I'm not even sure they are still alive. I have 120g DT and introduced 10 berghia about 2 weeks ago. They promptly disappeared into some rock never to be seen again. I only have 3 clowns 2 damsels and a rabbit fish at the moment. Crabs, snails and shrimp of course. Do you think the berghia are still alive? They're quite expensive where I live so I dont want to buy more if I dont need to or if one of my critters things they're yummy.

Best way to kinda maybe know is to keep track of as many aiptasia as possible, and then check again each day to see if any are vanishing.

Aiptasia tend to not move very much, so if they keep on disappearing, it may be a sign they are eaten. XD

 

[TnFishwater98]

Make sure you cover your intakes unless you have a sock. I threw one in my 3.5 QT tank to see if it would attack some wild anemones on LR from the gulf. Do Berghia nubibranches eat all species of Aiptasia? I know the species I have isn’t the famous glass highly invasive species. Anyways let him go and check 2 days later. Saw he was back in the filtration so I got a Turkey baster to try and move it back to the front of the tank and accidentally got it in the water column and it got sucked through the pump...So that was that $20 pump food....

 

[LiftinTheVeil]

I couldn’t agree more. They worked in my tank - but eventually they died before getting every single one. I use F Aptasia now if any pop up but I haven’t seen any in a long time.

So did you have any issue with the infamous nudibranch "toxins"? I've heard so many people cation the use of nudibranchs for this reason. I have an infestation of aptasia right now and the only thing holding me back from trying this is the thought of the issue with toxins of many nudibranch and their offspring.

 

[JVU]

So did you have any issue with the infamous nudibranch "toxins"? I've heard so many people cation the use of nudibranchs for this reason. I have an infestation of aptasia right now and the only thing holding me back from trying this is the thought of the issue with toxins of many nudibranch and their offspring.

That is a problem for other types of nudibranchs, but not Berghia. Not at all.

 

[T-J]

I put a lot of $$$$ worth of Berghia's in my tank. I also had a pretty bad infestation of Aiptasia. I saw them once attacking some Aiptasia, then never again. My filefish is too spoiled with food and won't even look at an Aiptasia.

What finally clear my tank was my CBB. This thing is a machine! I recently pulled down one of my tanks, as we are moving it to another room and deciding what to put in it. I put a big zoa rock into my 120g tank from the tank we moved. It had about 6 Aiptasia on it. The CBB immediately searched and destroyed all the Aiptasia on that rock within an hour. It was fun watching it literally rip them off and swallow them.

 

[LiftinTheVeil]

That is a problem for other types of nudibranchs, but not Berghia. Not at all.

Thank you!

 

[Hugh Mann]

Extremely effective, if somewhat slow to get going.

Last year I had aiptasia. After trying a few chemical options that were recommended, all that ended up doing was accelerating their takeover. Got to the point my rock was just a carpet of those horrid brown anemones. Dropped four berghias in there. They vanished for like a month and a half. Thought they died. Then one night I looked with a flashlight and saw about 50 of the things going to town. Within a month there wasn’t a single anemone left standing. Which they then of course starved to death. My rock remained perfectly clear for nearly a year before I saw a couple just starting to come back. Then a natural disaster in the form of massive floods nuked them.

Out of those two solutions, I highly recommend berghias.

 

[reefruss]

Aptasia are a PITA. I'm in the middle of a massive outbreak. I bet I have a thousand in my 90 gallon tank. I've tried peppermint shrimp to no avail. I tried bergia but the peppermint shrimp ate the bergia. I tried a aptasia eating file fish but it died before any effect. The only thing other than starting over that I haven't tried is a copper band butterfly fish. I did try aptaisaX and in my opinion that just started them into a plague. I refuse to put any new corals into my tank as they will even beat zoas into submission. On a positive note my nems (the good ones) are splitting and doing great. I'm ready to try almost anything.

 

[LiftinTheVeil]

Aptasia are a PITA. I'm in the middle of a massive outbreak. I bet I have a thousand in my 90 gallon tank. I've tried peppermint shrimp to no avail. I tried bergia but the peppermint shrimp ate the bergia. I tried a aptasia eating file fish but it died before any effect. The only thing other than starting over that I haven't tried is a copper band butterfly fish. I did try aptaisaX and in my opinion that just started them into a plague. I refuse to put any new corals into my tank as they will even beat zoas into submission. On a positive note my nems (the good ones) are splitting and doing great. I'm ready to try almost anything.

Maybe try doing away with the peppermint shrimp and add the Berghias instead? That's what I'd consider in that case.

 

[dado150]

I put a lot of $$$$ worth of Berghia's in my tank. I also had a pretty bad infestation of Aiptasia. I saw them once attacking some Aiptasia, then never again. My filefish is too spoiled with food and won't even look at an Aiptasia.

What finally clear my tank was my CBB. This thing is a machine! I recently pulled down one of my tanks, as we are moving it to another room and deciding what to put in it. I put a big zoa rock into my 120g tank from the tank we moved. It had about 6 Aiptasia on it. The CBB immediately searched and destroyed all the Aiptasia on that rock within an hour. It was fun watching it literally rip them off and swallow them.

What is a CBB?

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

They worked for me. cleared my tank in about 3 months. Decent infestation that was starting take off Ordered from reef town. 10 medium. They laid eggs in the shipping container. Healthy.

 

[T-J]

What is a CBB?

Copperbanded Butterfly fish