Randy, got a weird question.

[Marc Daniels]

I have an Aptasia farm going to feed my berghias. Is there anything I could dip that would kill copepods & anthopods that the aptasia would survive?

I don't want them eating berghia eggs or juveniles.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t know, sorry. Maybe someone else has an idea.

 

[Miami Reef]

I have an Aptasia farm going to feed my berghias. Is there anything I could dip that would kill copepods & anthopods that the aptasia would survive?

I don't want them eating berghia eggs or juveniles.

Don’t you think it’s likely that you already have copepods and amphipods in your farming tank? It’s almost impossible to eradicate them.

Have you experienced the pods decimating the berghia eggs?

I use coral rx and it knocked off all the amphipods from my acros. Not sure if aiptasia can survive that dip. I do personally think that the pods are harmless and not worth worrying about.

 

[WVNed]

I am pretty sure one of the dog flea treatments that are used as a coral dip would kill all pods.
Look up interceptor dip

 

[wareagle]

Yep, interceptor will wipe them out, but they'll come back eventually.

 

[Peace River]

Yep, interceptor will wipe them out, but they'll come back eventually.

Will the pods come back because they are reintroduced or because interceptor won't kill all of the eggs/amphipods/etc.?

 

[sixty_reefer]

Freshwater dip will also work.

 

[HBtank]

In my experience berghia have no trouble reproducing in the presence of pods (and I have tons of amphipods), heck, my melanarus just ignores them too. Aptasia will be the limiting factor.

 

[Peace River]

Freshwater dip will also work.

Are you suggesting using a freshwater dip when moving Aiptasia into the Berghia tank? If so, how long of a FW dip?

 

[Peace River]

In my experience berghia have no trouble reproducing in the presence of pods (and I have tons of amphipods), heck, my melanarus just ignores them too. Aptasia will be the limiting factor.

Thanks for the input. I have always read that amphipods eat the Berghia eggs.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Are you suggesting using a freshwater dip when moving Aiptasia into the Berghia tank? If so, how long of a FW dip?

Anything up to 8 minutes is safe. I’ve tried before on a unrelated subject it killed all the pods and aips survived well.

 

[HBtank]

Thanks for the input. I have always read that amphipods eat the Berghia eggs.

They certainly could, but the principles of population biology will be the controlling factor of how many berghia there are at any given time, and in my experience that is simply availability of Aptasia. They reproduce very efficiently/frequently and any losses from pods should not really matter in the equilibrium (carrying capacity) that is achieved.