aiptasia?

[jtxstate]

do Berghia Nudibranchs really work at getting rid of aiptasia? i cant seem to get them out of my tank. ive used joes on everyone i can get to but a week later there are more poping up everwhere. i dont know what else to do. thanks

[Ping]

I have used them with success. I got them from Instar. I followed his acclimation instructions to the letter. I would see an aptasia pop up and in a couple of days it would be gone. They did not work long term. About 8 mos after they wiped out the aptasia, the population of nudie's wained. Not surprising. Now when one or two aptasia appear, and I kalk them. The nudie's sure helped when I had an infestation.

[jtxstate]

thanks

[GaryP]

As Ping said, the only down side to them is if you have a small to medium sized infestation there is not enough food to keep a breeding population going in a tank. If you have a large infestation there are always going to be a few baby aiptasia popping up that there is enough to keep them going. For smaller infestations I prefer a copperband but they won't eat the really large ones. A friend had the same problem and now she has both, copperband and berghia.

[alton]

I have both CCB and Berghia Nudibranchs. The problem with just a CBB if you take him out the aptaisia comes back because a CBB just mows them off, they don't pull them out and kill them.

[safeuerwehr]

Alton is right....from my expeirence my ccb did wonders in my 55 but when i moved him out the aptasia cam back with a vengance.....

[GaryP]

I have a solution alton. Don't take it out. I'll send you my bill. :)

[so-smrt]

i had a strange bit of luck when i was rearanging some rock the had just a few pieces on it:
i took the rock out ot the water and had it in another tank w/ just a little sand and water. the apitasia base was out of water but the armswere just toughing the water below. i noticed it streatching out to the water. after a few minuts it JUMPED OFF! i could nt believe iti there it sitting in the sand. i scooped it up and through it on the back porch for a sun tan. i just found another one i am gonna try that again.

[Ping]

Wow! It would be really cool if you discovered another method of eradication. Keep us posted.

[Bill S]

Last night I bit the bullet. Bought a second CBB from CB/Richard. For my 55. It's just taken over. I'll cross my fingers.

[ReefOne]

I got some stuff from Blue Life @ MACNA called Aiptasia control. This stuff is AWESOME!!! It's like a thick kalk like solution that you squeeze onto the mouth of the Aiptasia and it literally melts these things. The best stuff ever! HTH

Ram

[jtxstate]

ya, i tried the blue life stuff, but they keep coming back. i would kill all the suckers i could with that stuff but a week later, they would be back with avengence!

[GaryP]

Instar made the comment to me once that the best thing that ever happened to his berghis business is the chemical products. They may kill a colony, but cells from the colony are released into the water. Certainly types of these cells can develop into more colinies. So, its sort like sowing weed seeds when you mow the weeds down.

[jrhein]

If you were to take the rock out tank and let it sit out and dry out for weeks, wouldn't it die off completely?

[GaryP]

Probably, but so will everything else. It'll no longer be "live rock," just a chunk of old coral. That'll work good until the next time you put something in there that has an aiptasia hitchhiker, or there is a small colony you can't see in the tank that wasn't on the rock that re-populates the tank.

[jrhein]

Thats what i thought. But if you only have a few of them on a few different pieces of rock you could trouble shoot that way. Then put first the dry rock into the sump to make it live again. ??? Just a thought. Never really had a problem on it. I have noticed my two in my tank. I used joes juice and now there gone.

[GaryP]

You only thingk you have a few of them. Most people find that there are more then they thought. There are some on the rock or other places that you can't see or are so small you don't know they are there.