How long until your Berghia Nudibranchs helped ?

[Ober_Reef]

Hey Everyone,

Like many of us I am dealing with aptasia right now and after chemical fixes that only made them worse I went the route of natural attack. I started with an ORA Aptasia Eating File Fish from Algae Barn and I see him rock picking all day but have never seen him eat a single aptasia(still hoping he gets a taste!). A few weeks went by and I impatiently bought some berghia, I followed the acclimation instructions when recommended placing the container in the tank and letting the berghia get out themselves. The only thing is I had to leave after I placed the jar so I have no idea if anything in my tank ate them. It's been a couple weeks and I have not seen reduction in aptasia. I know it can take some time but I was curious to what everyone's experiences have been. How long before you noticed a difference ? Will I ever seem them working ? Here's to hoping they weren't eaten !

 

[sixty_reefer]

Hey, it may take a wile depending on a few things.

size of the berghia, I’ve seen some vendors sending over fairly small nudibranch that won’t be ready to reproduce and may require a bit of growth before ready.

number of berghias, 3 is always recommended to give more chances of survival

amphipods in the system, amphipods will eat the eggs and reduce the chances of survival of baby berghias

the moment you will observe the reduction of all goes well with introducing them is normally a couple months down the line as numbers increase, you could try and check how they doing at night after lights out. During the day they tend to stay hidden in crevices or under the rocks.

 

[MNFish]

Well I put in a bunch waited about a year now and they never helped. I did see them crawling around some after about a months time of putting them in but then they just disappeared.
I hope you have much better luck than me.

 

[Ober_Reef]

Hey, it may take a wile depending on a few things.

size of the berghia, I’ve seen some vendors sending over fairly small nudibranch that won’t be ready to reproduce and may require a bit of growth before ready.

number of berghias, 3 is always recommended to give more chances of survival

amphipods in the system, amphipods will eat the eggs and reduce the chances of survival of baby berghias

the moment you will observe the reduction of all goes well with introducing them is normally a couple months down the line as numbers increase, you could try and check how they doing at night after lights out. During the day they tend to stay hidden in crevices or under the rocks.

I bought 8 or 9 medium sized ones because that’s the largest they had. I have been checking with a flashlight before bed and have not seen them yet. Staying positive so far as it’s only been about two weeks.

I’m also holding out hope that my File Fish just hasn’t tasted aptasia yet and once he does he gets hooked.

Thanks for responding to the thread !

 

[sixty_reefer]

I bought 8 or 9 medium sized ones because that’s the largest they had. I have been checking with a flashlight before bed and have not seen them yet. Staying positive so far as it’s only been about two weeks.

I’m also holding out hope that my File Fish just hasn’t tasted aptasia yet and once he does he gets hooked.

Thanks for responding to the thread !

Keep positive, I’ve added 3 in a 90g cube with 3 wrasses and they done a good job, they normally out once the fish goes to sleep.

 

[Ober_Reef]

Keep positive, I’ve added 3 in a 90g cube with 3 wrasses and they done a good job, they normally out once the fish goes to sleep.

Awesome, my tank is a standard 90 gallon as well!

 

[Griev]

My experience has been that it took almost an entire year for Berghia to completely eliminate all Aiptasia from my 200 gallon tank. This is in addition to me also trying the Reef Delete (kinda works), Filefish (maybe it was vegetarian?), and peppermint shrimp. I suspect the filefish was eating the nudibranchs instead of the aiptasia, which might have slowed down their progress.

Here's when I added them; Dec 2021, and I just this week manually removed the last aiptasia I could find anywhere in the system (it was in a spot that the nudis couldn't really get to).

 

[george9]

I added 6 to my 32 gallon biocube and was shocked to notice the first aiptasia eaten in about 5 days. They were very slow to eat them though, I'd notice about one aiptasia disappear every 3-5 days - not like a complete clearing in 5 days. I had some aiptasias in one of my filter chambers and they somehow managed to find those and eat them too! Added them in mid-October 2022 and by mid-November I was aiptasia-free and remain aiptasia-free to this day.

I bought medium sized berghia from ReefTown and how quickly they work will depend on how big they are, how many you add, and how quickly they can reproduce. It takes a few months for some as they have to build up a population in your tank after you add them to really decimate aiptasia. I think I was just lucky in my case, but I don't think it is the norm to see relief within a week like I did. I never see them out and about, even at night so don't fret if you see no trace of them right now. I was worried mine died but actually just saw a reallly tiny one on the glass a couple nights ago, so they are working and reproducing even if you can't see anything!

 

[sixty_reefer]

My experience has been that it took almost an entire year for Berghia to completely eliminate all Aiptasia from my 200 gallon tank. This is in addition to me also trying the Reef Delete (kinda works), Filefish (maybe it was vegetarian?), and peppermint shrimp. I suspect the filefish was eating the nudibranchs instead of the aiptasia, which might have slowed down their progress.

Here's when I added them; Dec 2021, and I just this week manually removed the last aiptasia I could find anywhere in the system (it was in a spot that the nudis couldn't really get to).

Did you removed the peppermint shrimps? They will prey on the nudibranch more effectively than fish

 

[Griev]

Did you removed the peppermint shrimps? They will prey on the nudibranch more effectively than fish

I think my fish removed them. Only saw them for about a week (only at night), then they were gone. I don't doubt that they slowed me down too. Cautionary tale to anyone thinking about going the nudibranch route!

 

[Ober_Reef]

My experience has been that it took almost an entire year for Berghia to completely eliminate all Aiptasia from my 200 gallon tank. This is in addition to me also trying the Reef Delete (kinda works), Filefish (maybe it was vegetarian?), and peppermint shrimp. I suspect the filefish was eating the nudibranchs instead of the aiptasia, which might have slowed down their progress.

Here's when I added them; Dec 2021, and I just this week manually removed the last aiptasia I could find anywhere in the system (it was in a spot that the nudis couldn't really get to).

Gotcha so patience like everything else in this hobby! My file fish is constantly picking at the rock and I noticed him focusing on white snail egg sacks left from my CUC when he first arrived… again just hoping he gets an appetite. I added two peppermint shrimp from Algae Barn like six months ago but my clown instantly ate them because they were quite small. I have a six line wrasse but I doubt it ate them because it doesn’t touch the nuisance planaria I have. I was actually kind of worried about my Royal Gramma because I noticed it eyeing the container when I got home but it’s typically a model citizen in my tank.

I added 6 to my 32 gallon biocube and was shocked to notice the first aiptasia eaten in about 5 days. They were very slow to eat them though, I'd notice about one aiptasia disappear every 3-5 days - not like a complete clearing in 5 days. I had some aiptasias in one of my filter chambers and they somehow managed to find those and eat them too! Added them in mid-October 2022 and by mid-November I was aiptasia-free and remain aiptasia-free to this day.

I bought medium sized berghia from ReefTown and how quickly they work will depend on how big they are, how many you add, and how quickly they can reproduce. It takes a few months for some as they have to build up a population in your tank after you add them to really decimate aiptasia. I think I was just lucky in my case, but I don't think it is the norm to see relief within a week like I did. I never see them out and about, even at night so don't fret if you see no trace of them right now. I was worried mine died but actually just saw a reallly tiny one on the glass a couple nights ago, so they are working and reproducing even if you can't see anything!

I ordered medium from ReefTown as well and my experience with them was pleasant. Hoping my experience with the Berghia works similar to yours!

 

[Ober_Reef]

At this point I have stopped manual removal with products like F-Aptasia and Aptasia X, I’m kind of wondering with the new understanding of how much time it could take if I should continue to hold off on other treatments or if it could be detrimental to let them improve their stronghold in my tank.

 

[ReefHunter006]

If there are enough in the tank to find each other a mate, it typically takes about 3ish months. Mileage may vary, but I’ve used them in multiple frag systems where I’ve had 50-100 aiptasia growing all over.
The frag tank has no sand, and I’ve found that be be a large deterrent. They don’t love traversing to rock islands in the fine sand bed in my case.

wrasses and some damsels make short work of them as well.

 

[nuxx]

Pretty fast, but when the aiptasia was gone, all were gone as well.

 

[Research Monkey]

I think the thing people don't ask often is how bad the aiptasia problem is. Having only a few can usually be taken care of with the normal recommendations you find here (Aiptasia X (or similar) Filefish, Nudibranchs, Peppermints etc.)

For me, What started off with 1 or 2 became hundreds in only a 20 gallon tank. First thing up was gluing them... Then more popped up... then Aiptasia X... then more popped up... Then 10 Berghia... but I think my sixline ate them... Then more popped up... removed the six line and bought more Berghia... then more popped up... then tried a file fish... and more popped up... then added 8 peppermints... Tried a different file fish... I actually went through 3 "proven aiptasia eating" file fish. The first 2 I sold as "might eat aiptasia, but I don't think they are eating them in my tank" The reefers that I sold them to reported that the aiptasia they had were gone after putting the fish in their tanks.

It got to the point where I couldnt tell if anything was actually working as the tank was basically overrun with aiptasia. The only places with ZERO aiptasia were spots where a Nem was located or in the back section of my AIO. I basically had a display tank with aiptasia, BTA, peppermints, and a file fish and a sump section with a colony of berghia living in it.

I felt defeated. I tore the tank down slowly. Sold basically everything and was left with a tank with maybe 5lbs of live rock in it (with aiptasia). The person who took all of my RBTAs said its the worst aiptasia outbreak they'd ever seen haha. I decided to suction the berghia living in the back section of the AIO and put them in the display area.

Within 3-4 weeks I started seeing more berghia and less aiptasia. Within 6-8 weeks i was running out of aiptasia to feed to the berghia colony in the display.

I guess what I realized was that Berghia and the Filefish were actually working. My problem was just so severe that I was only able to keep them from getting even worse.

Ok, ending my rant... Total time frame of all of the above is a little over a year.

 

[Ober_Reef]

I think the thing people don't ask often is how bad the aiptasia problem is. Having only a few can usually be taken care of with the normal recommendations you find here (Aiptasia X (or similar) Filefish, Nudibranchs, Peppermints etc.)

For me, What started off with 1 or 2 became hundreds in only a 20 gallon tank. First thing up was gluing them... Then more popped up... then Aiptasia X... then more popped up... Then 10 Berghia... but I think my sixline ate them... Then more popped up... removed the six line and bought more Berghia... then more popped up... then tried a file fish... and more popped up... then added 8 peppermints... Tried a different file fish... I actually went through 3 "proven aiptasia eating" file fish. The first 2 I sold as "might eat aiptasia, but I don't think they are eating them in my tank" The reefers that I sold them to reported that the aiptasia they had were gone after putting the fish in their tanks.

It got to the point where I couldnt tell if anything was actually working as the tank was basically overrun with aiptasia. The only places with ZERO aiptasia were spots where a Nem was located or in the back section of my AIO. I basically had a display tank with aiptasia, BTA, peppermints, and a file fish and a sump section with a colony of berghia living in it.

I felt defeated. I tore the tank down slowly. Sold basically everything and was left with a tank with maybe 5lbs of live rock in it (with aiptasia). The person who took all of my RBTAs said its the worst aiptasia outbreak they'd ever seen haha. I decided to suction the berghia living in the back section of the AIO and put them in the display area.

Within 3-4 weeks I started seeing more berghia and less aiptasia. Within 6-8 weeks i was running out of aiptasia to feed to the berghia colony in the display.

I guess what I realized was that Berghia and the Filefish were actually working. My problem was just so severe that I was only able to keep them from getting even worse.

Ok, ending my rant... Total time frame of all of the above is a little over a year.

Appreciate that response ! Yeah sounds about how I started. I wouldn’t say I have hundred but then again I’m sure I don’t see all of them. I really hope my sixline didn’t eat mine.

 

[kevgib67]

I got 3 medium from Reeftown. I only had two aptasia but figured there were more in the rock work or behind the rock work I couldn’t see or treat manually. 2 days both were gone That was just under a year ago. How fast they work is dependent on how many you add and how much aptasia is in your tank. Remember anything that eats aptasia will eat Berghia nudibranchs, including a file fish, peppermint shrimp and CB. Good luck.

 

[Ober_Reef]

I got 3 medium from Reeftown. I only had two aptasia but figured there were more in the rock work or behind the rock work I couldn’t see or treat manually. 2 days both were gone That was just under a year ago. How fast they work is dependent on how many you add and how much aptasia is in your tank. Remember anything that eats aptasia will eat Berghia nudibranchs, including a file fish, peppermint shrimp and CB. Good luck.

That’s a scary thought, thanks for the insight there as I didn’t know that.

 

[Heather Kastory]

It's their offspring that does the job where it becomes noticeable, unless you bought more than a few or got larger ones where they were able to team attack .It takes time for them to reproduce and then reproduce again. they hunt in packs so 3 small versus 3 medium egg bearing nudis produce much different results. Hope you get them all!!

 

[attica38]

My experience has been that it took almost an entire year for Berghia to completely eliminate all Aiptasia from my 200 gallon tank. This is in addition to me also trying the Reef Delete (kinda works), Filefish (maybe it was vegetarian?), and peppermint shrimp. I suspect the filefish was eating the nudibranchs instead of the aiptasia, which might have slowed down their progress.

Here's when I added them; Dec 2021, and I just this week manually removed the last aiptasia I could find anywhere in the system (it was in a spot that the nudis couldn't really get to).

How many did you add for your size of tank? I have a 260 gallon tank and starting to see lots of aptasia. Been killing it myself but now noticed that the sump is so bad with it.