Berghia verrucicornis

[rmcgary]

I have roughly 10 aptaisia in my 50 gal tank. Really aggrivating little critters. I have tried injecting them with Kalk but they always come back in a few days and it appears a few new ones are cropping up. I have read and heard about Berghia verrucicornis, a nudibranch that feeds exclusively on aptaisia. I have also read a recent article with Rob Toonon and Ron Shimek on the effectiveness of this nudibranch.

My question is whether my flame hawk will eat this little nudibranch resulting in a rather tasty and expensive treat which is wholly ineffective for the purpose of its purchase?

Richard

[This message has been edited by rmcgary (edited 10-04-2000).]

Richard, in all the surfing of reefboards I do I don't recall ever seeing reports of Flame Hawks or others snacking on Berghia or other nudibranchs. One thing to keep in mind is they are specialized feeders so once the aptasia are gone they will starve
Has anyone had any experience with theses, I never see them localy, though I know several people who could keep them well fed, esp if moved among several tanks

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I thought I was me, but I was wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[rmcgary]

Doug

What I had planned was buying a pair from one of the MO houses i.e. IA. Have them clear up my tank and take them to the LFS for their cured LR tank. They always seem to have an aptaisia or two.

[Chessman]

I've read that peppermint shrimps also eat aiptasia and, being scavengers, won't starve after it's gone.

Don't have any 1st person experience with this, but that's what I've heard.

[rmcgary]

Chessman

I have heard peppermint shrimp will eat aptaisia, too. The problem is they eat a lot of things, some of which you wish they wouldn't. I also have a cleaner shrimp. I did have 2 but we have yet to detemine who ate the other. Speculation is the flame hawk got him, but the other day I noticed the BTA was trying to ingest the remaining cleaner shrimp If it were not for the clown fish getting very upset and dislodging him from the BTA I would have no cleaner shrimp.

Nevertheless, the beauty of this nudibranch is it only eats aptaisia. You just have to figure oput what you are going to do with it once you solve your aptaisia problem. For me, the LFS gets him. They are always very good to me and I know they get LR with aptasia so hopefully, this will help them and some other unknowing reefer.

Richard

[MarieK]

Great idea about sending them back to the LFS. Please keep us updated on if they really do eat the aptasia. I've tried peppermint shrimp and they ignored them (maybe too many other things taste tastier).

[rmcgary]

MarieK

Here is a link to an article by Eric Borneman concerning a study he and Ron Shimek conducted. I previously said it was an article by Dr.Shimek and Rob Toonan http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a.../1/default.asp

Also here is a thread on Reef Central which has some succeess stories:
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...?threadid=5122

All I can figure is its worth a try.

[tdwyatt]

I have peppermint shrimp, they do well in large communities and will scavenge the tank, and I have never had them eat anything but aiptasia as far as polyps and softies go, but that is just my experience... They will NOT consume anemonea (LITTLE GREEN BULB TIP ANEMONE PEST), and neither will the berghia nudibranchs. If you have a mixed infestation of your LR by these pests, you might want to consider a copperbanded butterfly fish. They are much easier to deal with (both in removal from the tank and in mixed aneomnea removal), although I have had others tell me that they will occasionally pick at xenia and other small polyps like Star polyps, etc. The beauty of the berghia is that they will permanently clear rock of aiptasia, best method is to put your rock a few at a time into a 20 gal container with the nudi's, when the rock is clean, put the cleaned rock into your display tank and treat more of the rock from your curing vat. In this way, the new rock will be placed into an environment where aiptasia have never been introduced, just treat any new rock that comes in. As far as established tanks, you're better off either using peppermints or copperbanded butterfly fishes, or conceding that the berghia are going to be sacrificed, because they definitely have a high obscenity factor (how would you get them out of the established tank without cussing?)

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Tom <"{{{{>(
(TDWyatt)
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -Plato

[This message has been edited by tdwyatt (edited 10-05-2000).]

Thats a great idea, it would be neat if they could be loaned out to deal with Aptasia invasions
I just have a problem with getting something to deal with a problem like this and then letting it die. Thanks for looking beyond the immediate problem

------------------
I thought I was me, but I was wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[tdwyatt]

tone of info at this site on aiptasia control and the berghia:

http://www.wyx.com/iheo/tank/aiptasia.htm



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Tom <"{{{{>(
(TDWyatt)
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -Plato

[MarieK]

After reading all of the links listed here, I decided to go ahead and order the Berghia verr.I decided against the copper banded butterflies since I have soft corals. I ordered 2Berghias 1/4in for 19.99 from Inland aquatics. They had 3 different size ordering options- I got the smallest, figured they will grow. I got 2 just in case one didn't make it. I have 9 tanks with varying amounts of aptasia so I'll be able to feed them for a while. I'll keep you posted on how they do. Thanks for the info. I