Berghia? Last aiptasia resort...

[Reefnectar]

Okay so i have been semi “successfully” battling aiptasia for the entirety of my reef’s existence. And by semi successfully i mean weekly aiptasia x treatments to any and all i can find, which as many of us know means a nonstop battle as more and more take their place. I have since given up aiptasia x (except for when they plant themselves in between some zoas or something) and am considering other options. 

 

Im not comfortable with peppermints given the quantity of high end zoas in my tank, and i am not willing to risk even a polyp to these unpredictable shrimps. 

 

My tank is far too small and overstocked to try a file or butterfly...and again...not willing to risk my coral.  

 

Laser treatment sounds fun, but from what I’ve gathered, it is rarely 100% and you end up with a similar situation to using aiptasia x or joes juice. 

 

This all lead me to BERGHIAS! Realistically these have a 100% success rate when done correctly with zero risk to coral. Does anyone have experience with them in nanos? Recommended # of nudi per gallon per # of aiptasia? What is the success rate? What happens if/when the berghias starve and die in a small system. Give me the scoop! 

[OldManSea]

I had a similar situation to yours using aiptasia x.  I used Berghia’s in my 5.5 gallon pico when it exploded with aiptasia after using aiptasia x several times.  They did quite well at ridding it of aiptasia.  I purchased 6 of the larger ones from salty underground.  It took about 6 weeks for all the aiptasia to disappear.  I ultimately was able to capture 3 berghia’s and gave them to the LFS.  I never saw baby berghia’s but they probably starved.  

[Reefnectar]

7 minutes ago, OldManSea said:

I had a similar situation to yours using aiptasia x.  I used Berghia’s in my 5.5 gallon pico when it exploded with aiptasia after using aiptasia x several times.  They did quite well at ridding it of aiptasia.  I purchased 6 of the larger ones from salty underground.  It took about 6 weeks for all the aiptasia to disappear.  I ultimately was able to capture 3 berghia’s and gave them to the LFS.  I never saw baby berghia’s but they probably starved.  

Great response, thank you! Im tempted to let my aiptasia spread a bit unchecked to give berghias a good start to eat and breed. Was salty underground a positive experience?

[OldManSea]

Yes, Salty Underground was great.  To make shipping cost more palatable I added a couple of sale frags.  They were very nice, much better than the somewhat washed out images they post.  A couple of my favorite Corals, have had them more than a year now.