Kuekenthali Shrimp and Aiptasia Control. Verified win.

[DaveDe]

I had an aiptasia problem for a good while and had tried a few different methods without any luck. I bought a few berghi nudibranch and I wasn't even sure they survived as I couldn't see evidence of them after the initial drop and the aiptasia didn't seem to be effected.

Recently I took a trip to Pacific East Aquaculture in Maryland and I was told that Kuekenthali Shrimp should do the trick. I was hesitant as I didn't want to lose any coral but I decided to give them a try. Within a week my aiptasia is nearly all gone. So....wanted to throw that out there. I had never heard of Kuekenthalis before. But they worked for me. Granted I only have a 15G aquarium but I did have a pretty bad infestation of aiptasia. 

[Tired]

Had to look those up. They're pretty cool-looking, and they're a Lysmata species, so they're in the peppermint shrimp genus. Neat! 

 

Got any pics of yours? 

 

To put in a good word for berghia, they do take a bit. You have to let 'em breed. They're good because they're 100% reef-safe, and very thorough. 

[DaveDe]

No photos unfortunately. And they are nocturnal, I rarely see them - but they are Peppermint Shrimp like. Striped and very translucent. About an inch long, maybe a bit more. They haven't messed with my coral so that's good. 

Question- when the aiptasia is all gone, do the berghi's find other food? 

[MrP]

7 hours ago, DaveDe said:

Question- when the aiptasia is all gone, do the berghi's find other food? 

Unfortunately, no. They are forced to starve to death. 

[Tired]

Yeah, that's the downside to berghias. The thing that makes them reef-safe is their specialization, which also dooms them, unless you siphon them out and give/sell/trade them away. My LFS has them sometimes, from people doing that.