acro eating nudi???

[hobogato]

no, this is not a typo. i just found acro eating nudibranchs in my tank.

not acro eating flatworms - been there before.

not monti eating nudis - although i wonder if they eat both...

here are some pics

damage pic

close-up

better close-up

bigger

i could find no info on this, so i will likely set up a small tank and try to keep them alive to study them. i will be getting a wrasse or two for my tank to eradicate them.

 

[Znut Reefer]

Thats not good news. Now another pest to worry about. Did you dip all new additions or quarantine?

 

[hobogato]

i knew that question would come up, no, even tho i know better i did not. i really wasnt planning on doing sps in this tank at all to begin with. i am going to try to set up a little tank to keep them alive so i can study what kind of dips might be effective.

 

[Znut Reefer]

I asked because I wondered if they got past the dips. I know most dips do not kill the monti nudi's or their eggs.

Keep us posted on your testing.

 

[returnofsid]

They definitely aren't Monti Eating Nudis, that also eat Acros. MEN look totally different.

This really sucks!! Thanks for the "heads up" and the great pictures!!

 

[jnbrex]

Wow, make sure you get rid of them before you sell frags of anything. We don't need another acropora killing pest.

 

[hobogato]

absolutely! already have another local reefer that has them - he realized it when i posted pics on the local boards. he is not someone whom i have traded sps with, so there has to be at least one more connection

Wow, make sure you get rid of them before you sell frags of anything. We don't need another acropora killing pest.

 

[hobogato]

here is a pic of where i will trying to grow them so i can figure out how to kill em

6 gallon tank with halogen lights (may try to change them to led at some point). once it clears up, i will put the coral pictured in along with a couple of other brown out acros. i am only going to put in acros, because the first question i want to answer is "are the eating the acros or just irritating them?" if they survive and reproduce with only acropora for food, then that will answer that one and i can start looking at how to kill them.

 

[hobogato]

ok, water is all cleared up. special thanks to gabe (an lfs owner in SA) for providing some more food for these little devils.

 

[mpoletti]

Wow Ace, I'm sorry to hear about this; especially coming from you. Hopefully you are keeping your spirits up

 

[hobogato]

its all good, the wrasses should take care of them in my tank. i just hope that i can find a way to help people from introducing them in the first place

 

[SDguy]

Well that's craptastic... another pest....

 

[hobogato]

this morning, one of the three nudis i saw has moved to the very edge of the living tissue. i will be watching closely today to try to determine if it is eating the tissue.

here are a couple of pics

 

[aquavista99]

Do you know where you got your SPS from? I wonder if maybe they came from a tank or LFS which had monti eating nudies mixed in with the acros and as a result, you have a few hitchhikers that where looking for another montipora coral to feed on yet have no where else to go now to try to stay alive but for the acros in your tank?

Your closeup pictures, which are amazing, look exactly like the Monti eating nudies in my opinion. Thanks for sharing!

 

[hobogato]

i do not know the exact source for these. i do have a few monti frags in the tank that are not receding. once i establish whether they are eating acros, i will put a monti in with them as well to see if they also eat montipora.

 

[rreed]

Addition of a kryptic or Radiant wrasse in any reef tank is a must. IMO Look similiar to some nudi's I got as hitchhikers on a Ponape blue monti I got once. Good thing I found them in quarantee tank an not in my display. I have the above mention fish and dont

 

[hobogato]

a second one seems to be joining the first. the line of live tissue seems to have changed a tiny bit...

 

[hobogato]

last pic of the evening - looks like the living tissue line is moving very slowly. will know more as i keep track of them for the next couple of days.

 

[Dejavu]

Thanks for share, while I don't like to see anyone go though this. It better to know what's out there than not to know.

 

[hobogato]

thanks brian

ok, small update:

unfortunately, the acro in the pic has begun to rtn. hard to tell if that was caused by the nudi or just the change to a newly setup tank. of the other two acros in the tank with it, the one that looked best is unchanged and the one that was already receding has continued to recede and is almost gone. i am not going to remove any skeletons as there may be eggs on them. i have also lost sight of two of the three nudis.

it will be interesting to see if they reappear on the still healthy acro and what the result is if they do. ill keep ya posted.