Acro Eating Nudibranchs

msderganc

msderganc

New member
So, I've had some mysterious frag deaths in my prop tank, and I think I've finally found the cause: nudibranchs.

IMG_1250.jpg


You can see it right at the base of the red dragon - it's definitely not a flatworm. My issue is that I can't really find any examples of nudibranchs eating acros, just montis. My montipora are fine. So far, I've seen recession at the base of a few corals, and I think it's been due to these guys.

Anyone know of an in tank treatment? Dipping with Bayer seems to kill the adults, but I doubt the eggs are affected. I suppose I could get a wrasse that eats them, but I'd prefer not to. The tank itself just has one Tomini tang in it.

Thanks!
 
Well, it looks like these are probably Aeolid Nudibranchs, and apparently they're susceptible to Salifert Flatworm eXit. Luckily, it also happens to be reef safe, so I can dose my entire prop tank. I might do it once a week for ~3 weeks just to make sure I catch all of the eggs.

Anyone have experience using it for nudis?
 
Here's a pic of the little bugger after dipping in Bayer for 20 minutes:
nudibranch.jpg


He's maybe half a centimeter across, really tiny.
 
Just as a follow-up, I dosed 4x recommended rate for flatworm eXit twice, one week apart.

I let it go for about 6 hours each time, then added carbon. No sign of nudibranchs two months later, and the SPS is recovering nicely.
 
Thanks for the updates. I hope I never go through it, but if I do, I'll look for this thread.

Congrats on the successful treatment.
 
msderganc said:
So, I've had some mysterious frag deaths in my prop tank, and I think I've finally found the cause: nudibranchs.
Click to expand...

Mmmm, no.

You have a Nudibranch that was able to eat the soft, decaying tissue of your acro because it was dieing from some other cause.

And if you use the KZ Flatworm Stop you'll kill any Nudibranchs at normal dosage, not risking harm to inverts and softies. To use the Salifert product at 4X was just a risky guess and not advised.
 
Reefvet said:
Mmmm, no.

You have a Nudibranch that was able to eat the soft, decaying tissue of your acro because it was dieing from some other cause.

And if you use the KZ Flatworm Stop you'll kill any Nudibranchs at normal dosage, not risking harm to inverts and softies. To use the Salifert product at 4X was just a risky guess and not advised.
Click to expand...

Aside from your condescension, here's what happened:
- Frags mysteriously started dying one at a time, with weird strips of tissue missing (very similar to monti eating nudibranchs)
- Tested all parameters that I could (7.5 dkH, 410 Ca, 1300 Mag, 0 nitrate, .03 phosphate - all have been steady for about three months)
- No changes to lighting, flow, or feeding.
- No changes to dosing.
- Added a few frags just prior, dipped them in CoralRx (not my normal Bayer)

I then tried dipping some of the affected corals in Bayer. There was immediate improvement, but it was temporary. Nudibranchs were on every single coral I dipped, and I found egg strands on the corals consistent with nudibranchs. Even with dipping affected corals twice a week, new frags (one at a time usually) would be affected.

After researching I found this article: http://www.practicalcoralfarming.com/zoonudis.html so I decided to try it. BTW, I can't find any example of KZ Flatworm Stop affecting nudibranchs (from a quick google, and it's certainly not specified by Korallen-Zucht).

I then used the Flatworm Exit at single strength, with no effect. So I decided to go to the whole 4x dosage. No issues whatsoever with anything in the tank other than the nudibranchs.

Two months later, the damaged SPS are recovering and everything looks a lot better. I haven't lost any others. Nothing else was changed at all.

TL;DR Flatworm eXit at 4x strength worked, killing the parasitic nudibranchs and nothing else in the tank.
 
msderganc said:
Aside from your condescension, here's what happened:
- Frags mysteriously started dying one at a time, with weird strips of tissue missing (very similar to monti eating nudibranchs)
- Tested all parameters that I could (7.5 dkH, 410 Ca, 1300 Mag, 0 nitrate, .03 phosphate - all have been steady for about three months)
- No changes to lighting, flow, or feeding.
- No changes to dosing.
- Added a few frags just prior, dipped them in CoralRx (not my normal Bayer)

I then tried dipping some of the affected corals in Bayer. There was immediate improvement, but it was temporary. Nudibranchs were on every single coral I dipped, and I found egg strands on the corals consistent with nudibranchs. Even with dipping affected corals twice a week, new frags (one at a time usually) would be affected.

After researching I found this article: http://www.practicalcoralfarming.com/zoonudis.html so I decided to try it. BTW, I can't find any example of KZ Flatworm Stop affecting nudibranchs (from a quick google, and it's certainly not specified by Korallen-Zucht).

I then used the Flatworm Exit at single strength, with no effect. So I decided to go to the whole 4x dosage. No issues whatsoever with anything in the tank other than the nudibranchs.

Two months later, the damaged SPS are recovering and everything looks a lot better. I haven't lost any others. Nothing else was changed at all.

TL;DR Flatworm eXit at 4x strength worked, killing the parasitic nudibranchs and nothing else in the tank.
Click to expand...

Acro Eating Nudibranch is quite a possibility. I recall this thread from a few years ago: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1822475
Unfortunately all the photos are missing from the thread.

This link here:http://www.masa.asn.au/masawiki/index.php/Acropora_Eating_Nudibranchs appears to show Nudis on acros; and is title acro eating nudis...

Thank you for sharing. Acro eating Nudis cannot be ruled out and this thread may alert others who possibly come across these pests in the futre.
 
Biggles has found nudis on acros and did a thread about it. We have also seen nudis on acros before as well. I don't think they are as harmful as aefw but maybe if the numbers are high enough. The ones we encountered left damage consistant with the reports of others. We did not get a chance to study them though.
 
I decided to try the 4X normal dose today because I have Monti eating nudibranchs that are on corals I can't remove to dip.

Within minutes of hitting the full 4X I had some tiny Mysis shrimp doing tailspins through the tank and bristle worms curling up and dieing. Acros pulled their polyps in and Palythoas closed up.

After a half an hour I started carbon and did several successive water changes to reduce the level slowly over the next couple of hours.

I don't think I'll dose that strong again. I just hope it took out the nudibranchs.
 
never heard of these
as if aefw wasn't enough just another to check for now
could it just be a zoa eating nudi hanging out on acro?
 
g0rilla said:
never heard of these
as if aefw wasn't enough just another to check for now
could it just be a zoa eating nudi hanging out on acro?
Click to expand...

No, these were eating and laying eggs on acros. I found lines of tissue loss with a nudibranch at the leading edge.
 
Reefvet said:
I decided to try the 4X normal dose today because I have Monti eating nudibranchs that are on corals I can't remove to dip.

Within minutes of hitting the full 4X I had some tiny Mysis shrimp doing tailspins through the tank and bristle worms curling up and dieing. Acros pulled their polyps in and Palythoas closed up.

After a half an hour I started carbon and did several successive water changes to reduce the level slowly over the next couple of hours.

I don't think I'll dose that strong again. I just hope it took out the nudibranchs.
Click to expand...

Weird. My corals showed no visible reaction, even after hours. I did have some mysterious lightening in a few acros which I'd attributed to the extra carbon I ran following treatment. Let us now how it works out. Did you at least kill the nudibranchs?
 
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