Help!!! Asap!!!

[Saltwaterâ„¢.Az]

Ok. Here's the deal. Thursday I found an unknown nudibranch in the 125. No big deal I was thinking. I QTed it. Yesterday was checking my 125 and discovered two different types of nudibranchs running around. One type is yellowish to greenish in color, 1/2 cm in length and is very fast. I've removed 6-7 of them from the tank and refugium.
The other I've seen before in posts. It's eating my Zoos and Montis!!! I keep finding them move towards the frags I got from Ed too. After a closer look this morning, there's got to nearly a hundred of them on my zoos! From about 1mm to 1/2cm + in size.

Does anyone have ANY suggestion on how to combat them short of breaking down the tank? I'll post a pic of the two different nudibranchs here shortly. I just woke up.

 

[Sk8r]

Prepare water. The nudis've landed in the supermarket. I've never dealt with them before, but you either need one voracious nudi predator fast or you're going to have to get the specimens out, clean them, and clean out the tank, in my totally uneducated opinion on this topic. I wish I knew a fix.

 

[Saltwaterâ„¢.Az]

Crap! They eat 90% of my Blueberry Gorgonia! This is a nightmare!

 

[Sk8r]

A fast web search says racoon butterflies will eat nudis, but there was no word which nudis. They will also eat coral polyps, but they are easier to catch. Is there a dip that gets them off?

 

[Sk8r]

Also someone has used Tetra Oomed as a dip, not a tank treatment, at a 'slightly higher concentration than recommended.' He says it first slowed them down and then did them in. This by searching "iodine dip nudibranchs." he did not find the iodine effective, nor the Kent SPS dip.

 

[Saltwaterâ„¢.Az]

Thanks for the info. I'm going out to a friend's to pick up a 55 to use to QT the corals. This sucks because my other 125 is not ready, being resealed, nor is the 240.

 

[Saltwaterâ„¢.Az]

Ok, here's a pic of both of the nudibranch types.

 

[Saltwaterâ„¢.Az]

The brownish one is the one I'm having the biggest trouble with. There's about a hundred of these little guys. I've only found about a dozen of the yellowish green one.

 

[J-Ross]

I have the yellower ones, but they are more green in my tank. I'm thinking they may be lettuce nudibranch, which is not truly a nudibranch, but anyways.. They have been eating the blade type algae that you gave me. A search on the net says that lettuce nudibranch's eat bryopsis, not hair algae, and that they are so called photosynthetic, because they store the chloroplasts in their skin. Of course, I don't know, I have nothing else in my tank, so I'm not so worried.... Yet!

Couldn't say at all what the brownish one is, to me it resembles the one that is supposed to eat aptaisia(sp?). Of course there are alot of mimic things in nature so..? Or perhaps they are eating the corals cause of nothing else to eat? I really have no idea but that's really sad to hear they are messing with things. Hope you get it worked out.

--Jason

 

[Satori]

I'm afraid I won't be much help. I haven't experienced any kind of nudi. I hope it works out ok for you.

 

[Saltwaterâ„¢.Az]

The yellowish ones are not lettuce nudis Jason. I have several of them and they look nothing alike. It's a monti eating type. They're making short work of one of my monti caps. The other one is a zoo eater and I have them by the bucket loads.

 

[Fat Surgeon]

Hey Salt, Sorry to hear about the nudi's. I may not be much help because I have never had a problem with them but here goes anyway. Remember, I am not an expert on this, just giving you last resort option.

Take out your Corals and other livestock and put into Qt. Before you do this, examine them over and try your best to get as many nudi's off as possible so as not to transfer them over. If I am correct, you are doing this already? Try to get all sources of Nudi food out of the 125G and shut the lights down. From what I gather, nudi's like algae as well. Basically, you wanna let them starve themselves. I dont know how long it will take or what other nutrition source they are capable of living on. If you are doing all of this already, I am sorry I can't be of any more help, but maybe I have offered something you may not have thought of already. Best of luck and If I run into any articles or so forth, I'll shoot them your way.

 

[Saltwaterâ„¢.Az]

Thanks. I picked up a 55 from a friend today to use as a QT. I'm hoping to have it up by tomorrow so I can start transfering. I'll have to break down a large portion of the tank to get the rocks with the zoos out to treat them. This sucks because I'm planning on leaving town for a week or two to go to Texas and see an old friend there. I'm thinking of shutting down the tanks for good till I get back. Which means I'll be selling/giving away some specimens.

 

[phlipper84]

Here is what I heard. I believe you need to hyper-salinity dip all things in your tank. I believe should you do this they should all fall off almost immediately. Of course you may lose a shrimp or a crab due to the levels of salt, but it is better than losing coral colonies of any type, that is unless you have a shrimp named as a pet. Anyway, I believe that you will not dip for long. The biggest problem is the live-rock. I think you have to do everything possible to keep it out of the air with this method. Putting the corals in a qt tank is fine, but there is a good chance that if you put them directly into the tank, some of the nudi's or nudi eggs are gonna come with them and you will be in the same boat.
Talk to Hector for details on methods for doing this. He is the one who gave me this info when I thought I had an outbreak.
Good luck, and you might try posting in the other invertabrates forum.

 

[olin]

Phil is correct, hyper or Fw dips usually work, but can miss the eggs. It may take several dips at 1wk intervals. If you don't want to do it, keep an eye out for egg masses and scrape em all off. These usually don't have too long of a life span, but it can be a few months. BTW, if you have any live specimens and happen to be in Tucson, I'd love to take a few off your hands to get some pics.