Monti Eating Nudibranches - HELP!!!

[SPSFiend]

Well, after 4 years of reefing I had the misfortune of buying two wild colonies with nudi branches. I have sucked up as many as I could with a turket baster etc. I got about 30 of the little buggers and looks like I got most of them. My concern now is with killing any eggs that may have been layed and what the likely hood of them being " in transit" from one coral to the next is.

I would much appreciate any advice on how to deal with this parasite. Are there any natural predators? Is there some kind of coral safe dip that I could try?

HELP!!!

 

[Kurt448]

Hi Gerry,
Unfortunately there is no interceptor-like cure for these guys. The adults can be killed fairly easily, the problem is the eggs. I would highly recommend a dip in levamisole or a typical dose of reefdip/pro coral cure to kill off the adults. If you had that many on the colonies I would suspect you will have the eggs as well. Repeat the dips every few days over the course of the next two weeks and always visually inspect the coral and remove any adults still hanging around.

Unfortunately there isn't anything you can do about them traveling around the tank. The best you can do is inspect your other monti's regularly...as long as there aren't too many crevices in the corals you should be able to see the damage easily. The trick will be to catch them and remove them before they get large enough to lay eggs. Good luck!

 

[castorpollux]

i would do a water change and remove the monti colonies into the bucket that you did the water change to or whatever you use and add the recommended dosage of lugols (stuns the nudis, but does not kill them) then toothbrush the dead areas extremely well.

In my case after nearly a 1 year battle this was the only solution, after toothbrushing them and rinsing them in more water from the water change from the tank i then superglued the dead areas to fully insure there where no eggs that I missed.

its a lot of work, i lost some really cool colonies to them (superman, blue polyped cap, etc.)

so if your corals are not glued to to the actual rockwork like mine were... you should be fine.

i would find them under the superglue in somecases trying to manuever out.... you just have to be meticulous for about a week.

 

[SPSFiend]

Thanks guys. I will proceed as recommended. Do you guys know where they like to lay their eggs most? I did not think of the superglue. That was good thinking! I will try that. It does not help that these suckers are white and they hang out on the whit dead spots.

I found many of the nudis underneath the corals. Do they like to lay eggs underneath or more so on the dead coral spots?

 

[twon8]

in crevices of caps, in the dark, inside the coral; they like to dig into it, i recommend breaking your montis up in many pieces

 

[fishieness]

i had a bunch of them a while ago. luckily, all i had were about 20 frags, so it was relativly easy to spot them. i found that lowering nutrients signigicantly helps. do more water changes and try skimming really wet. and then just sit down for 10-30 minutes a night and suck up all you can. luckily, my battle was pretty short.

 

[acropora nut]

Once you have done all the dips load up on a ton of Wrasses. These guys worked for me .... Halichoeres Hortulanus (Checkerboard wrasse) Halichoeres Chrysus (Yellow Wrasse) Halichoeres Iridis (Radiant Wrasse) X mass wrasse and Six line wrasses. Try these guys and u will have great luck.