Monti eating Nudibranchs- HELP

[RichardinMa]

I discovered why my green cap was losing color in patches. After reading another thread I looked under the piece and discovered this:

The obvious question now is how do I get rid of these? I have the piece in a dip right now with Lugol's and they seem to be unaffected. I plan to brush them off using a toothbrush but is there any dip effective against these? I dipped this piece (I dip all my corals before putting them in) and these still got through. Also, what is the risk to other corals in the tank- non Monti? So far I do not see any on them but obviously these guys were doing very well on this one. This has been in the tank for 2.5 weeks. I appreciate any help!

 

[fishguy597]

I did multiple dips with corol rx and basting it while treating. It wasn't easy.

 

[krzyphsygy]

WOW, sorry for the Monti problems. I am gonna tag along on this one. Great pic though of the pest. This should be added to the sps pest sticky.

 

[RichardinMa]

I was able to scrub them away with a soft toothbrush and I think I got them all off. They were all on the underside in an area that had no live tissue so it was fairly easy. The Lugol's seemed to have no effect on them, or at least they did not react at all. I was really shocked when I realized what they were. I had read about these guys being tiny and hard to see and that is what confused me. These nudis were a good 1/2" long. What makes me really nervous is that I saw a couple/three on another monti a night or two ago but I cannot find any sign of them or damage on any other caps right now. I wish I had known what they were then. There is no damage on any other caps in the tank but I will be watching closely every day now to catch it early. It seems that this green one was the most tasty. Is there anything else that can be done in the tank to combat them? Any natural predators? Here is another shot of them:

Hopefully my photos will help someone else figure it out earlier than I did.

Also, what is the liklihood of recovery on this piece? There are some patches eaten away and the leading edge has been eaten as well. The photos of the piece are in another thread I posted regarding the tissue fading and necrotizing.

 

[Bigcefa]

dang dude thats a pretty bad infestation, honestly id cut my losses and toss that guy a lot of eggs there

 

[MammothReefer]

I've dealt with them a few times, for me the solution was a little diligence, super glue and a razor blade. I pull out all my pieces, inspected scraped away what I could find super glued over any dead spot, and filled in any nooks or cranny I can't see or scrape as well as all the rock work around and attached to the monti with super glue. I paid extra close attention to any new damaged areas and eventually I either killed them all with a razor blade or entombed them forever in super glue. They tend not to wander far from the food source in my experiences.

To answer you other question they only eat montis no risk to any other corals. As far as recovery once the nudis are gone whatever flesh you have left should grow back as long as your tank can support the monti despite the nudis.

 

[eswgato]

Hey bud use the Bayer insecticide from home depot there is a thread on here 10ml for half cup of salt water dip it for five minuets bam dead but you have to keep dipping every four days for at least 6 weeks to kill them off hope this helps

 

[kevlow]

These guys are wicked.

I beat them about two years ago. They came in on an orange digi. The piece had been fragged and dipped. I saw a bare spot on the digi and inquired about it. I was told that the piece must have fallen against another coral.

My red cap started getting stripped. I spotted one and used a small syphon tube into a small bowl so I could view it. When I IDed the nudi, I then searched every bare spot right at the apex into the live tissue. There I would find a little fuzzy nudi. They are stubborn bastards and try to cling to the monti. At night I used a flashlight to spot them on the under side of the plates.

I beat them only by syphoning. But, It takes persistance. I could not remove the pieces because they were attached to the rock and walls. The digi died, too far gone. All the red cap recovered the bare patches with live tissue and continues to thrive.

Now I know what their damage looks like. I only buy coral from three sources. I always observe their tanks for signs of nudi damage. These hearty guys get past dipping too easy.

 

[Acropolooza]

Mine destroyed a grape colony tear are worse than aefw in my opinion

 

[RichardinMa]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I can't believe that I could have missed these guys when I got this piece. They obviously had to be smaller at that time but still visible I would think. I am watching every other piece very closely now. They are all small enough that I can remove them if neccessary and I did not see any sign on any others yet but will do a nightly check. Considering how many were on this one piece I am amazed that there were not more on the rest, too. When I bought it the piece was spectacular. There was not the slightest bit of damage and the color was neon green. I will be much more diligent now.

 

[Piper27]

Hey bud use the Bayer insecticide from home depot there is a thread on here 10ml for half cup of salt water dip it for five minuets bam dead but you have to keep dipping every four days for at least 6 weeks to kill them off hope this helps

Did you try this with these pests? I was lucky to get a few from a friend to experiment on and I had no luck with bayer, even with a really strong dose I still saw one moving its limbs around. Coral rx is all I know that kills them.

 

[franklypre]

I was plauged by these a few years back, I tried interceptor=little effect, FW=no effect, kalk=PITA but it did kill them, toothbrush=removes the ones you can see atleast, sixline wrasse=a little help, malanarus wrasse= a little more help. Finally it came down to me just fragging and QT all the monti I owned for 6 months, haven't seen them again. If I go through it again it WILL be in QT and I plan on trying melafix marine, and hydrogen peroxide toothbrush scrubs. Just my .02 best of luck

 

[jdhuyvetter]

Four line wrasse took care of my problem.

Six line never touched them.

 

[eswgato]

Did you try this with these pests? I was lucky to get a few from a friend to experiment on and I had no luck with bayer, even with a really strong dose I still saw one moving its limbs around. Coral rx is all I know that kills them.

Yes it does work i had them on a montie i got in a trade it knocks them off the coral mine were dead at the bottom maybe you are not using the right bayer ?

 

[RichardinMa]

MENS Pt 2- The Brood

MENS Pt 2- The Brood

Did you try this with these pests? I was lucky to get a few from a friend to experiment on and I had no luck with bayer, even with a really strong dose I still saw one moving its limbs around. Coral rx is all I know that kills them.

I have now found more MENS (babies) both on the original coral and two other caps. The other two were barely touched but I found a couple tiny nudis on each. I pulled and scrubbed them all but the strongest dip I had on hand was the Lugol's. Have you actually seen the Coral Rx kill them? I would like to use something to dip them in after cleaning that I could be confident will kill the ones I cannot see. By the way, I searched the Bayer drug but could not find anything.

Thanks,
Richard

 

[eswgato]

Here you go kills redbugs flatworms and nudies
10ml for half a cup of tankwater

 

[blakers82]

Yikes. Have you used that stuff? How much and what was the reaction?
Thanks.

 

[Piper27]

You should try it for the nudis, I don't think many people have been able to test it. Make sure you dip the coral back in a bucket of tank water and rinse it really good before you put it back in the display. Any traces will make your skimmer nuts. I am pretty sure coral rx is what kills nudis, just look it up online and find out. Give both a try.

 

[RichardinMa]

I found the thread and it has convinced me to try some of the Bayer product. I will pick up a bottle today and post what the results are. I realize it will be a long battle but having an effective dip that won't require the harsh scrubbing of tissue and results in the death of the MENs will be a big help. Thanks!

 

[chefzif]

I would get a QT tank and this will really help on not getting the pests in the main display tank!