Monti Eating Nudi's

[Blugobi]

A few weeks ago I mentiond, I had a Monti that was seeming bleach from the bottom up and found a type of Nudi that was devouring it. With the help of St.James, we discovered the Flat Worm Exit by Salifert would kill them relativly quickly. The method we used was to put the coral in a small container and ad a few drops of FWE and within a few minutes they were dead. I did this on only two of the three types the Monti's that were being attacked and over several weekes. It seemed to work great and every so often I would see another Nudi and repeat the same process as well as using the advice of Steve Lowes by scrubbing the under sdie and base of each piece with small soft toothbrush to ensure I got the eggs as well. (FWE..will not kill the eggs!) So this morning I was looking at all my corals and noticed that the 3rd species of Monti in my tank had a Nudi on it, So I set up my container and removed the coral to be treated...Below is what I found on the underside!!! A nest of about 20-30 large Nudi's 1/4 " in length and over 300 eggs. I do believe this is the source of my Nudi issue as I have not treated this coral before today.

I will keep you all posted on my progress.

 

[ALTI]

good luck,
ive been fighting the acro eating flatworms for a few weeks now. seems like nothing will kill them and the only way is to remove them manually 2-3 times per week untill all are gone.

 

[RandyO]

Cool pics. They look a lot like Bergia nudi's, only smaller.

ALTI,
Any pic's of the acro eating flatworms?

I've recently encountered a large possible flatworm. It's clear and was the size of a quarter. It does not move from it's spot on the glass. I hit it with the magnet once and it actually swam off the glass and then right back onto it again, only to move to it's original spot.

Since it's been getting smaller over the last week, I'm guessing it's starving, but I probably don't want to know what it eats.

 

[poknsnok]

so those are the eggs?? the little tiny "grains of rice"??

 

[Arik]

Great pics! Good luck....

 

[poknsnok]

really nice pics...amazing.

 

[dalbrecht]

It makes sense that they would resemble a cnidarian gobbler, but good luck on removal. You may want to consider removing every monti and dosing them at once. I'm worried that you might not be completely effective doing this piecemeal.

 

[ALTI]

sorry to hijack the thread blugobi,

Randy O,
i only got pics of the eggs. the flatworms basically look like little blobs on the coral. in this pic u can see a bit of the end of one of them.

i doubt the one u saw was an acro eater. they only get about 1/4" long and dont swim at all. if they cant crawl or get blown onto another coral they will not spread there. it almost impossible to see them underwater. i was inspecting this piece with a magnifying glass for weeks and didnt see anything. the only way to see them is to remove the coral and let it dry for a minute or 2. the FW's will stay slimy as the coral dries and stand out. the only other way is to look for the tiny bites taken out of the coral flesh. thats what i noticed at first. ill try to get pics of the FW'sand bite marks tomorrow.

there were hundreds on this piece and the nearby frags of thesame colony, but none in the rest of the tank. i moved the mother colony and all the frags into a softie only system and have been blowing off the worms 2-3 times weekly. many of the smaller frags are cured, but im waiting another month or 2 before they go back into the stony system

 

[ReeferMac]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7498188#post7498188 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ALTI
seems like nothing will kill them and the only way is to remove them manually 2-3 times per week untill all are gone.

Have you tried the Levamisole treatment?

- Mac

 

[ALTI]

heard alot of horror stories. i dont think its safe enough to use. ill wait till they find a safer and more proven method before i use it. quarantine and manual removal may take a long time, but at least i dont have to add any potentially dangerous chemicals to my tank.

 

[RandyO]

Thanks ALTI. I read all about them today in the sps forum. I've been out of the sps loop lately. Seen some good pics of them in there too.

 

[ReeferMac]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7504607#post7504607 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ALTI
heard alot of horror stories. i dont think its safe enough to use.

Hehehe, I hear that.
I think if used judiciously, it's OK, but... Yeah, real easy to nuke everything. I'd never use it 'in-tank', only as a QT med. It will definitely wipe out your tank.

- Mac