Monti/SPS nudis? White spots? - Pics

[kevl]

Can someone please help me identify these horrific white spots that have been appearing/forming on my green monti? Also, an Acro colony has taken a turn for the worst as well. Looks like it may have be bleaching, being eaten by something, or has a disease.

I've noticed the problem getting gradually worse over a period of 4-5 days. Today I now noticed a small white spot forming on a red monti in my tank as well. I have two other Acro frags in there that are showing no signs of white spots. The first time I noticed white spots was 1 week ago.

The green monti has been in my tank for about 5 months while the red one 1 month.

If they are nudis causing the problem, would a yellow coris wrasse help (I have a 29g BC - Size issue?) in controlling an sps nudi eating population?

It'd be difficult to remove the large green monti to dose, could I dose the tank using Saliferts Flatworm EXit? or CoralRx?

Fish - Clownfish, Bicolor Blenny, Mystery Wrasse (temporary)

THANK YOU!

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I've been dosing Kent Tech M to remove Bryopsis (which has been working very well I might say), so that's why my Mag levels are bit high.

Tank param.
Mg 1400-1450
Cal - 450
dKH - 9-10
No2 -0
No3 - .03
No4 - 0
Sg - 1.024-25
Temp - 78

 

[Reef Bass]

The spots on your corals are failrly precise, like something has been removing tissue there. My first thought seeing the pics is nudis. Second could be debris accumulating in pockets for too long and killing the coral underneath, but the rest of the caps look reasonably debris free. Third would be a drop in alkalinity causing issues, but your alk looks good as listed.

I've had monti caps and nudis before and it was not pleasant. I am not aware of an intank treatment for them. First I'd get out my macro camera and verify the presence of nudis. Then if see nudis at work, being as how those are monti caps, which grow quickly, I'd snap the affected areas off with a rim of at least 1/2" or more of healthy tissue and toss 'em. Check the underside too. Lots of times there's raging infection just over the edge of the rim on the underside before the nudis come over the edge of the rim into the light and begin eating there too.

Monti eating nudis suck and can be hard to get rid of, especially if you can't easily remove the whole coral for dipping. And even then, eggs survive dipping and the dipping will need to be repeated after the eggs hatch but before the newly hatched young can lay their own eggs. You can also scrape off nudi egg clusters, but it's hard to get every last one of them.

 

[kevl]

You know I should also mention and i'm going to investigate your theory further with macro shots but my bicolor blenny was added shortly before I started noticing white spots. I did see him nip at the bottom of my red monti earlier today. IS IT possible that he's the culprit for leaving these white marks on my green monti? and also responsible for killing my large acro colony? After doing research online it appears people have experienced their bicolors to attack sps (great).

Thanks

 

[kevl]

I'm quite sure the blenny is the problem. Planning on getting him out tomorrow! Just doesn't make sense really (in my case) for it to be nudis, I haven't introduced anything that might carry nudis recently and have had the montis for a while now without any problem. The bicolor was added a week ago, and a week ago I started noticing sps tissue loss.

 

[mc-cro]

Nudi's can show up from seemingly no where. I got them earlier this year, but I had not added any monti's to my tank for almost 4 months, and even those had gone through a at least 2 dips and a QT.

but, still could be the blenny

 

[phishsauce]

Those look like accurate signs of nudis, your only solution is to pull the rock with the attached corals out and work on a dipping regimen. Leaving them in there will help them multiply. They'll never go away until your monti cap is dead. Once the cap is dead, the nudi's will start wandering around your tank in search of other montis.

 

[phishsauce]

Also seems like you have a bryopsis problem going on too, or some type of green hair algae.

 

[Backinthegame]

If it's Nudi's you will know for sure because they are relentless in their quest to eat the coral. Nudi's cover a lot of area in a little time and will decimate a wide area in no time. In most cases you can see the nuds with the naked eye they tend to camp out in the folds or the undersides of your caps where the light is low during the day. I too dealt with them last year. Dips helped, and I added four yellow coris wrasses that went to town on them. I lost a few caps before I took agressive action, but now there is not a nudi in sight. I hope it's just the blenny, but if not, you can defeat the M.E.N.

Good luck

 

[redliner]

Does look like something is chomping at it. Maybe stay up a bit late at night while the lights off and observe the tank with some dimmed lights. You might fine the thing doing it red handed

 

[kevl]

Problem confirmed - The blenny is the culprit, I saw him chomping on the Monti and also Acro frags leaving white dead spots behind. Thanks for all the feedback. Blenny removal in progress.. PVC pipe trap

I've left nori in to keep his belly full until I can safely relocate him.

 

[fq600]

good to know! I guess no bicolor blenny for me! Good info to keep for future reference

 

[Gills 619]

+1 on the blenny