Montipora Eating Nudibranch? Close up picture.
- Thread starter Los
- Start date
kybreos
Snar snar
i got an experiment if you are willing to try. Try this with the 2 nudis you have in the cup, add a couple drops of tabasco hot sauce. the old fashioned red kind not the green one or flavored one. I got a feeling that the hot pepper will kill the nudis but only make the montis slime. but it's just an experiment if you are willing.....
Los
New member
Interesting idea! Hot sauce may work, since the "heat" in peppers I believe is used as an insecticide by the plant.
Anyway, I just got home from an overseas trip. To refresh everyone's memory, I had two monti eating nudis in a measuring cup with a small piece of digitata. I just checked the salinity, noting that the water level had dropped while I was gone, and it was at 45ppt!!! The little f@#$ers were still crawling around and I think there are some eggs in there. For what it is worth, high salinity doesn't kill these buggers.
If I find any more in my QT tank, I'll test out the hot sauce. My first test, though, is going to be with CoralRX, which should be here any day now.
Anyway, I just got home from an overseas trip. To refresh everyone's memory, I had two monti eating nudis in a measuring cup with a small piece of digitata. I just checked the salinity, noting that the water level had dropped while I was gone, and it was at 45ppt!!! The little f@#$ers were still crawling around and I think there are some eggs in there. For what it is worth, high salinity doesn't kill these buggers.
If I find any more in my QT tank, I'll test out the hot sauce. My first test, though, is going to be with CoralRX, which should be here any day now.
I tried a prolonged (30-45 minute) dip in Revive with an air pump running to the bath. I tried this with a couple of frags of montipora that had nudi's at one time in the previous week. A week after the bath both frags appear healthier than in the previous month and show no signs of nudis. I will try this again with some other frags of monti to make sure I have no eggs or nudis effecting them as well. I will update in a couple weeks to make sure I don't have any eggs that have hatched since this post.
Right now the prolonged dip in Revive appears to be working
Right now the prolonged dip in Revive appears to be working
lobsterotomy
I'd frag it.
I've battled these guys twice now - once because I was a noob and didn't dip - the second time I suspect hitch hiked in from a Clam I didn't qt/dip.
For killing the adults a 10 - 15 minute dip in full strength Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure does it for sure.
I beat them by checking all of my Monti caps (they didn't seem to go after my digis) every other night for about 5 - 6 weeks. I manually removed all adults visible, then scrubbed eggs with a tooth brush, then did a 10 - 15 min TMPCC dip. This was repeated until I didn't see a single adult for about 10 days.
If you have caps in the tank, you'll have to break them apart to get to every last nook and cranny, or you'll lose all of them.
Good luck. These guys area b!tch and a half to get rid of.
For killing the adults a 10 - 15 minute dip in full strength Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure does it for sure.
I beat them by checking all of my Monti caps (they didn't seem to go after my digis) every other night for about 5 - 6 weeks. I manually removed all adults visible, then scrubbed eggs with a tooth brush, then did a 10 - 15 min TMPCC dip. This was repeated until I didn't see a single adult for about 10 days.
If you have caps in the tank, you'll have to break them apart to get to every last nook and cranny, or you'll lose all of them.
Good luck. These guys area b!tch and a half to get rid of.
Los
New member
I dipped the monti's and all my other corals in my QT using CoralRX for the recommended 10 minutes. I didn't have any visible nudi's, but did it none the less. The corals didn't die, but it definitely set them back. They were all discolored and several of them were ejecting zooxanthalae (sp?). In one case, there was a long string of bright green zoox being expelled from a maze coral.
Quick question that I'd love some help on. I've had all these corals in my QT tank for about a month and in total I've only found 2 nudis. I haven't seen any in the last 2-3 weeks, even after dipping again last week. The affected montiporas were fragged down to small pieces and their bottoms were completely coated with glue and attached to new plugs, hopefully covering any eggs that might have survived the dips. I have dipped twice since doing that and I haven't seen any nudis since then.
I plan on keeping the monti's in the Quarantine Tank (QT) until I get back from a trip in a couple of weeks, but I'd really like to move the rest of the corals into my 700 gallon system so that they don't suffer from the unstable QT conditions. Do you think that's safe? I don't know how much those little bastards move around or how good they are at hiding. Clearly I didn't have a big infestation, but there were a couple. Can I move the non-monti frags to my display?
Thanks!
Quick question that I'd love some help on. I've had all these corals in my QT tank for about a month and in total I've only found 2 nudis. I haven't seen any in the last 2-3 weeks, even after dipping again last week. The affected montiporas were fragged down to small pieces and their bottoms were completely coated with glue and attached to new plugs, hopefully covering any eggs that might have survived the dips. I have dipped twice since doing that and I haven't seen any nudis since then.
I plan on keeping the monti's in the Quarantine Tank (QT) until I get back from a trip in a couple of weeks, but I'd really like to move the rest of the corals into my 700 gallon system so that they don't suffer from the unstable QT conditions. Do you think that's safe? I don't know how much those little bastards move around or how good they are at hiding. Clearly I didn't have a big infestation, but there were a couple. Can I move the non-monti frags to my display?
Thanks!
here is the eggs you wanted.....
Ive never seen a monti eater with smooth appendages like the polyp munchers and the OP's pic. Usually the MEN have the knobby(for lack of better word) appendages. There surely could be more than one species that munches on montis though, thre are surely more than one type of flatworm that eats acros. The OP's isnt the most common type of MEN though.
Shadowramy
In Memoriam
Awesome pic flyguy!! Are these like AEFW where they lay their egg on the dead parts of the coral or can the eggs be found anywhere?
GTR
Active member
I found lots of things that would kill the nudis but not the eggs. So you'd just end up with the same problem again. Eric Borneman's suggested treatment with Potassium Permanganate killed the nudis and the eggs. It's a fine line though finding a dosage and duration that won't kill the corals. Then from a wholesalers view you end up with a coral that will need time to recover before it's marketable.
SteveU
SteveU
Orr2003
New member
I cant stand these pests! I have the exact ones the OP posted pics of and I am about to the end of my rope dealing with them. I am to the point now where i think I might just remove all Monti's and let them die from starvation.
They are a real pain in my @$$! I dont know how long the life cycle is but I removed a few about 10 months ago and have been free of them I thought until tonight. They are back and I have not added any livestock (coral,clams, etc) since first spotting them 10 months ago. Tonight I saw them on 5 different Monti's that have not been doing so well lately. So I checked them out and those Monti's have many on them. I feel like taking the Monti's out and taking a blow torch to them just to get revenge!
They are eating an orange cap, superman Monti, purple haze, orange Monti digi, and idaho grape. I have several more monti in the tank that will probably be next.
Anyone have luck with the green sea wrasse eating them?
They are a real pain in my @$$! I dont know how long the life cycle is but I removed a few about 10 months ago and have been free of them I thought until tonight. They are back and I have not added any livestock (coral,clams, etc) since first spotting them 10 months ago. Tonight I saw them on 5 different Monti's that have not been doing so well lately. So I checked them out and those Monti's have many on them. I feel like taking the Monti's out and taking a blow torch to them just to get revenge!
They are eating an orange cap, superman Monti, purple haze, orange Monti digi, and idaho grape. I have several more monti in the tank that will probably be next.
Anyone have luck with the green sea wrasse eating them?
That's how I beat them as well, using Kent Poly-Ox.
boodlefish
Premium Member
+1 worked wonders for me
catastrofe
New member
How does Poly-Ox help? It's listed on Kent's website as an organic removal agent, not a "pesticide".
Orr2003
New member
How does Poly-Ox help? It's listed on Kent's website as an organic removal agent, not a "pesticide".
Poly-Ox is just potassium permanganate (diluted). I think the dosing I used was 1mL to 500mL, and I dipped every two days for 15 minutes. I increased by 1mL up to 5mL and dipped/swished for 10 minutes. I didn't have many, so if you had a large infestation you might need more.
