Porites Nudibranch - Pics included

[Kurt448]

I recently purchased a small colony of Porites. As with all corals I buy I inspected it thoroughly, but I guess not enough. After being in the system for three weeks I noticed that part of the colony was lightening considerably. Upon further inspection I saw some little white bubbles inside and then focused on a little dark patch and realized that it was actually alive. Turns out it looks like some sort of Nudibranch...I tried looking up that specific nudi as several are known to chew on Porites, but couldn't find it anywhere. Here are some pics....

 

[Kurt448]

Oh yeah, btw the little white balls that I was refering to before I think are egg masses.

...just thought this was cool, yet disturbing

 

[gflat65]

Disturbing to say the least... Nice shots.

 

[sps_addict]

Wow, another predator to look for. Very clean photo!

 

[Large Polyp Dave]

i think the yellow bubbles are just it's camoflauge.

I've found nudi's on torches and stuff and they have features like that for camoflauge.

It looks pretty cool though =) just take him out!

 

[Kurt448]

The bubbles were on a different area of the porites...I'm near positive they are egg masses. I want to take him out, but I am too intrigued with him Guess I should though.

Just for reference he is less than the size of a dime. Not too small, it's just the cammo that can make him difficult to see.

 

[sps_addict]

Hey Kurt, is that the nudi or eggs in the center of the pics above? If it is a nudi, that is one interesting looking one.

 

[Fliger]

Before you kill him, could you possibly test to see if any of the new dips kill him? That way if future reefers get one, we'll know what to do? You'd be takin one for the team. ;-)

 

[Kurt448]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7075238#post7075238 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sps_addict
Hey Kurt, is that the nudi or eggs in the center of the pics above? If it is a nudi, that is one interesting looking one.

Steve, what you see there is the entire Nudi. I know for sure because it moves around quite a bit. The eggs, or what I think are eggs, are very small opaque or white sacks that were scattered within the inner branches of the coral.

 

[Kurt448]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7075317#post7075317 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fliger
Before you kill him, could you possibly test to see if any of the new dips kill him? That way if future reefers get one, we'll know what to do? You'd be takin one for the team. ;-)

Fliger, I will test out the Tropic Marin pro coral cure on him today and see if that works. If it doesn't I'll try the SeaChem reef dip tomorrow. I will update on the progress. Nice idea by the way. Regardless, it wouldn't be hard to remove this guy as the inner branches are fairly accessible.

 

[shred5]

Thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s actually pretty cool even though he has go to go...

I have had several predatory nudi's come in over the years... Some due very little damage and some do massive damage. Some multiply like rabbits and some donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t... Specific feeders most of the time preferring a single species of coralââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦ We won't talk about the acro flatworm or the monti nudiââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s..

 

[Amphiprion]

These animals are fascinating to say the least. I have never seen a kind like that on a Porites sp. The ones I have seen are much, much smaller.

 

[Kurt448]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7077558#post7077558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amphiprion
These animals are fascinating to say the least. I have never seen a kind like that on a Porites sp. The ones I have seen are much, much smaller.

They are unbelievable animals...despite how much damage some of them can cause. I am amazed at how many different types there are of these.


I did dip the coral today with the Tropic Marin Pro-coral cure. After recommended dosage at 15 minutes, the nudi became quite stressed out and started to release itself from the coral, making it very easy to just peel him out.

I put him in a smaller dish with some fresh saltwater just to observe his condition. At this point, the little bubbles on his back actually turned into more elongate tubes. The nudi was still alive, but it did not look to be doing too well, rubbing it with the tip of my finger caused the tubes to peel right off.

Unfortunately, I found another nudi in the porites during the dip. It looked very much like a larger version of the nudis comonly seen attacking Montipora. It seemed very aggitated by the dip, but was still very much mobile. I say it was unfortunate because now I am unsure of which one was doing all the damage, if not both as they were seemingly different species. I took some pics but I am too lazy to get them up tonight. Hopefully tomorrow.

 

[tangdiver]

Any more pics or talk...need to know more...like a good t.v. show

 

[Kurt448]

I've got more pics...just don't have the time to post them yet. Hopefully soon!

 

[parshmar]

Thanks for the post, very neat stuff. I hope you killed the right nudi

 

[caesura]

Here are some that I had on a porites cylindrica a few years back.

 

[Zuuu]

I hope you killed the right nudi

Looks like Phestilla lugubris, porites eating nudi.
http://www.underwaterkwaj.com/nudi/eolids/e008.htm