Small whiteish nudibranchs eating monti

[ApatheticReefer]

Hi everyone . I seem to have this little problem with small white nudibranchs with tan feathers on there back. About the length of a sesame seed and as thick as a sewing needle. They are reproducing fast and decimatimating my Purple montipora digitata. Is there any hope? what can i do? and what other kinds of corals do these things eat I'm getting nervouse about my prized yellow acro plz help !

Thx for your time . wish me luck

 

[Kurt448]

Hello....they are only going to go after your montipora, so I wouldn't be worried about your acros. Your best bet is to physically remove the digitata and scrape off or tweeze off all the nudis you see. You want to do a search for any eggs on the colony. They usually lay them on the coral itself over a spot of eaten tissue. Just make sure you look in every crevice. It takes a little bit of work to get rid of these, but if you only have one montipora then it shouldn't be too difficult to control them. Good luck and do a search on Montipora Eating Nudibranchs if you want to read up a little more on other peoples treatments.

 

[MiddletonMark]

Search on Montipora nudibranch.

They're a royal pain, I lost probably 2/3 of my collection to them. A number of folks have posted their experience - I'd suggest reading as many as you can.

 

[poknsnok]

I dont feel so alone.. ... Im battling them right now. dipped all i could remove in Tropic Marin Pro Coral and it kills them pretty quick. I have lots of montis so Im on high alert. i have only seen them on one cap. dipped it and scrubbed it so we will see. If I notice them again it will be remove all montis time and treat for 5 weeks. definitely search. you will see however varying opinions but left unchecked they will take out your montis.

 

[poknsnok]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7433707#post7433707 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kurt448
Hello....they are only going to go after your montipora, so I wouldn't be worried about your acros. Your best bet is to physically remove the digitata and scrape off or tweeze off all the nudis you see. You want to do a search for any eggs on the colony. They usually lay them on the coral itself over a spot of eaten tissue. Just make sure you look in every crevice. It takes a little bit of work to get rid of these, but if you only have one montipora then it shouldn't be too difficult to control them. Good luck and do a search on Montipora Eating Nudibranchs if you want to read up a little more on other peoples treatments.

Kurt.. I checked your web site. nice pic of the nudi. have you seen the eggs?? i still havent seen a good pic and If I dont know what to look for I dont know what to remove. Can you help??

 

[castorpollux]

i've stated this before and people never believe me. They will go after acros in some situations but they are only able to eat a tiny piece and it never lasts. thier frills turn brown and i have personally seen them on tri-color nana and a milli. Its extremely uncommon but again i think its an attempt at adaptation but luckily it fails.

 

[ApatheticReefer]

*sigh* it seems to be a bit of an epidemic .. My friend and fellow reefer has lost some of his montis from these things the same time i did . Unfortunately i cant just dip the infected specimen because its attached to a VERY large piece of figi rock. Strangely enough they only seem to eat the purple monti. Right next to it, is a green monti that started intertwining with the purple . They shaved off all the purple tissue at the green/purple border. They started on my capricornis but i caught the little bastard B4 he could lay eggs. Im seriously contemplating fragging the whole lot of them and sticking to other coral species. *sigh" .. well il stick to the manual removal from my awkward position in front of the tank for now, and wel see what happens soon.

 

[Kurt448]

Hey poknsnok, thanks for the compliments on the picture. The eggs are very small and typically very light collored. They are usually in small masses and localized in a small area. In my experience I have found that they prefer to be dificult and lay the eggs in areas where you can't find them...i.e. crevices. Usually it is best to break apart any colonies that you have where you can't see the entire surface of the coral. If you have good eyes it shouldn't be too hard to find them. Where there are larger nudis...the eggs usually aren't too far away. Best of luck!

 

[Kurt448]

Hey poknsnok, thanks for the compliments on the picture. The eggs are very small and typically very light collored. They are usually in small masses and localized in a small area. In my experience I have found that they prefer to be dificult and lay the eggs in areas where you can't find them...i.e. crevices. Usually it is best to break apart any colonies that you have where you can't see the entire surface of the coral. If you have good eyes it shouldn't be too hard to find them. Where there are larger nudis...the eggs usually aren't too far away. Best of luck!