What are these white spots on my green cap?

[SPotter]

I woke up this morning to find two white blotches on my green cap. They almost look like two drops of white paint. The rest of the coral and other corals look fine.

My levels are
Alk 9.3
Ca 400
Mg 1410
Po4 .008
Sg 1.0258
All other levels are zero.

I dose b-ionic, kalk and nothing else.

Has anyone else seen this before?

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[acrohead500ppm]

nudi's!!!

 

[SPotter]

Friend or foe? If foe, how do I get rid of them? They are flat and don't seem to be moving.

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[jarrett shark]

make sure ALK is right, that to me is a low alk then it will STN

 

[SPotter]

Double checked the alk, kit is a week old. Definitely looks different from stn from low alk. But I'll take water to lfs for verification today. If it is nudi's, how do I get rid of them?


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[potterjon]

I don't think your alk is low personally. Could it be higher? yes. but it doesn't seem low enough to bleach a monticap. I wish I could keep my alk that high.
Nudis can be hard to spot and they lay eggs and hide underneath the cap. You have to dip and brush on a daily basis, or every other day. It takes awhile to get rid of them because the dip doesn't kill the eggs, just the live ones. So brushing off the eggs helps. Do you have other montiporas in the tank? If so, are you seeing the same thing on those?

 

[SPotter]

I have 3 other montis in my frag tank with no signs of problems. I did have a sunset Monti that went from looking great to totally white in about 3 days but I attributed that to low ca. I didn't realize that my ca pump was a little clogged and not dosing enough ca on a daily basis. Ca dropped to 300 but that was about 7 weeks ago. Never thought about nudi's.

It's going to be hard to scrub it because it's attached to a large piece of rock. I read that certain wrasses will eat nudi's....any truth to that? Are there any other treatments I can use in the tank?

As far as the alk level goes.....I always struggled with getting it higher than 7. I switched to reef crystals salt about 4 weeks ago and I have no problems now.


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[JG1]

I don't think your alk is low personally. Could it be higher? yes. but it doesn't seem low enough to bleach a monticap. I wish I could keep my alk that high.
Nudis can be hard to spot and they lay eggs and hide underneath the cap. You have to dip and brush on a daily basis, or every other day. It takes awhile to get rid of them because the dip doesn't kill the eggs, just the live ones. So brushing off the eggs helps. Do you have other montiporas in the tank? If so, are you seeing the same thing on those?

His alk is 9.3...why do you say it could be higher? I thought 8ish was ideal (since NSW is really closer to 7dkh)

 

[potterjon]

I said that because some people run it higher, that is all. I don't think it needs to be higher.

 

[JG1]

I said that because some people run it higher, that is all. I don't think it needs to be higher.

Gotcha

 

[Finland]

Did you have you hand in the tank and possibly knock some salt creep onto it. I do that occasionally and it looks exactly like that.

 

[potterjon]

Some wrasses will eat nudis, but it is hit or miss. Just take a look under the coral, if they are there you will see them. But they can be hard to see at first. Once you see them, you will know exactly what to look for. I had them in a prop tank I was maintaining once but all the corals were on racks, so pulling the corals was not an issue for dipping and scrubbing them down, but it took weeks of doing it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=703240

Post #11 in this thread has pics of them. I thought they were harmless nudis when I saw one on the glass in the tank I spoke of earlier, until one by one we started losing tissue on montiporas. A friend of mine actually called it when he noticed that all we were losing was montiporas. Not all at once though, it took time for them to spread to others.

 

[SPotter]

Did you have you hand in the tank and possibly knock some salt creep onto it. I do that occasionally and it looks exactly like that.

i did have to take that piece out to try and catch a fish that was sick so that is a possibility.

 

[SPotter]

Some wrasses will eat nudis, but it is hit or miss. Just take a look under the coral, if they are there you will see them. But they can be hard to see at first. Once you see them, you will know exactly what to look for. I had them in a prop tank I was maintaining once but all the corals were on racks, so pulling the corals was not an issue for dipping and scrubbing them down, but it took weeks of doing it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=703240

Post #11 in this thread has pics of them. I thought they were harmless nudis when I saw one on the glass in the tank I spoke of earlier, until one by one we started losing tissue on montiporas. A friend of mine actually called it when he noticed that all we were losing was montiporas. Not all at once though, it took time for them to spread to others.

I will take a look at this. I did inspect the bottom of the coral along with my other caps and I havent spotted anything. I took the picture to my lfs and they dont believe its nudi's but do feel it could be my citron goby snacking on it. Since posting the original picture the spots have gotten a little smaller and color is starting to return to them. I often see the citron sitting on it along with my acros which I have found that they like to snack on those as well which explains the sudden decline in those pieces as well. So, does anyone want a citron goby as I am beginning to think he is culprit here.

 

[potterjon]

Yes some gobies will nest in and on your sps! Specifically the little clown gobies. I believe they tear off the tissue or something like that. good point. score one for your lfs.

 

[SPotter]

Yes some gobies will nest in and on your sps! Specifically the little clown gobies. I believe they tear off the tissue or something like that. good point. score one for your lfs.

I was really impressed with the people there, their advice cost them a sale because i was all set to buy a coris wrasse for my tank and they told me not to just yet.

 

[Islander84]

+1 on debris getting on montis...ive had a spot or 2 do that where a little sand or debris get on it.

 

[SPotter]

Im pretty sure its not nudi's and its either debris or the goby. I'm leaning towards the goby because I do see him resting on it a lot and the two acros he would also camp on were thriving and growing until he joined the community. I have now had to remove them and put them in my frag tank with hopes revival. Now this morning I noticed him camping out on my red goniopora and I dont anything to happen to that, so anyone interested in a goby? I dont have another tank to put him in and wouldnt think about flushing but at the same time I cant let a $5 fish reak havoc on my corals. Shame on me for not doing more research on gobies before making the purchase.

 

[reef-newbie-11305]

i thought some of the small gobies were good for the aquarium? thought they took care of different kind of pest that bothered your corals. could be wrong but thats kinda what i thought...

 

[SPotter]

Spots have turned green again and all is well. I am leaning towards irritation from the goby.


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