noticed over the last few days the odd colony closing for the day but they always seemed to re-open the following day with a different colony closing up after that?? well today i found a green nudi tickin off a smaller colony and plucked him out!! I'm going to peek in with a flashlight tonight after lights out to see what i can find in regards to any more, I'm going to assume there's a bunch as i havn't added anything new to the tank for at least 2 months.
curious if anyones erradicated them with success?? dipping would suck as alot of these zoa colonies cover huge rocks and would require a 5 gallon pail for treatment as well a few other rocks have sps on the top side. I've heard of using flat worm exit but would need to dismantle the tank to remove all snails, crabs, shrimp.
heard wrasses are hit or miss, mostly miss.
open for any help please!!!
So sorry to hear about the infestation you have. Many of us have been there and it isn't a pretty sight but you can defeat them. But there's one thing you must know, if you are going to rely on manual removal only, you will never defeat them. I don't care how many you catch, there are many more you won't catch or see. Nudis are primarily found in or around a food source, true. But nudis can be found any and everywhere else in your tank, on the glass, crawling over a rock to get to the next frag or colony, in a rock crevice etc etc etc.
You must take a 3 point offense or you will only catch adults. ( 1. ) Fresh water dipping or using one of the chemical dips on the market which I have never tried. If using the fresh water dip detailed in the dip below in the link, you can dip them every 3 or 4 days. Every rock with polyps in your tank has to be dipped. ( 2. ) Manual removal of adults and juvi nudis with a turkey baster at first light in the morning, during the day, in the evening and even after dark. ( 3. ) Removal of any and all egg sacks which can hold anywhere from 60 to 70 babies just waiting to hatch and do some damage. If you run your actinics only, they will highlight the egg sacks for easy spotting and removal ( see the links ).
Read as much of the Zoo Dip thread as possible as I updated it somewhere in the middle. You can use 6 or 7 drops of lugols if you wish, it is safe. Primarily you are relying on the osmosis shock of the fresh water uptake to kill the nudis. The FWE will also help kill some types of nudis, but it is not affective on all types of nudis even at double or triple strenght.
Even when you think you are nudi free, there could still be nudis in your tank. You must make it a habit to visually check your tank several times a day. The best time to catch them is early in the morning. Once your lights click on, they will scurry for cover so you've got to be quick to extract them before they reach cover. Look for the colonies which have obvious retracted polyps and suck those out first. The 1/16" curly white egg sacks can be found just about anywhere, on the glass and most often on the crown of a retracted polyp or all the way down to the base of the polyp and anywhere in between. A few hours after your tank is completely dark, you can go in and flick your lights on and you will most likely catch some on the glass laying eggs or even on or around the colonies or frags.
Don't give up my friend, you can beat them, but you must be diligent.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1167318&highlight=mucho+nudis
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=451720&highlight=mucho+nudis
Try to remain proactive in keeping them out of your tank by QTing and dipping everything before it enters. May the force be with you. Good luck.
Mucho Reef
