Montipora Eating Nudibranchs

[gaberosenfield]

Well, I have begun another rite of passage in the reefing community. I've now dealt with Acropora eating flatworms and Montipora eating nudibranchs in my current tank. The AEFWs were eradicated months ago. But just this morning, right as the lights turned on, I noticed these little f@*!ers on some of my montis that weren't doing too well:

The biggest one is about 8 mm long. I must have picked them up from a fellow reefer from whom I purchased the montis. He said he'd had them in the past, but thought he had eradicated them. I dipped them in bayer insecticide anyway, and quarantined them for a week to see if anything hatched, but the eggs survived and I didn't see anything for a month. Now I took them out of my display and dipped them again, and I will have to dip them once a week for a month or so to make sure I kill them all. Hopefully they don't spread to the couple other montis I have in my DT.

Just a reminder to keep a lookout for coral pests and to resist the urge to cut quarantine short. I'm also curious how many of us have dealt with these pests, so I made a poll on the topic. Let's see just how common these pests are.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

[Enderturtle]

I've seen them before. Not in my tank though. I only have 2 monti frags in my tank.

CoralRX and Lugols iodine definitely knocks them off. I've used more than the recommended dosage if I had confirmed nudis. Montiporas hate and are very sensitive to freshwater so don't dip them in freshwater unless you want montipora skeletons.

Be sure to actively blow them off with a turkey baster or pump while dipping. Don't just let them soak in a stagnant dip and hope the nudis keel over/fall off the monti. The nudis will try to escape into a crevice or fold within the monti when dipping.

The nudibranchs prefer hiding underneath the montis especially during the day.

There is a possibility you have nudibranchs crawling on rocks and on the sand, so personally I would dip the other montis if you want eradicate them entirely. They're not like AEFW which stay on the acro.

Flatworm Exit and Montipora Eating Nudibranchs
Hey I haven't googled this yet but maybe you can. A lot of people use Flatworm Exit as a dip/treatment for killing Zoanthid Eating Nudibranchs. I have a feeling it would work on Monti Nudibranchs. Someone should google this.

 

[bondolo]

Povidone worked best with monti nudis but it does nothing for the eggs. You have to dip everything twice a week for a month to get rid of them by breaking the lifecycle.

 

[humu]

These mofo r the worst. Near impossible to eradicate unless u get rid of your montis.

 

[gaberosenfield]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm using bayer insecticide as my dip, and I use a little disposable pipette to blow off the montis while they're in the dip. It seems to kill the nudis, and others online say it kills them as well. But like other dips, it doesn't harm their eggs, so I am dipping them at least once a week for the next month. The only montis I haven't dipped are some red Montipora capricornis that I cannot remove from the tank and a little pink Montipora setosa, neither of which show any symptoms of nudi attack and both of which are pretty far from the site of the affected montis. I also covered the entire rock that supported the affected montis with kalkwasser paste to make sure I killed off any nudis or eggs sitting on the rock. I assume that something as basic as kalkwasser paste must kill the eggs as well, but I'm not really sure. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

 

[Enderturtle]

Be sure to crape off any visible eggs. Heck if you want to do an experiment try seeing which methods might kill them.

Sure you already know this but kalkwasser does raise pH, calcium/alkalinity so don't nuke your tank trying to kill monti nudis.

Keep us updated!