Montipora Eating Nudibranchs

[JaimeAdams]

@wpeterson you can still grow all other sps, just no montipora or anacropora not to be confused with acropora.

 

[kireek]

You compare monti nudis to red bugs? Red bugs are so easy to get rid of. One pill and one treatment will do it. Only reason two could be needed is just incase one somehow got through alive. One did it for me both times I used it. They give birth to live bugs and don't lay eggs.

On another note I found Bayer to be very weak for treating monti nudis. I got some from a friend to experiment on and the dip even at high strengths didn't kill them even after 20 min dips, they were still moving. No one else has noticed this? I always heard coral Rx was a good dip for nudis. I haven't experimented with anything other than Bayer on these pests.

For the people that have seen them come back after months or years as the one poster said, do you think that they were just not killed off completley and something else kept the small numbers in check until enough hatched at once to become noticable again? Have you seen them definatly eating other corals that are not montipora? From what I know they only eat montipora.

Jamie Adams, you have seen monti nudis eat anacropora?

These things are extremely hard to get rid of because they travel so far from the coral colonies. Dipping weekly doesn't work as well as with aefw, but can work if done for a long period along with manual removal of any you see in-between dips.

I think Bayer works well for the most part.Although it is a somewhat gentle dip.Consider that the corals will need numerous dips for weeks.I have found that the product Revive by Julian Sprung,will also work well.During my ordeal I would use Revive every once in awhile for fun.I personally would not want to use it exclusively for such a long frequently.Manual and pressurized removal will be necessary,regardless of the product used.

I agree that MENS are very hard to get rid of completely.Hence the need for a quarantine tank.I have not seen them eat any other corals.I believe that they will only eat Montipora.

This tank is young, a 40 breeder we recently rebooted in november following moving house. Only once nice, medium sized montipora confusa was the first victim to be totally dead. Small monti cap frag was visibly covered in them.

I waited until a few hours after lights out and pulled all the other montipora frags and tossed them. Visibly infected with The nudibranchs. One small super man encrusting monti left and two small aceopora colonies left none of which I can remove easily.

I dosed Flatworm Exit on Weds night and re-dosed 50% Thursday. Did a big water change today.

Haven't seen any adults since then, but I'm sure they're still in there. Sadly afraid I may need to go SPS fallow for 4-6 months :-/

I am sorry that you had to toss them.Unfortunately it is for the best.One must consider the health of the aquarium,cost of multiple bottles of Bayer and good old time.
Hopefully your remaining encrusted Monti will be okay.These types seem some resistant to outbreaks.I hope you have a beautiful garden of Montipora someday!

 

[VbReefer]

I've got em!
Here's a video I made of 2 adults for ID

 

[VbReefer]

Eggs are visible by eye with close inspection. Elongated ovals similar to snake eggs. Clear/white and in a large group. Seem to prefer underside of coral or deep fissures to lay eggs onto

 

[authentic]

Sixline does a great job of keeping things in check

 

[Darth George]

That's a tough one. But I still consider digitate hydroids the hardest to eradicate. Like others have mentioned, it's a battle, but can be won with some diligence. The yellow coris wrasse is my go to but even they don't catch the ones that come out at night.

 

[VbReefer]

I had 2 melanarus I'm regretting selling now. The yellow of the same genus has caught my eye now.
Six-line is another one I'm considering seem to stay smaller and are very pretty as well.had one in the past. Great fish for sure. Something about that yellow though!

Ugh. Hydroids...i have them. Have to look really close but they are everywhere. Long single ones and the smaller colonial type. Think they irritate my Zoas sometimes but that's about it.

 

[Darth George]

It was a daily battle for 2 months straight with the digitate hydroids. I had the bad kind. Killed off a favia, a bubble coral, zoas and a duncan colony.

 

[wpeterson]

Maybe overly optimistic but three months later my problem seems to be solved.

I used a sacrificial monti cap as a lure and got most/all of them on it before removing the whole mass and discarding. Waiting out another 2-3 weeks to get to 3 months without any coral they can eat.

::Fingers crossed::

 

[Jlentz]

Maybe overly optimistic but three months later my problem seems to be solved.

I used a sacrificial monti cap as a lure and got most/all of them on it before removing the whole mass and discarding. Waiting out another 2-3 weeks to get to 3 months without any coral they can eat.

::Fingers crossed::

Good luck!

I thought I beat them once. Then they came back with a vengeance. I've given up on months for at least a year...

 

[Neil Fox]

Good luck! My Digis, I just broke the tops off and dipped them then put them in QT for a few months. I got a Melanarus Wrasse that really helped wipe out the rest, a few rocks had some encrusting montis that have since recovered thanks to Mel. Coral RX will only stun the tougher MEN's, Bayer is likely better, but for the sake of safety, when in doubt, toss it out. Those eggs can last through a lot.

 

[Cameron Martinez]

Just brought a coral home from the LFS dipped it and found nudibraches comping off it. Cleaned it up and looked for eggs but didn't find any (visible anyways)

How long should I keep this guy in quarantine for? I will dip him every 3-4 days to get anything that hasn't hatched yet off him when the do hatch but how long does it take an egg to hatch?
I figure if he is out of the tank at least that long with regular dips he should be good to go just not sure what kind of timeline I'm looking at here.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Just brought a coral home from the LFS dipped it and found nudibraches comping off it. Cleaned it up and looked for eggs but didn't find any (visible anyways)

How long should I keep this guy in quarantine for? I will dip him every 3-4 days to get anything that hasn't hatched yet off him when the do hatch but how long does it take an egg to hatch?
I figure if he is out of the tank at least that long with regular dips he should be good to go just not sure what kind of timeline I'm looking at here.

Unfortunately since you said that it had multiple nudibranchs come off of it you have to simply wager that there are eggs. Personally I would probably throw the thing in the garbage or take it back to the store. If by chance it was some rare very expensive monti and you want to go through multiple dips and months in QT, I would give it 3 or 4 months in QT without any signs before introducing it to your display tank.

 

[Cameron Martinez]

Unfortunately since you said that it had multiple nudibranchs come off of it you have to simply wager that there are eggs. Personally I would probably throw the thing in the garbage or take it back to the store. If by chance it was some rare very expensive monti and you want to go through multiple dips and months in QT, I would give it 3 or 4 months in QT without any signs before introducing it to your display tank.

Wasn't an expensive guy but if I can get rid of them via quarantine no problem. That's why it's set up. Just want to know when I'm in the clear to add him to the tank.
I don't have too many option where I'm at for frags and the cost of shipping is outstanding for frags. So when the locals have something that catches my eye I usually get it there. I have purchased many from this guy and never ran into this.
Just glad I caught it before it hit my tank.

 

[Jlentz]

I'd wait at least two months. Probably dip every 3 days or so. I'd rotate between revive, coral rx, and Bayer.

 

[Coronus]

I am setting up my new tank in few weeks and I want to avoid MEN, SPS Pest, and LR pest at all cost.. This is a side of the hobby I really don't want to become an expert on and I compare these pest to something like Bed bugs.. Very difficult to get rid of, multiple medication, eggs are hard to kill, and you better off throwing everything away..

My method of hopefully living a pest free life:

1. I plan on keeping everything on pegs so if I have to remove I don't have to break the coral at the base and re-glue. This would make dipping easy and if I ever have to move corals when they grow into each other I can do so easily.

2. Less is more approach. More LR = More room for pest to roam. Same holds true for corals. I dont need more than 15 corals in my 115G Thats plenty once they grow in.

3. Add known fish that can control bugs such as wrasses. If anyone can recommend anything other than a six line wrasse that would be great

4. buy corals and fish from reputable dealers only. search for eggs, dipp, brush, and inspect constantly. If there is a sign of a pest I will dip again without having to break the base off.

Cut all Frags off their plugs after you buy them. Toss the old plug. Dip the coral and mount to a new plug. Very important to throw away the old one. Eggs can be hiding under the plug inside algae, masked in coralline, in cracks in the plug.

 

[wpeterson]

I endorse all the advice above here. It's always a good idea to unmount and toss frag plugs coral arrive on.

I'm happy to say I may have won my battle with nudibranchs after 3 months montipora-fallow.

I added a tester green monti cap 3 weeks ago and it's doing well without any sign of nudibranchs in the tank.

 

[Reefcowboy]

Im fighting them now also. Alarming how fast they eat some plating pieces. I think the best way is to keep the monti pieces loose over the sand so it is easier to dip every 3-4 days.
I use revive at a concentrated ratio and it is very efficient.
I gave up scrubbing their bottoms, IMO dipping every 3-4 days is the main erradication procedure so the generations are killed before they are old enough to reproduce.

The issue is many of us, myself included skip/forget to do every required dip on the clock, so some get old enough laying more eggs and becoming an ongoing pest.

If done on every monti(even ones not infested) on a schedule without exception for 2 weeks, they would be erradicated

 

[Neil Fox]

Im fighting them now also. Alarming how fast they eat some plating pieces. I think the best way is to keep the monti pieces loose over the sand so it is easier to dip every 3-4 days.
I use revive at a concentrated ratio and it is very efficient.
I gave up scrubbing their bottoms, IMO dipping every 3-4 days is the main erradication procedure so the generations are killed before they are old enough to reproduce.

The issue is many of us, myself included skip/forget to do every required dip on the clock, so some get old enough laying more eggs and becoming an ongoing pest.

If done on every monti(even ones not infested) on a schedule without exception for 2 weeks, they would be erradicated

The eggs are not affected by dipping.

 

[Reefcowboy]

The eggs are not affected by dipping.

Exactly. Every three to four days the eggs hatch so one must dip every so often to kill the newborns before they become adults and lay more eggs. After 4 intervals of dip sessions(3-4 days appart) there should be no more eggs