Montipora eating nudibranchs

[Anonymous]

Anyone here succeed in the battle against these beasties? Not sure I could remove all of the montiporas to dip and quarentine them, as there are so many little pieces all over the tank, whenever I accidentally break some digi I just drop the piece in a hole somewhere.

I did a couple searches on RC, turns out that several of the fish that "might" eat them are also fish I would like to have, and I am currently quite low on fish. So I think I might go that route in addition to manual removal at night.

I haven't actually seen any yet, 8) but I saw a post from someone who has them, and it turns out I have recently introduced some frags from the same source that he attributes his nudis too. I was trying not to worry about it, but today I see a icky spot on one of my caps that looks like the photos of nudi damage. Sigh.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought I eradicated them, but found some just the other day - happily eating a piece of undata. Ugh.
I made all my montis removable for iodine dips, and kept a careful watch before lights on - hunting the suckers with a flashlight and a bulb syringe.

I would dip the possibly infected frags, and scrub whatever they are attatched to with a toothbrush to get rid of the eggs.

I hate these guys. Since my tank inhabitants are currently in the sump while the new floor goes in the living room, I may set up a q tank with all the montis and leave the show tank monti free for a while. UGH!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice.

Sorry to see you have them again! I did see some of your old posts while I was looking for info. I kind of gathered that some people keep them under control by routinely picking them all out?

Hopefully I didn't actually get any. I shall check tonight.

 

[Anonymous]

Picking them out seems to be the most effective thing to do other than a q tank and whatever Mitch Carl said kills the worms (prescription only IIRC).

I hope you didn't get them either!

 

[Len]

Laura, which fish might eat them? When I hear "might," it usually means "not likely" Still, if they're the fish you want anyhow, it's definitely worth a shot.

 

[Anonymous]

Yellow coris wrasse, six or eight line wrasse, and a few others prolly will eat them though it seems they may just stop them from becoming a plague instead of eradicating them.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, I have heard several people say the yellow "coris" wrasse eats them.

Also I saw someone who said he has seen his green clown gobies eat them, but they tend to hang in the digi not the caps, so they won't get them all. Like Righty said it seems the fish option might keep them under control but not truly eradicate them.

Both of which are fish I like! I don't have a sandbed though, so the wrasse is out unless I give him a little bowl somewhere. I only have two fish in my 120 right now, so I have plenty of room for more fish.

I think I have them. I saw something frilly that looked like it might be them, and the icky spot on my cap looked a little bigger, with some tendrils of slime. Looks like the photos of nudi damage. What I saw was so small I couldn't tell if it was just maybe a bit of fish poo or something caught on the edge of the coral, or a nudi. It was cream colored and frilly in the current though. I tried to suck whatever it was up in a turkey baster, but I didn't get anything. What do you think would be the best tool to suck them out with?

I went and just broke that whole piece off and put it in a glass jar to look, but couldn't see anything. My thinking as if there are nudis there I may as well get that peice out, and if not, it will grow back anyway.

 

[Anonymous]

That sounds like 'em. Best tool to suck them out is a bulb syringe - like for baby buggers.

Iodine dip the piece you broke off.

 

[Anonymous]

I tossed out the piece I broke off, it wasn't much not worth saving.

It was funny, I went to the fish store to get some Lugols, and he said he didn't have any and to use the Kent Iodide. I wasn't sure if you could do an iodine dip with that (I had always used the Lugols) so I told him, no, I am looking for Lugols and I explained what I was wanting it for. I went to look at fish and he comes back with a big syringe filled with Lugols. He said he won't sell it anymore because "his customers use too much and kill their tank", but he had a bottle for his own use so he gave me some. I thought that was nice. Where I live I don't have much of an option if my local place doesn't have it. I could drive 45 minutes to PetCo and they would be out of whatever I needed anyway.

Of course they had lots of the cutest little yellow coris wrasses. I think I might have to find something to put some sand in to make him a nice bed to sleep in. They were so cute. I am such a sucker for a nice wrasse, this sounds like a great excuse to get one.

I will pick up one of those baby bulb syringe thingys.

Hopefully I can keep these things under control, of course the only evidence is on the monti I like the most. They could go to town on my brown digi, but nooooooo.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, they'll get your brown digi, just wait! I mean, I hope not!

I am thinking the same thing about yellow coris wrasses. Not sure where to put the bowl of sand...