So I am learning the hard way like a complete newby. I picked up some nice red montipora and green montipora with the purple rim about a week ago from a fellow reefer. Yesterday I noticed a white spot on the end of the red monti so I pulled it out of the tank, and sure enough there was an adult nudi on the underside of it. I pulled the green monti out after and it had adults under it too. So i put both pieces in a tank I am about to shut down that has no other coral in it. My main question is can they spread to my other SPS, i did some research and there seems to be conflicting ideas as to weather or not they spread to other SPS species. Any ideas regarding their spread or possible ways to safe the pieces I pulled out would be appreciated.
Montipora Nudibranch
- Thread starter doc585
- Start date
I had a battle with these guys last year, they really do suck.
They do not eat anything but Montipora, and some montipora seem to be more tasty than others. My experiance was:
- Idaho Grape, Thick Orange Plate = survives, they eat it, but not much
- The thinner green cap, green with purple rim, green with blue polyps, etc = get eaten fast and destroyed fairly quickly
- Digis are also attacked, but seem to not be a favorite for the nudi.
There is no reef-safe cure. The treatments that do exist are a pain, require you to use scary chemicals, and nearly kill the coral in the process.
My suggestion, throw out all montipora that are infected, then do not get any montipora for 4-6 months to let the ones in the tank you cannot see die out.
I threw away lots and lots of colonies (dinner plate sized) when I got infected. The eggs don't come off easily, and are usually in folds and holes you are never going to get to. Coral dips stun the adults, but do nothing to the eggs.
I basically removed all montipora from my tank, and left it for 6 months, then started buying montis again. I did manage to save smaller frags of my original colonies by coating the bottoms of the caps with epoxy and superglue (so the eggs were trapped), and monitoring them in a separate frag tank for any that survived. It seemed to work as I finally have monti growth in my display and haven't seen an actual nudibranch for over 4 months.
I lost pretty much all the caps in this pic:
- MikeT
They do not eat anything but Montipora, and some montipora seem to be more tasty than others. My experiance was:
- Idaho Grape, Thick Orange Plate = survives, they eat it, but not much
- The thinner green cap, green with purple rim, green with blue polyps, etc = get eaten fast and destroyed fairly quickly
- Digis are also attacked, but seem to not be a favorite for the nudi.
There is no reef-safe cure. The treatments that do exist are a pain, require you to use scary chemicals, and nearly kill the coral in the process.
My suggestion, throw out all montipora that are infected, then do not get any montipora for 4-6 months to let the ones in the tank you cannot see die out.
I threw away lots and lots of colonies (dinner plate sized) when I got infected. The eggs don't come off easily, and are usually in folds and holes you are never going to get to. Coral dips stun the adults, but do nothing to the eggs.
I basically removed all montipora from my tank, and left it for 6 months, then started buying montis again. I did manage to save smaller frags of my original colonies by coating the bottoms of the caps with epoxy and superglue (so the eggs were trapped), and monitoring them in a separate frag tank for any that survived. It seemed to work as I finally have monti growth in my display and haven't seen an actual nudibranch for over 4 months.
I lost pretty much all the caps in this pic:
- MikeT
man i am sorry to hear that, that had to be rough to loose that much coral, luckily i just started collecting so i am not taking too large of a financial hit. is there anyway to dip the coral before to take care of them in advance?
I had a battle with these guys last year, they really do suck.
They do not eat anything but Montipora, and some montipora seem to be more tasty than others. My experiance was:
- Idaho Grape, Thick Orange Plate = survives, they eat it, but not much
- The thinner green cap, green with purple rim, green with blue polyps, etc = get eaten fast and destroyed fairly quickly
- Digis are also attacked, but seem to not be a favorite for the nudi.
There is no reef-safe cure. The treatments that do exist are a pain, require you to use scary chemicals, and nearly kill the coral in the process.
My suggestion, throw out all montipora that are infected, then do not get any montipora for 4-6 months to let the ones in the tank you cannot see die out.
I threw away lots and lots of colonies (dinner plate sized) when I got infected. The eggs don't come off easily, and are usually in folds and holes you are never going to get to. Coral dips stun the adults, but do nothing to the eggs.
I basically removed all montipora from my tank, and left it for 6 months, then started buying montis again. I did manage to save smaller frags of my original colonies by coating the bottoms of the caps with epoxy and superglue (so the eggs were trapped), and monitoring them in a separate frag tank for any that survived. It seemed to work as I finally have monti growth in my display and haven't seen an actual nudibranch for over 4 months.
I lost pretty much all the caps in this pic:
- MikeT
They do not eat anything but Montipora, and some montipora seem to be more tasty than others. My experiance was:
- Idaho Grape, Thick Orange Plate = survives, they eat it, but not much
- The thinner green cap, green with purple rim, green with blue polyps, etc = get eaten fast and destroyed fairly quickly
- Digis are also attacked, but seem to not be a favorite for the nudi.
There is no reef-safe cure. The treatments that do exist are a pain, require you to use scary chemicals, and nearly kill the coral in the process.
My suggestion, throw out all montipora that are infected, then do not get any montipora for 4-6 months to let the ones in the tank you cannot see die out.
I threw away lots and lots of colonies (dinner plate sized) when I got infected. The eggs don't come off easily, and are usually in folds and holes you are never going to get to. Coral dips stun the adults, but do nothing to the eggs.
I basically removed all montipora from my tank, and left it for 6 months, then started buying montis again. I did manage to save smaller frags of my original colonies by coating the bottoms of the caps with epoxy and superglue (so the eggs were trapped), and monitoring them in a separate frag tank for any that survived. It seemed to work as I finally have monti growth in my display and haven't seen an actual nudibranch for over 4 months.
I lost pretty much all the caps in this pic:
- MikeT
Nope, kills the parents, but leaves the eggs.
I think the only chemical that is known to work is called potassium permanganate, but it also is very hard on the coral (it will look horrible for weeks "if" it survives. It cannot be used in a full tank (kills pretty much everything).
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/eb/index.php
- MikeT
I think the only chemical that is known to work is called potassium permanganate, but it also is very hard on the coral (it will look horrible for weeks "if" it survives. It cannot be used in a full tank (kills pretty much everything).
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/eb/index.php
- MikeT
These things are a pain in the A$$! But can be eradicated quite easily with a little persistence with a couple of ways; Coral RX/Revive or Salifert Flatworm Exit. Either dip all the Montis in Coral RX/Revive once a week for 6-8weeks, to kill all the generations. Or treat the tank with Double Dose Flatworm Exit 3-4 times 2 weeks apart. If you need more help, PM me.
