I Hate Montipora Eating Nudibranches!

[Reef Jeff]

Like the title says...I hate these things. I just put this one in Bayer dip double strength. Hasn't phased him for 20 minutes! I wouldn't dare use that strength on a coral. Tried to upload a 10 second video showing him swimming in it, but guess videos have to be hosted elsewhere.

 

[mtraylor]

how does it react to prazipro

 

[Hagios]

If you can find one, radiant wrasses are great at keeping them at bay, and even eradicating them. Then also feed on aefw's as well.

 

[nashorn]

Oh I hate those!!!
I lost all my monti once. They hide and lay eggs under the rim. Try superglue to reduce their numbers.
I been using Revive since it seems to work better on AEFW.

 

[Oceanbear1]

I hate them for their coral eating ways, but otherwise I think they are kind of cool

 

[Reef Jeff]

how does it react to prazipro

I will get some and give it a try. That Nudibranch is still sitting in the double dose Bayer dip (almost 3 1/2 hours now) and is still alive! And it is fresh Bayer dip, so that does NOT work.

If you can find one, radiant wrasses are great at keeping them at bay, and even eradicating them. Then also feed on aefw's as well.

I was researching which Wrasse to try...I'll be on the hunt for one of these this weekend.

Oh I hate those!!!
I lost all my monti once. They hide and lay eggs under the rim. Try superglue to reduce their numbers.
I been using Revive since it seems to work better on AEFW.

Agreed...I have pulled the Monti off the rock a few times and dipped with different dips and scrubbed the underside with a toothbrush in the dip. At one point the Monti slimed so bad I could hardly get him rinsed off. He turned white for several days and now the color is back red as ever, and then I found the next nudibranch. I knew this would be the case.

I hate them for their coral eating ways, but otherwise I think they are kind of cool

Yep...very cool looking pest...but...

 

[tankstudy]

Have you tried Dr. G's coral dip?

I've had some success with killing nudibranchs with this.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I thought Dr g's was just interceptor in a bottle basically. That's not going to kill anything but red bugs.

I tried to tell everyone that Bayer sucked for certain pests. I had one swimming in very potent dip made just to try to kill it.

 

[BoomCorals]

I thought Dr g's was just interceptor in a bottle basically. That's not going to kill anything but red bugs.

I tried to tell everyone that Bayer sucked for certain pests. I had one swimming in very potent dip made just to try to kill it.

Yes Bayer is mostly just good for flat worms. It doesn’t stop things like nudis, zoa spiders, red bugs, etc from what I’ve seen.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

When bayer first was being used and tested it was being used to kill redbugs too.
The best dip for flatworms is melafix in my opinion. I never use Bayer anymore after seeing so many people get pests because they couldn't see what was coming off the or the Bayer didn't work on the particular pest or the dosage was a little off or whatever happens. Monti nudis seem to be horrible, I am glad I don't keep or collect montipora anymore.

 

[A4goulet]

I rid my tank of monti eating nudis by dipping in 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and tank water. I lost or tossed most of my montis but kept one cap as bait. When ever I would see a nudi on the monti I would dip it. Over a few months time they were gone.

 

[xCry0x]

Had both monti and zoa eating nudi's erupt in my tank after I got rid of my 6 line wrasse.

Would venture a guess that I had them for a long time but the wrasse kept their populations in check. After getting rid of the wrasse I lost my spongodes colony as well as 3-4 other monti frags before I realized what was going on.

Ended up pulling all the montis out so can't say I "won" that battle.

With the zoa eating nudi's I did multiple system wide doses of flatworm exit but would say what really "won" that battle was when I upgraded my tank I kept all my zoas in my old tank and did d fw/iodine dip every few days on them. Fairly stressful for the corals but I figured they were essentially dead anyway if the nudi's survived and transferred to new tank.

Have montis and zoas in new tank now and haven't had issues. I also have a leopard wrasse which I would assume would eat nudi's as well given that they are a pod hunter like 6 lines.

 

[Som1else]

Superglue the little jerks. They suck but AEFW are far worse.

 

[hart24601]

I have been fighting these guys myself. I have found that bayer does work for me, however it works by them detaching from the coral, not by killing them outright, so I dip in heavy bayer, enough I can't see the coral, then agitate the coral in bayer, then wash and brush. This ime has been effective.




I have been using the wormer levamisole, as I have it for worming my FW fish. It sure does kill the buggers, but also kills a lot of other things. It doesn't directly kill coral that I have found, but too much will make them bleach out, but you can see the nudis peel of the coral. I read about using it off quality marine's site. It might even be effective against eggs, however the dosage that high my impact the coral. More experimentation is needed there, but I got so frustrated I just said f'it on my pico and started pouring levamisole in at crazy high dose until I saw them fall off the coral instantly.... My sps bleached badly but are recovering. Note I don't recommend doing that!!!

 

[Reef Jeff]

I am actually staying on top of this battle (so far). I am fortunate I only have three Montiporas and the nudibranches have only infected the leaf plate so far. I redipped all in another type of dip and scrubbed to remove eggs and placed it back in system. I knew I wouldn't get all the eggs so I have been checking the plate everyday several times a day. I set up an airline tube vacuum and when I see a nudibranch I vacuum it off into a bucket. It's odd because there is this one spot they all go to and it's right where I can see them and vacuum them off. I also got a six line wrasse who I hope has an appetite for nudibranches.

Each day I find fewer of them. The last two days I found none after a long session of searching, which means I am in between hatches. I actually found a dot and vacuumed it off and placed it under a microscope. You could see the nudibranch in the egg clear as day so I know more will appear in the next day or too.

The likelihood of actually beating this is low, but worse case I lose 2 small frags and my nice leaf plate. I'm going to stay on track and see how it goes. Call me crazy.

The sixline wrasse is great. He spends all day looking for food on corals, rocks, etc. He has been picking around the leaf plate, but I can't confirm what he is eating. We'll see. I'll report back as this progress.

 

[Reef Jeff]

Well the six line died. I think the salinity change was too much for him. The store where I got him had their salinity at 1.018 and mine is 1.026. I acclimating him slowly and confirmed ammonia level in bag was very low when I opened it up. It was a short trip home. He was lying on his side when I finally got salinity to match mine and then he perked up for a day and was eating and then the next day found him dead on a rock.

The good news is I'm still winning the battle. I was down to vacuuming 1-2 nudibranches per day off my leaf plate monti until Thursday. I added a Hoeven's Wrasse (Halichoeres melanurus) and haven't seen one since. This wrasse is great. The store where I got him uses the same salinity as I do so acclimation was much easier. Finger's crossed.

 

[3mm3]

Use a dip with iodine. Kills them fast.

 

[BoomCorals]

Well the six line died. I think the salinity change was too much for him. The store where I got him had their salinity at 1.018 and mine is 1.026. I acclimating him slowly and confirmed ammonia level in bag was very low when I opened it up. It was a short trip home. He was lying on his side when I finally got salinity to match mine and then he perked up for a day and was eating and then the next day found him dead on a rock.

The good news is I'm still winning the battle. I was down to vacuuming 1-2 nudibranches per day off my leaf plate monti until Thursday. I added a Hoeven's Wrasse (Halichoeres melanurus) and haven't seen one since. This wrasse is great. The store where I got him uses the same salinity as I do so acclimation was much easier. Finger's crossed.

How long was he in the bag and bag water? Ammonia level in bag is always low when you open it. But the longer it’s open the higher the ammonia level rises.

 

[Reef Jeff]

How long was he in the bag and bag water? Ammonia level in bag is always low when you open it. But the longer it’s open the higher the ammonia level rises.

He was in the bag 2 hours plus another 15 minutes floating to equalize temp before I opened the bag. Transported in insulated box, 3/4" fish in two quarts of water. As soon as I opened the bag I took a sample to test for ammonia level and then I put about 1/3 of the water in a plastic container I use to acclimate. While floating in the sump in the container I drip acclimated until salinity matched. I drained some water three times and continued to drip. Took two hours. While he was acclimating I tested the sample for ammonia with an API kit and it was closest to the .25 color. API not so good because you can get a .25 reading even when there is no ammonia. I figured I was okay in this case and it must have been the drastic change in salinity in such a short time.

What should I have done different? I'm always open to learn a better method.

 

[Syntax1235]

I've had luck with a Melanurus Wrasse.