Montipora sea spider?

[Chrisv.]

I recently bought some Montipora and Acropora from a local reefer (who had an absolutely stunning system). Before sending me home with my corals he briefly dipped them in Bayer. Luckily I was able to take a closer look before adding them to my DT. Both Montipora were infested with numerous sea spiders that survived the very brief dip. Out of an abundance of caution, all frags were returned. I was able to get a few pics.

I have no idea if these guys are Montipora eaters, but I had no intention of finding out. Anyone have experience with these?

 

[Chrille26]

Only heard of Zoanthid eating spiders before, but no spider is a good spider in a reeftank in my opinion, so good choice in returning them!

 

[Chrisv.]

My thoughts exactly. Better just left out. I've been doing this for long enough to know that no coral, no matter how beautiful or how urgently wanted, is worth introducing pests for.

Fwiw the very large connected frag tanks that these came out of contained mostly Acropora and a few Montipora. I was there for sps, so maybe I just didn't notice an attached zoa system, but these are for sure living on Montipora. Maybe they like zoas too, it maybe it's a Montipora specific species of sea spider.

Posted here because when I searched for Montipora sea spiders I found almost nothing. Fun.

Only heard of Zoanthid eating spiders before, but no spider is a good spider in a reeftank in my opinion, so good choice in returning them!

 

[ScottR]

There is a such thing as sea spiders. Not true spiders of course and most are carnivores. I’m sure they’re not very picky eaters.

 

[DaneGer21]

Were their frag tanks connected to their DT? How did all the corals look otherwise? Only because then you might know what was affected in their system by these pests.

Doesn’t look fun though haha

 

[Chrisv.]

There is a such thing as sea spiders. Not true spiders of course and most are carnivores. I’m sure they’re not very picky eaters.

I'm not sure what makes you say they are not picky! There are no doubt many species (no doubt many yet to be characterized!!) The fact that they seemed to only be on the Montipora and not the Acropora that were 14 inches away in the same frag tank makes me wonder if the prefer to eat Montipora.

Either way, I'm glad they are not mine.

 

[Chrisv.]

Were their frag tanks connected to their DT? How did all the corals look otherwise? Only because then you might know what was affected in their system by these pests.

Doesn’t look fun though haha

The frag tanks are connected to nice DTs that looked healthy, (though don't have many Montipora). The frags in the tank generally looked good. The seller explained that he dips every frag in his collection once a month to prevent infestetation. It must be incredibly hard to manage pests when dealing with thousands of frags (as in this person's system). I suspect that he is gentle with dips and keeps the level of pests below "full outbreak levels."

 

[DaneGer21]

The frag tanks are connected to nice DTs that looked healthy, (though don't have many Montipora). The frags in the tank generally looked good. The seller explained that he dips every frag in his collection once a month to prevent infestetation. It must be incredibly hard to manage pests when dealing with thousands of frags (as in this person's system). I suspect that he is gentle with dips and keeps the level of pests below "full outbreak levels."

Thanks for the update; was curious!