Whats Wrong With My Monti??

Xler8n · Jun 7, 2011

So ive had this problem with my montis starting to get eaten by something. At first i thought it was the population of astrea starfish in my tank. I always catch them around the eaten montis but usually never on them, maybe a couple of times. Tonight i shone the flashlight to see the monti and it looked worse then the night before. Its making me think its nudis but i cant find any even with an 8x magnifiying glass. I havent added anything new to my tank in the way of corals. Only one yellow tang. Thats the only thing that has changed. Ive had these montis in my tank for awhile but now it seems like its getting worse and maybe speading.. What should i do? Anyone have any idea what it could be? All params are where they should be. Please help!!

Paul_N · Jun 7, 2011

If there is nothing stinging it then I would put money on nudi's also. Usually when they eat monti's though the area will look while or pale. Are you having any issues with other coral or just monti?

Xler8n · Jun 7, 2011

Just montiporas. But where would the nudis have come from? And its only been one or two montis. Im thinking its these dam things because wheb i get up and look in the tank with a light i see these little *******s always near the eaten montis.

If it is them, i know i have to get a harlequin shrimp or two but do you think they would do this type of damage? Ive heard of them eating Acros but not montis. Some say that they eat all SPS. I dont know if i should get some Coral RX and dip or what... Im stumped..

Paul_N · Jun 7, 2011

If it is nudi's they will eventually get to all the monti's unfortunately. They could have came in on frags rocks, anything. The eggs are very tiny. Check this link out and look at the pic with the eggs.

How Does Your Montipora Nudibranch Look Like?

Xler8n · Jun 7, 2011

Thats the thing. The Monti will get a bleach spot on it. Be fine for awhile and then get another. My purple haze monti got a small kinda circular shaped bleach spot on it and then nothing. No more attacks on it. Im not sure whats going on.

RalphsReef · Jun 7, 2011

Is your alk constant? Some of my montis will start to freak out if I have alk swings. I think those stars get to the coral after the bleached spot has already developed At least that is what I have seen. If I get behind on dosing or water changes, the montis act up. Once everything is back in check, they slowly color up and encrust over the bleached spots.

Xler8n · Jun 7, 2011

Im gonna test my params right now.

PH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Calcium - 460
Alkalintiy - 6 - 7 dkh
Magnesium - 1400 - 1500 ppm
Salinity - 1.024

gar732 · Jun 7, 2011

Its tough to see the nudi's sometimes. It will look like grains of sand on the monti. The adults look like the ones in the link. In my experience they seem to like caps the best, I haven't found any on digi's and just a few on encrusting and setosa. That's not to say they won't eat digi's that just my experience with them. Try dipping them and with a soft bristle tooth brush lightly brush them especially the dead parts. They lay their eggs right next to the flesh on the dead spots. They should start to look a little better or at least stop dying off until the next batch of eggs hatches and then it starts all over again. If it ends up being nudi's it's better to remove the infected pieces and dip the others just to be sure. Hopefully it's not nudi's, good luck.

RalphsReef · Jun 7, 2011

Check your alk over the next few days to see if it is swinging. You may also want to get it a little higher than 6-7. Shoot for 8-9. Your mag is a tad high, but not unheard of. Otherwise your numbers look good. Without confirming there are monti eating nudis, I would think it is an alk swing or low alk.

Xler8n · Jun 7, 2011

I dont know why my PH and ALK are so low. After i move my tank (8 feet) then i want to start dripping Kalk with an ATO to raise the PH and ALK. I dont see any nudis and i dont know wherr they would have come from. Im gonna dip and if it gets worse im gonna frag whats left and throw again the infected part

Paul_N · Jun 8, 2011

If you can't find any nudi's I would put money on the low alk. I would definitely get the alk a little higher. Anytime it goes below 7 some coral can start to show some signs of stress, especially if you normally run it say 8 or 9 and it drops to 6. What do you normally run your alk at? Your mag is fine where it's at. I run my mag around 1500 all the time. Even when I dosed mag for bryopsis a few years ago I never saw any negative effects on coral when I bumped it up to 2000.

RalphsReef · Jun 8, 2011

Once you start dosing, just keep a close eye on your other levels to make sure they stay in check. And make sure you slowly raise the alk. I would go for a half point a day just to be safe. No sense in aggravating the situation.

Dave3112 · Jun 8, 2011

I agree with the above posts. I would raise the alk to 9. It is perfectly ok to raise the alk by a point a day and your Mg is fine too. I run mine at 1650 all the time but I also keep my Ca around 480-500.

Xler8n · Jun 9, 2011

I havent started dosing anything into my tank because up until now the bi weekly water changes have been enough to keep the levels stable. Why is it that my ALK and PH are low but my Calcium and Mag are fine? I have DTs 3 part dosing system that ive only used it once until i found out i didnt need it yet. Should i just start dosing ALK? Or should i start doing Kalk?

RalphsReef · Jun 9, 2011

Bi-weekly changes are very good, however things change as you add more livestock, especially coral, and when that livestock begins to grow. Typically, and at least in my experience, I only have to dose alk and calcium. If they are proper, my mag stays in check. That is my experience though. The more coral you put in the more you have to monitor your levels. A highly stocked SPS system could be known as a calcium sucking setup that might need automated dosing. There is an online vendor who supplies dosing materials in bulk. Not sure if they are a sponsor or not, or I would mention the name (you can PM me if you need it). Their website is very informative, with video directions and explanations.

flyfish4trout · Jun 9, 2011

Monti's

I had a similar problem looked and looked for pests finally one day I dipped them and I had a flat worm that only got on the monti's no one believes me but here is the pick. They never touched any of my other acros just the encrusting monti's. Massive frag fest and 20 dips later no more flat worms. Just another option to through out there for you to investigate. Not the best pic but you can see a couple of those suckers on it.