Can't beat the Nudibranch !!!

Discussion in 'Inverts' started by cjrudy, Jul 17, 2013.

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  1. cjrudy

    cjrudy Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Its been over six months since I first noticed the monitpora eating nudibranch in my tank. After it took out all my digitata I removed my remaining three monti caps and treated them with a strong Bayer Dip. A month later I lost a small green monti cap, I again removed the other two and dipped. Also picked up a Potters Leopards Wrasse to help. Things seemed ok for few months but I just came back from vacation to find a large portion of my orange monti cap eaten. The problem now is that cap has gotten so big its now attached to three separate rocks and there is absolutely no way to remove it and dip it.

    Obviously my wrasse is not helping and I cant dip the cap, so other than trying to remove the nudibranch manually, or blowing off with a turkey baster.

    What else can I do ??
     
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  3. Marshall O

    Marshall O Giant Squid

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    Can you see them? If so, why not physically remove them? I have used my target feeder (basically a turkey baster) to suck them up and remove them.
     
  4. cjrudy

    cjrudy Coral Banded Shrimp

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    I do when I see them, but on a large swirling monti cap, its hard
     
  5. louy99

    louy99 Feather Duster

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    you may have to remove all your monti's for 3 months to starve them to death and then reintroduce them
     
  6. tom.n.day

    tom.n.day Eyelash Blennie

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    This sounds like the best way to go
     
  7. scadsobees

    scadsobees Fire Shrimp

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    Dipping them only kills the nudis on the monti. Even then I'm not sure if it kills the eggs. And then when you put them back in...the ones hiding in the tank go right back.

    As heartbreaking as it is, you will probably need to break up that monti to get it into quarantine for a while. Dip them, put in quarantine. Watch closely. Dip if you see any more.

    In the meantime make sure there aren't any montis in the tank for a while. Reintroduce a small piece for a while and monitor that before putting the rest back in. They can hide really well, and one might be eating an underside and you can't see it and might think they are gone.

    I beat them, but I don't have any big pieces and I was checking each monti carefully and sucking them up every night. Plus a dip and quarantine for some of them.
     
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  9. schackmel

    schackmel Giant Squid

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    hate to say this, but you will probably not beat them. The problem is, only 1 nudi needs to be alive to lay eggs, and lots and lots of them. Eggs do not respond to the treatment, so you have to keep redipping them. Plus the "babies" can lay eggs early on

    What i suggest is to remove ALL monti from your tank and place them in a QT tank. Dip the montis every 2-3 days. Leave your main display tank free of montis for at least 3 months. No montis whatsoever. I would try coralrx right now.

    I even went as far as having 2 small bare bottom QT tanks set up so that after I dipped them, I simply moved them to the other tank and did a complete water change to ensure that any and all nudi that might have fallen off the coral were removed. I would use the water from my DT, and just do water changes in that tank.

    I did not have any luck on treating my outbreak. As a hard lesson, I always dip my corals period. However there are 2 corals that even with dipping I always QT, that is montis and Zoas.

    good luck!
     
  10. Boywithafishtan

    Boywithafishtan Coral Banded Shrimp

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    You can remove them manually, but you of course cant remove the eggs that way. Arent the eggs on montipora eating nudibranches typically at the bottom of the montipora cap? Some say that you can dip them, and brush the underside with a tootbrush and that will remove the eggs, and kill all living nudis aswell.