Tiny BAD BUGS are back. Be aware of these.

[Amphibious]

I couple of months ago I reported how I found Montipora predatory Nudibranchs on a Monti coral in my 135. Over the next few days I pulled the coral out and picked off at least 12 of the dirty buggers. They just kept appearing. Well another white spot showed up yesterday on a different Montipora coral. Here's a picture....



Two affected areas are clearly visible. Sometimes the offending bugger is right there chowing down but I had to look further. Upon removing the coral and turning it over I found him/her/it!........



The Nudibranch can be seen munching away on the underside. I will have to check this piece of coral for the next few days by, removing it and looking underneath.

These are nasty little buggers and again wanted to alert everyone to watch your Montipora corals for the telltale white area.

[Victoria]

Do you have a picture of one of the nudibranch?

[Amphibious]

Do you have a picture of one of the nudibranch?

Yes. In the second picture above, he's on the far left of the piece of coral. Here's one of him after I removed him....



They're very tiny and often go undetected because on a large Montipora they sometimes do their dirty work on the underside out of sight.

[JayBeDriften]

Nasty little bugger eh?

[wildeone]

Good info Amp. Thanks!

[Bernie]

So Amp, what is the remedy? Just keep removing them as you find them until none are left? Or is there something more wide spread like a nudi-bomb?

[Amphibious]

I'm not aware of any remedy. I've been fortunate enough to be able to pick them off larger pieces of Montipora or being able to remove the frag as in the pics above and pick them off.

[gwen_o_lyn]

I just discovered nudibranchs eating at my new $100+ pink zoas rock

I noticed that the polyps weren't opened when I got home from work today and then I looked closely and saw them. I have picked off at least 20 of them. They look a little different than the kind in Dick's tank.

I'm not sure what to do. The zoa rock is floating in tupperware in the top of my tank. I want to do a freshwater dip on this rock, but will the zoas survive? Would a FW dip even help???

[Stevej72]

Sorry to hear that Gwen.
I know the Zoas will survive. Im not sure it would help with the nudibranchs / nudibranchs eggs. But after picking off 20 I would sure give it a try. I had to dip a colony of mine for sundial snail / eggs. what I did was dip for a few min. (about four) then rinse with a baster then dip for another min. or two rinse again thin back in to Isolation

[gwen_o_lyn]

Ok I may try the FW dip. I think I have seen eggs too while picking off these nudibranchs

Thanks Steve!!

[Amphibious]

Gwen, I'm sorry to hear about those buggers you have. Take a picture if you can so we can see them. Good luck!

[gwen_o_lyn]

I was just thinking a few moments ago while chopping up the toadstool that if it wasn't for this thread that I wouldn't have known what they were or may not have seen them. Much thanks to you for this thread.

What happens from here? If the entire tank is infested, are we doomed? What is usually the outcome for tanks with this problem?

I may not be able to get a picture. I haven't seen anymore for over an hour and they are very small.

[Amphibious]

If it were my problem, I would hand pick them for a few days. If that doesn't get rid of them, then I'd try a hyposalinity dip. I don't like total freshwater dips. That scares the bejesus out of me and stress the animal a bunch. I usually take tank water and dilute with RO/DI down to 1.010 and dip for about five minutes. I like Steve's idea of a turkey baster to swoosh the dead or weekened buggers and eggs off the rock.

Are they smaller than the ones pictured above? They are less than 1/4" long.

[gwen_o_lyn]

I did a 3 minute freshwater dip and squirted the rock with a turkey baster. I also took a tweezers and scraped off anything that looked like eggs. The tank will be under close observation for now.

[Amphibious]

Got it. I wish you good luck. Keep us informed.

[gwen_o_lyn]

I would have to say they are less than 1/4 inch- maybe less than 1/8th.

[Stevej72]

Wow those are small.

Good info Amp, I never thought of a hyposalinity dip

The dip I did did not kill the sundial snails but it did the eggs. I had to hand pick or blast off the snails. which by the way I put two sundials in my FW tank, they stayed closed but lived for at lease a week ( i took them out and put them in some SW and they opend right up) but they didnt last a month.

I never saw any more sundials after the FW dip

[Amphibious]

Wow those are small.

Good info Amp, I never thought of a hyposalinity dip

I'm not a scientist but, the feeling I get from having done freshwater dips for years is that the critters involved are stressed to the max. Most survive or we wouldn't continue doing it. But, I began putting a little IO in the water to help balance things. The purpose behind the freshwater dip is to flood the outer membrane of the pest, thereby killing it. Well, guess what. The fish, coral, zoo or what ever the host critter is, has a similar membrane and it is flooded, too, causing great stress. That's why we only dip for a few minutes.

Using a freshwater dip presents another challenge. Another critical factor to consider is Ph of the dip water. I just now tested my RO/DI water and compared it to my system water. The results were amazing. Reef tank Ph = 8.37, RO/DI water Ph = 7.17, YIKES! This is testing with an American Marine, Pinpoint Ph meter. So, it's accurate.

I haven't done a hypo-salinity dip since getting my Ph meter. I used the standard PH test kit. An interesting test would be to mix up some RO/DI water to 1.010 and test the Ph after allowing it to mix thoroughly. I'll do that tomorrow while in the process of preparing for my Saturday water change. Stay tuned for my report.

Interesting discussion.

[lReef lKeeper]

what ever came of the test on hyposalinity water HP, Amp?? this would be some great info.

[Amphibious]

Hmmm, you know it never got done, sorry. I'll try to remember this week end, the next water mix/change.

[iglowce]

thats some crazy spoil brats. hehe

[cristos]

I think that six line wrasse eat them. Did you find another fish that eat them?