Slayer33 Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 So, I got my first SPS on the weekend (Saturday), I didn't dip the coral, my fault... I trusted my LFS since its a small shop and this is my 5th coral purchased from him.. he says his corals are generally clean.. but I think the one I got on the weekend had a bad hitchhiker.. I noticed a few hours after I placed my new monitpora digitata in my tank a small mucus looking blob beside it.. it had white specks in it.. I thought maybe it was snail eggs or something.. anyways, 2 days later I see these white things that look like tiny slugs with branches off of them.. I tried to keep an eye on it while I searched the internet for a description of good/bad.. I think it is a bad nudibranch, so I pulled it out with tweezers.. later I read they could be monitipora eating nudibranches... so I looked closer at my coral and saw 2 more of them on the coral.. I picked them off.. I haven't seen anymore since.. but am worried now that I have a pest that will eat my corals in my sleep! I've attached the pic of it.. its hard to see, was quite tiny.. maybe 1/8" long.. I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to get rid of these if there are more? Link to comment
Boggers Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 You look to be correct in your ID. To eliminate you will have to remove most SPS coral for 3 months and treat in a QT tank. They propagate asexually and very quickly. (about 100 eggs/time and become adults in a weeks time) Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Yep, that's it. I lost a green monti cap frag to nudis and can confirm. They're actually sort of beautiful animals. Until you look at the expensive coral they just munched on and killed. To the best of my knowledge, MEN don't eat corals other than Montipora. If you remove all the montis from your tank for a few months, the remaining nudis and the ones that hatch will die off. I was like you, I was fortunate enough to have my monti eating nudi experience early, before my tank was full of beautiful and expensive corals for the nudis to eat. Personally I'm grateful that I had that terrible experience early. It's a good lesson that no coral is safe, and that the only way to be safe is to QT everything and anything that goes into your tank. Link to comment
Slayer33 Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 Hmmm... Thanks! I don't have anywhere to quarantine the corals.. it was a cheap piece to test out with that I fragged into 3.. I might put them on one of those frag trays maybe and keep an eye on them and if I see a nudibranch pick it off.. Will these nudibranches eat my other corals? I only have the 1 sps, the rest are zoanthids, GSP, hammer and torch corals Link to comment
Boggers Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 They will not harm softies or LPS. Link to comment
Asureef Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 They prefer montiporas, get yourself a coris wrasse. Siphon out what you can see and remember to always dip especially if it's from a LFS. Link to comment
Slayer33 Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 a Coris Wrasse I think is too big for my 12 gallon tank.. how about a six line wrasse? or some other wrasse? Link to comment
Ranjib Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Use flatworm exit. Once every week. for three weeks, and see if that helps. It has worked for me in past. Link to comment
do not smoke the reef(er) Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Honestly best bet is to throw it out if you havent had it in there for long. DOnt want that spreading to other corals. Link to comment
Asureef Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 14 hours ago, Slayer33 said: a Coris Wrasse I think is too big for my 12 gallon tank.. how about a six line wrasse? or some other wrasse? 6lines are evil. I think a small yellow coris wrasse would do fine in a 12g. I don't know their growth rate but mine hasn't grown much. He's about 2", but I got him when he was super tiny though under 1". Very active fish. I had nudi. in my older 28g. I got rid of them by siphoning every single one I saw with a plastic pipette and carefully inspect/dip the Montis that could be removed for nudi eggs. Link to comment
Slayer33 Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 I haven't noticed anymore last night... I've started up a small nanocube6 last night to use as a quarantine tank in my basement.. I think it'll be good to have a spare tank running incase I run into things like this or if something needs to be isolated. I'd like to add a wrasse but I think the bioload on my tank is maxed out.. I was wanting a wrasse or a royal gramma as a last addition but I don't know if I can do that without compromising my current tank residents.. I have 2 clowns, a yellow watchman goby for fish, for inverts I have a cleaner shrimp, pistol tiger shrimp, porcelain crab, 6 hermit crabs, 9 snails.. Link to comment
Ranjib Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 That's awesome . QT is very good idea. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.