Encrusting monti bugs?

am07f · Dec 10, 2009

Ok so i have a lot of montiporas all different kinds and now im starting to have issues. My tank is doing great awesome growth on all the digitatas, zoos, chalices, everythingg.
Ive noticed the large encrusting monti havent moved at all. They colored up beautifully since i got them but no growth. I have had random bleachings and now its getting worse and has jumped to other colonies. I brought my poker star colony in and its not very colored up and has bleaching marks around the edges. The guys there told me about some nudibranches that eat monti... any suggestions?

Sikryd · Dec 10, 2009

Check wetwebmedia for montipora eating nudibranch's - then dip to see if you can see them.

It is either them or AEFW's - most likely Nudi's if it is affecting only your monti's.

Nightmare to get rid of...

rosebud161616 · Dec 10, 2009

That does look like the recession pattern we had from monti eating nudis. They were horrible to remove. We're talking 6 months of constant dipping and lost about half of our montis. The only thing that we found that would actually take care of them was potassium permanganate. Google for the dosage as I just have a container premixed and wrote down how much of that I need. Good luck and sorry!

killingseed2000 · Dec 10, 2009

monti eating nudi's are no fun. they are very tiny, hard to see, if not impossible. when there is a good couple of them together then they are easyer to see.

here are some images of what to look for. not the best image but gives a good idea.
one stands out on the right. this is a mix of like 4 or 5 plus babbyies and egg's. i have seen then stay in areas of the damage were they are working a feeding ground. will look like white patches that stand out and may look at if they are swaying back and forth in the flow.

very tiny, in a normal drinking cup.

am07f · Dec 11, 2009

I cant find any eggs or nudis though?

am07f · Dec 11, 2009

I did a iodine dip to be safe but idk...
all my other montis are fine

Amici · Dec 11, 2009

I had monti eating nudis that only went after my pokerstar and superman montis for some reason. I tried iodine dips but I had little success. Try looking at night for them with a flashlight as they have a tendency to hide during the day. I finally got them under control with Coral RX dip and I had to dip every other day so when the eggs hatched I was killing them faster than they could lay more eggs. That is almost exactly what my montis looked like when I had nudis. Best of luck with it.

am07f · Dec 11, 2009

Did the tissue also look like it was peeling? On the large green monti it looks like tissue necrosis, i can see the edges flapping in the current like its peeling away. The other monti just looks like its slowly bleaching. I did an iodine dip last night on both pieces but couldnt tell if i found eggs and deff did not find any nudi's. Should i dip with the Rx anyway, might help the necrosis?

impur · Dec 11, 2009

Sure looks like nudis to me, i think i can see one or 2 in that first pic.

I had these at one point as well. They only went after my caps, at least i found them when they were only eating my caps. I battled for 3-4 months, I tried everything KMnO4, daily dips you name it. I ended up throwing all my montis in the trash except a 3 polyp tiny piece of superman monti and a 1/16" branch of a purple digi. It was a bad day.

am07f · Dec 12, 2009

Ive dipped again. no bugs found. Possible eggs found but cant even tell.

The green monti has like a white milky residue left over parts of the white skeleton. I have 7 other monti colonies not affected. The green monti bleached a little more but the other one hasnt.

Not sure whats going on...