Need advice Montipora eating Nudibranch

[authentic]

My DT is 140 gallons mainly SPS. I have discovered that I have Montipora eating nudi. The first coral to go was a scrolling red cap in the back of my tank. That one is a goner.I have 2 other similar pieces but they are small and encrusted so i will not be able to remove them.I do have a beutiful rainbow digitata (one of my favorite corals)that i noticed a nudi,so i removed and dipped.i am trying to decide if i should set up a sps qt ( i have mostly everything except a light,being that they are sps i need advice on whether this is the best way to go)or i have considered adding a few natural predator fish to my DT to try and keep this under control.LFS recommended springeri damsels,(dont have info on whether these will work) fish would have to be reef safe and i already have 2 tangs,mystery wrasse,pintail,golden rhombois ,anthias etc..so i dont know about adding another fish (also no QT
i was also thinking f adding the fish to the QT if i set it up but then i would need a hob too.....any advice appreciated

 

[Willz]

I just successfully fought them off. Here is the thread:

http://reef2reef.com/threads/montipora-eating-nudibranches-a-cautionary-tale.269042/

Good luck. My advice is to figure out how to get the encrusters off the rockwork. If any montis are not dipped you won't have success until you dip all of them. And act fast, they can wreak havoc in no time flat.

 

[authentic]

What a thread! i guess ill dip dip dip,seems that setting up a QT for sps just for this may be too expensive,,what about adding fish?as i said i already have wrasses....is there a particular species that would be reef safe and recommended?i also have 2 small mandarins.if i lose the war i may just go monti free for awhile

 

[Quah]

Mandarins won't touch them and some wrasses won't. I think your best bet would be to add a Halichoeres /Pseudocheilinus type wrasse such as a Yellow Wrasse / Six-Line. I've fought MEN before and it was an absolute horror. I dipped, and dipped, and dipped, - good luck.

P.S. Do you have a picture of the rainbow digi?

 

[Willz]

What a thread! i guess ill dip dip dip,seems that setting up a QT for sps just for this may be too expensive,,what about adding fish?as i said i already have wrasses....is there a particular species that would be reef safe and recommended?i also have 2 small mandarins.if i lose the war i may just go monti free for awhile

I added a mandarin, 6 line wrasse (definitely a last resort) and 3 yellow wrasses. So, used in conjunction with the dipping it has helped a lot. I think a multi-pronged attack is the way to go. Good luck with your struggle.

 

[authentic]

wrasses seem problematic,i have some expensive inverts(just added 2 golden banded shrimp)another big Q,as indicated ,my rainbow/gumdrop digi is worth alot of $$$ it is not encrusted and has been dipped,just a little tissue loss at the base which can easily be clipped,thoughts on safety of giving it away to someone who could keep it until ive either starved the tank or beat the pests?

 

[Willz]

I don't know about giving it away. If the other person has or is planning to have montis I would advise against that.

 

[Bbaz123456]

I controlled them for a few months doing weekly Bayer dips(minimized the damage). Of course this did not get rid of them because I put them back in the same system after dipping.
I ended up putting 4 arrow crabs in a 100 gallon frag tank and I believe they took care of the problem. I never witnessed them eating any so it may be a coincidence or maybe I got lucky?
They are cheap, cool little critters and worth a shot although I here they don't do well with coral banded shrimp.