Monti eating nudibranchs!!!

[Still_human]

Thankfully, the day I was going to take a monti home, monti nudis appeared and started to damage, and lay eggs on it. I’ve seen plenty on dipping the montis, and how often, but nothing mentioning how long to continue the treating. How long should the treating continue?

[treesprite]

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a monti-eating nudibranch. I hope I don't ever see them in my tank.

Edited December 22, 2019 by treesprite

[Guest]

On 12/21/2019 at 4:50 PM, Still_human said:

Thankfully, the day I was going to take a monti home, monti nudis appeared and started to damage, and lay eggs on it. I’ve seen plenty on dipping the montis, and how often, but nothing mentioning how long to continue the treating. How long should the treating continue?

 

I don't believe that there is a timeline for Montipora eating nudibranchs (MeN).  Consider this: 

 

CoralRx will only temporary help with killings the adults but not the eggs.  Therefore, in order to beat the lifecycle, you have to assume the following:

1. No new eggs are laid.

2. Your dipping regime kills hatched nudibranchs.

3. Your dipping regime kills the hatched nudibranchs before they can lay new eggs.

4. You're dipping all affected corals, with no other corals present to host eggs.

 

This means that the fastest way to beat the lifecycle is to remove all montis from the tank, or in your case, isolate the new coral in a QT so the MeN do not have a chance to spread or lay eggs on the other corals in your tank.  This way the number of corals on which they can lay their eggs is limited to only those you can dip, scrub, and inspect.  Scrubbing will remove the eggs that you can see, while dipping kills the adults.  By limiting the number of host corals, you limit the chances you'll miss something during your treatment.

 

As to how long you'll have to treat, again, I think that will be dependent upon your treatment protocols.  If you miss the window for treatment and an adult MeN lays more eggs, which you don't scrub off, your treatment is prolonged.

 

Does that make sense?

[Jon Lazar]

I would never add a coral known to carry monti nudis to my display tank.  If I didn't have a dedicated QT, I would throw the coral away.  I suppose if it was a small and expensive frag and I could entirely cover the bottom and the edge in superglue, I might consider it if I had no other montiporas in the DT.

 

They're nasty little fellers and very difficult to eradicate.  They tend to roam around your tank, so if you keep your montis in the DT but remove them for dipping, your dip will miss killing any roaming adults. 

 

Good luck!