Monti eating nudis

[Dave_P]

Noticed half a dozen of these little white critters on the underside of a large plating monti.

At the moment I am just sucking up what I see with a turkey baster. The monti is too big to remove a dip and to be honest as it has attached to nearby rocks so I doubt whether I would be able to get it out in one piece.

Do these critters cause a lot of damage to the monti?

Is there anything else I can do?

Dave

[ricordea]

yep, they sure do cause a lot of damage. I had to take all my plating montis out use a tooth brush and keep them in a seperate large container with a heater, halide light and power heads. Any nudis in the tank then had nothing to eat so died off. I would suggest that you apply a toothbrush to brush off eggs (they will be on the underside of the monti) but have a syphon tube (as if doing a water change) present to ensure that all eggs are removed.

By the way my nudis did not attack digitata montis, only plating montis.


Good luck.

[slappy]

Yeah, it's a nightmare. I've not had any, touch wood. But I know others who have had major problems with them.

As ricordea says, use a toothbrush.

[ricordea]

...and a new but washed tooth brush...as toothpaste may contain high levels of phosphate and other nasties. I would strongly advise anyone buying montis to check them out thoroughly or quarantine them.

[fuzed]

agree.. they are a night mare... some fish such as six lines and banana wrasse will keep them in check but the best way is to toothbrush em, and make sure you check the bottom of them when u buy them for eggs...

I've been toothbrushing away for a few weeks now... (most gone I think)... but hoping they will all be gone soon enough! :)

[Quigs]

To put it into perspective, Ive lost a plating monti the size of a cake mixing bowl to these critters. Oh and by the way, they do attack digitata. My orange has been stripped and now they are slowly demolishing my lovely bright lime green! I tried to syphon, scrub, dip, all to no avail. In the end Ive had to let them just munch away and hopefully will end up dying of starvation.

Im led to beleive they will also lay eggs which will remain dormant until montis are further added, so I certainly wont be risking adding any in the future. HTH

[ricordea]

I must have caught mine early, (got my plating out the tank before spreading to digitata).

I moved mine out the tank brushed off eggs into a bucket, rinsed in other water and brushed again (ruthlessly, I wasn't concerned if I brushed a few polyps to death). Then placed all the montis in a plastic container with heater, halide and power head. After a few days or so the nudis had regrouped and I repeated the treatment (complete change of water in the plastic container). I then left them for about 4 weeks...there was no sign of a recurrence and they were added back into the tank. I guess I was lucky that the nudis if they were still in the main tank they died. I would definitely be carful in not dislodging any eggs from the montis when you remove them from the main tank, as it is possible that they could lie dormant for a while. I did not buy anymore montis for six months or so, just in case there was a recurrence.

Good luck.

[Dave_P]

:(:(:(

The problem I have is getting the montis out of the tank or trying access the underside whilst in the tank. :(

On the positive side I have four wrasses in the tank at the moment:-

Carpenter's flasher wrasse
Candy Hogfish
Radiant wrasse - Halichoeres iridis
vermiculate wrasse.

So hopefully some of these might eat them, certainly seen my flatworm population diminish.

Dave

[Social D]

sadly i have the buggers eating my red monti i took a toothbrush to them this morning and siphoned off the eggs.

Ill maybe do a freshwater dip if they persist.

[fuzed]

freshwater dips is the best way forward and just keep your eyes peeled, as soon as you see one NUKE IT! :)

[Dave_P]

I have been going over the monti ever night and sucking up any I see. First few nights I pulled out loads.

Now I hardly get any.

The montis in my tank are all growing well and they don't seem to be affecting them.

Dave

[hairyduck]

I found about 6 on a new monti the other day, manages to suck them all up with a syringe, looks like they've all gone now!

Evil little things, I just noticed the coral wasn't very happy and wasn't extending polyps around the edges, turned it around and there they all were :-(