# Creature eating my SPS!!!



## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

I started to notice the base of my blue digi turning white and upon closer inspection seen a tiny creature moving around on it. I took my siphon and sucked it off and out of my tank. Here`s some pics of it and the damage it`s done. Can anyone tell me what it is and should I be worried about more of them?

The creature is around 1mm by 3mm. I was lucky to spot it.
Thanks


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

From your disruption and looks of it, you have monti eating nudi's. How many montipora species do you have in your tank? If that's the only one, I would and this is just me, throw it out and don't get montipora species for 3-4 weeks. The nudi's in your tank will starve and die and the newly hatched babies will also starve and die without montipora to eat. Or you can dip it with coral dips often.


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## RR37 (Nov 6, 2012)

Nudi. I've been pulling them from a particular piece of digi too. I imagine they(it) came in on the last frag I bought and slowly I've been removing them. 3 over the last 3 weeks. Last new digi was months ago.


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

Also want to add, it's not so muh the adults you should be worried about, dips and some fish will take care of them, it's the eggs that resist dips and nothing eats them


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## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

Not the answer I was hoping for. I have 3 caps and 5 digi`s. I`m going to have to keep a close eye on them. Only seen damage on the one so far.


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

get a hunter wrasse and dip your digi weekly thats another option for you


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

my 6 line wrasse wiped out all of those within a week, i had the Zoe eating nudibranch.


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## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

Thanks for all the replies, unfortunately a wrasse is not an option as my flame hawk hates them and they will end up jumping out of the tank (don`t ask how I know this).


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## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

Ctp416 said:


> Thanks for all the replies, unfortunately a wrasse is not an option as my flame hawk hates them and they will end up jumping out of the tank (don`t ask how I know this).


Your flame hawk is a nice fish but it is the bane of your existence  Even if you sold off your hawk and you got a sixline, the sixline would become the new jerk in your tank so you would be no further ahead lol.


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## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

Tim said:


> Your flame hawk is a nice fish but it is the bane of your existence  Even if you sold off your hawk and you got a sixline, the sixline would become the new jerk in your tank so you would be no further ahead lol.


I love the hawk but if I could catch him he`d be gone in a heartbeat!


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## darryl_v (Aug 26, 2011)

What ever you do dont sell or trade monti's with out disclosure in the future....unless you know you have taken care of them problem....these guys easily go from tank to tank....you dont have to be able to see them On the frag either.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Ctp416 said:


> Not the answer I was hoping for. I have 3 caps and 5 digi`s. I`m going to have to keep a close eye on them. Only seen damage on the one so far.


They're everywhere, don't worry.

If the corals aren't too big, cut them down to get rid of hidden surfaces where the nudis lay their eggs.

You can get rid of them by aggressively dipping (an iodine based dip works well) and scrubbing all your montis to get rid of the eggs. In a course of 4 -6 weeks you should be able to get rid of them if you're diligent.

in the first week, you'll dip and scrub everyday. After that every other day for a week, and then the next every third day. by this time, you shouldn't be finding any more full grown adults - only small nudis. But you have to keep dipping for several weeks after you see the last large adult to make sure you've killed off any that hatched out of eggs that survived the dipping and scrubbing.

Good luck, and like Darryl said, don't share anything with a hard surface from your tank with anybody without full disclosure.


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## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

Thanks for the replies, As you can imagine i`m really disappointed and ready to throw in the towel. My tank is SPS dominant with over 30 hard corals. Spent a lot of time and money on this and love it but this latest issue might be the last straw. I guess the answer to this next question will be the deciding factor.....Will they also eat my acro`s?


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Ctp416 said:


> Thanks for the replies, As you can imagine i`m really disappointed and ready to throw in the towel. My tank is SPS dominant with over 30 hard corals. Spent a lot of time and money on this and love it but this latest issue might be the last straw. I guess the answer to this next question will be the deciding factor.....Will they also eat my acro`s?


Nudis have very strict diets. They eat only one thing. So, zoo eaters will only eat zoo's. Flat worm munchers die when they get all the worms etc. So, Monti eaters should not care about the acro's.


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## Tim (Dec 11, 2011)

Question: Will fresh water dips do anything good? I assume the corals could handle a quick dip?


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## darryl_v (Aug 26, 2011)

Ctp416 said:


> Thanks for the replies, As you can imagine i`m really disappointed and ready to throw in the towel. My tank is SPS dominant with over 30 hard corals. Spent a lot of time and money on this and love it but this latest issue might be the last straw. I guess the answer to this next question will be the deciding factor.....Will they also eat my acro`s?


Dont get too down. You can beat them, like others mention. It may be difficult though if they are big attached colonies. You need to take them out, brush off any nudis and eggs you can see and dip. It's gonna take a quite a few times though to be sure.

To reduce your chances in the future always inspect incoming montipora...they are not that hard to see. Also dip is best....and to really reduce your chances you can stick to smaller captive grown frags.


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## duckhams (Oct 13, 2009)

darryl_v is right. I got them from an 8" monti-cap I bought. I had to remove the coral (and a few others during the process) to scrub the nudi's and their eggs off the underside of the monti. Scrub dip, scrub dip for a few weeks. But it worked. I had to cut the monti down a bit, but 60% of it survived and so did all my other montis and sps (about 6 of them in a 40G). It grew back in no time.


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## duckhams (Oct 13, 2009)

Sometimes they really suck, but sometimes they are really interesting. I got a 'Phestilla Melanobrachia' on some sun polyps a while back. Amazing looking creature, but ate almost all my sun polyps. =(

This is a good article that will help identify some of the different 'buggers' in the future: http://reeftools.com/news/coral-eating-nudibranchs-and-slugs


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

It is part of the hobby, dealing with pest. Sps are not the easiest to care for, but the challenge they offer gets addictive and keeps you coming back. I don't think they would be this popular without their challenges.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Ctp416 said:


> Thanks for the replies, As you can imagine i`m really disappointed and ready to throw in the towel. My tank is SPS dominant with over 30 hard corals. Spent a lot of time and money on this and love it but this latest issue might be the last straw. I guess the answer to this next question will be the deciding factor.....Will they also eat my acro`s?


From your pictures, looks like most of your corals are frags - if that the case, it might be easiest to just chuck the monti frags, wait a few months and then start collecting montis again.

If they're smaller frags, it actually makes scrubs and stuff easier.


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