Slugs number 4

[DaveR11]

Spotted some bleaching on my superman monti, Montipora danae but couldn't see anything munching on the coral but thought I would give it a go with my trusty pipette, bane of the Zoanthid slugs, and caught these three little devils. I presume these are the culprits....







I seem to be some sort of mollusc magnet.....

 

[Oxylebius]

Wow - you are a slug magnet. Good catch! I think it is time that you QT everything before it goes into your tank (and dip corals).

Yes, it does look like a monti eating nudi. Look for eggs at the base and underside of the coral.

I don't remember, did you ever pick up a wrasse?

 

[StirCrayzy]

Will all wrasses eat nudis?

 

[DaveR11]

Wow - you are a slug magnet. Good catch! I think it is time that you QT everything before it goes into your tank (and dip corals).

Yes, it does look like a monti eating nudi. Look for eggs at the base and underside of the coral.

I don't remember, did you ever pick up a wrasse?

The Monti is looking pretty sick but nothing on the nearby montis (there is capricornis and digitata fairly close. The affected monti is puttied on so going to have to go down the pipette route again. I spotted another nudi in a crack down the side of the frag but the pipette wouldn't get it out. I will quarantine everything now but not keen on dipping. Firstly I don't want to lose the good stuff like my little acro crab and secondly coral RX used as per the packet didn't kill the Aeolids (it did kill the pods and snails....)

Not got a wrasse yet. I have a cover for the tank and I've asked my LFS about a Potter's wrasse and they had a couple of bipartitus but I've just started quarantining a new Potter's angel so no room in the QT at the moment. Maybe after Xmas....

Thanks as ever.

Dave

 

[Oxylebius]

No not all wrasses eat nudis. Not all wrasses will go for pests. Some nudis are toxic. More research will be needed on the type wrasses and if you really want one.

I believe you had at one point looked into wrasses, I just couldn't remember if you picked one up and I didn't want to go digging in your tank thread, so I asked.

I was happily surprised when my bipartitus went after the flatworms I had acquired from not QTing some coral. From reading online I found out that this wrasses is hunter of flatworms and was happy that it ended up being true.

There are other wrasses that are supposed to go after some pest aeolids (#3 in treatment options in the link below).
http://www.qualitymarine.com/News/Feature-Articles/Revisited:-The-Montipora-Eating-Nudibranch-(02/04/11)

 

[Squatch XXL]

Firstly I don't want to lose the good stuff like my little acro crab and secondly coral RX used as per the packet didn't kill the Aeolids (it did kill the pods and snails....)

I can't blame you there, but is there anyway you can separate the 2 for 20 minutes for at least a dip? I HIGHLY recommend "Bayer Advanced" bug killer. I have used it on zoas that were polluted with nudi, but kept them in a Q-tank for treatment. I have used bayer on 1 green pocilipora without any issues. It kills everything with a nervous system in 20 minutes or less usually.
I had 1 variety of coral (elegant moon paly) did not care for either the qt or the treatment.....They were lacking color after 7 weeks, and looking bad but improved quickly and are back to being ugly and spreading like weeds. The piece that brought the infection in looks terrible still, and I suspect that it was heavily damaged in the LFS where it got sick. It will certainly recover, though It is a huge colony and I am thinking about fragging it apart.


Nothing is worse than an infection of an entire tank.

 

[DaveR11]

I can't blame you there, but is there anyway you can separate the 2 for 20 minutes for at least a dip? I HIGHLY recommend "Bayer Advanced" bug killer. I have used it on zoas that were polluted with nudi, but kept them in a Q-tank for treatment. I have used bayer on 1 green pocilipora without any issues. It kills everything with a nervous system in 20 minutes or less usually.
I had 1 variety of coral (elegant moon paly) did not care for either the qt or the treatment.....They were lacking color after 7 weeks, and looking bad but improved quickly and are back to being ugly and spreading like weeds. The piece that brought the infection in looks terrible still, and I suspect that it was heavily damaged in the LFS where it got sick. It will certainly recover, though It is a huge colony and I am thinking about fragging it apart.


Nothing is worse than an infection of an entire tank.

Hi Squatch,

I tried Coral RX on the Aeolid slugs that I had on my Zoas and it didn't touch them. It killed good stuff like pods and baby Trochus snails so I lost good stuff but not the baddies. I'll have a look for the Bayer Advanced to see if it is available here in the UK but I reckon I will quarantine inverts now as I do like the good hitch hikers. Besides I added live rock as I wanted a range of HHs so how different if not dipping corals...? I realise that corals are grown together so more likely to have coral predators / parasites present but as I've not tried to set up a tank that only contains exactly what I buy I accept I get the bad and the ugly as well as the good....

Maybe I'm bonkers and I am certainly becoming the 'king of slugs' but it keeps me watching the tank!

Dave

 

[Squatch XXL]

Hi Squatch,

Maybe I'm bonkers and I am certainly becoming the 'king of slugs' but it keeps me watching the tank!

I am a huge fan of biodiversity. I too love the random HH that somehow find their way in....I can't agree more than having something like this happen certainly makes you more observant......I can't stop studying my zoas after my infection. I estimate that I spend well over an hour "looking" at my tank daily....I.e. looking for nudi eggs. Since my event I have not purchased any corals. I am having serious trust issues that can only be solved by a q-tank.

I, like you have regular unchecked additions. I HAVE to add cuc members to my tank bi-weekly. I don't mind HH, I do not however care for specialized predators that are in a tank that is full of their meals. I play with fire EVERY time I introduce food for the stomatapod.

When I picked up the zoa eaters, I had a few pieces that were starting to encrust my rockwork. I had nothing but zoas. Even now months later, I am afraid to even offer frags of my pieces....not that they are any good lol...all but one of my total corals is "boring"...the rest are lame and worthless.

Ill be honest, most of my posts on coral predators reach right into my soul. I am very passionate about the total destruction of anything that is a specialist coral killer. I see so many great users with tanks that make me drool (yours included), and its a shame that these slugs exist. May they die 1000 deaths of fire!

 

[DaveR11]

6 slugs caught but no more seen since Tuesday but staying vigilant in case of unseen eggs....