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Montipora eating Nudibranchs (1 Viewer)

10ml Bayer Home Pest plus Germ Killer to 250ml tank water. Dip went a couple minutes long to 17 minutes. Corals were rinsed and put back in frag tank. They are sliming like mad, they never really did this at lower concentrations.

Nudibranchs were placed in clean tank water to see if they can recover.

1 hour since dip started, over a dozen Nudibranchs look dead with no movement and no attaching to the bottom of the bowl. I'm feeling optimistic this will be a successful concentration as long as the frags survive. I hope so because I'm starting to lose the battle against these little devils. They reproduce fast and are getting to a point where the coral is starting to look rugged.
 
So 5ml in 250ml of water was borderline and 10ml in 250ml of water looks like it kills them dead (hopefully) time to try 7 I would say and see.
 
Yes it has been over 2 hours and there is no sign of life in the bowl. Over a dozen dead nudibranchs :beerchug:

I may do another test at 7 with a small frag tomorrow but if the frags I dipped at 10 tonight look good in a few days I plan on dipping the colony at 10 this weekend. I need to put a dent in the population soon.
 
I'm actually not sure the frags are going to make it yet.

Will post updates on their recovery.
 
One of the frags is completely bleached. I'm leaving it in the frag tank just to see if anything changes but it looks like a goner. The other looks like it is on its way out too.

Guess I'm going to have to ramp up slower. I'm thinking I'll try 7ml for 15 minutes next.
 
You may also want to try again at the 10ml per 250ml but with less time. like 10 minutes.

Do you still have some of the captured nudibranchs? Seems you need to see what the minimum is there to kill those and then see what it does to your coral.
 
NorthSide Reef said:
You may also want to try again at the 10ml per 250ml but with less time. like 10 minutes.

Do you still have some of the captured nudibranchs? Seems you need to see what the minimum is there to kill those and then see what it does to your coral.
Click to expand...

The colony is starting to be over run with nudis, last night I took a peak and saw dozens of them. I'll catch some more this weekend and try some more experiments on dosage. I've been using small frags that broke off the main colony during transport in the tests. The last two frags from the 10ml dosage are definitely toast.

I've been too busy lately to take care of this as I should be but I definitely need to dip the colony this weekend.
 
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I dipped the colony tonight in the 5ml Bayer per 250ml tank water, except it was 20L of tank water and 400ml of Bayer. Just under a 15 minute dip and a good rinse in another container and back into the frag tank which has now been isolated from the rest of the system.

Colony is sliming A LOT :eek4:

I turned off an MJ1200 to lower flow (there are still three other powerheads in a 33 long) and added a carbon reactor to keep things cleaned up. I also turned the lights off early, though I'm not sure I should have, I read that light is what actually breaks down the insecticide.

Hope things look better tomorrow morning. :rolleyes:

I've changed my mind, Koletang you were right, next time I get a coral that I see is infested I'm thinking it is going in the garbage. As fun as the small frag experiments were dipping this entire colony again is a pain in the butt. I'm sure it would need at least a couple more even if this does help because I saw at least a few nudi's still on the darn thing in the tank and I'm sure there are eggs everywhere.
 
phew!!! it just sounds like a complete bummer man. I feel for you. I hope it works out for you and I personally want to thank you for sharing this experience.

Please keep us posted.
 
Woke up to cloudy water and a smelly frag tank. The damsel that was in the frag tank is dead. Just did a 5 gallon water change from the main system, waiting for another 25 gallons to heat up and will do a larger water change in an hour or so.

The only thing I can come up with is that even after rinsing the dipped colony in 6 gallons of tank water for 10 minutes there was just too much Bayer that got transferred to the tank with such a large monti cap. There are a lot of posts in the reefcentral thread about how people don't even rinse after dipping frags, seems like a bad idea to me.
 
The colony still has slime coating it everywhere. Should I be cleaning this layer of slime off or leaving it?
 
Increase the flow and let the skimmer take the slime out. do a water change on the display and use the old water from the display for a water change in your frag tank.. just to help keep the params stable and help the skimmer foam more (although I doubt the skimmer is pulling any of the Bayer out). Carbon for sure is a must in this case.

FWIW, I was always told to use any pesticide/insecticide during the morning/earlier part of the day so that the sun has a chance to do its bit.. I thought it was more to do with the sun killing dazed critters that are not already dead. but that kind of rings a bell with breaking down the "cide"
 
That sounds like a really good way to remove the slime from the system but I don't have a skimmer. :rolleyes:

I do have a BRS reactor running carbon right now. I did a 25 gallon water change just as you described this morning before leaving for work. I've had the RODI unit going since then and hope to do another 100% water change tonight or tomorrow morning.

Maybe during the next water change I'll move the coral into a container full of the water I'm taking out and blow as much slime off with a turkey baster as possible?
 
Whoooooo sets up a system without a skimmer lol.... really any skimmer that you can put in the tank? maybe see if someone will lend a HOB or small in tank skimmer......(I gave away all the spare skimmers/bodies I had at the garage sale and swap)

a water change IMO will not help with the sliming as it will continue past the water change.
 
You know what, I didn't even remember it till just now, but I do have a skimmer. It is a home-made hang over the side thing from back in the day when air stones were used. I got it all hooked up just now but the air stones that it came with are shot. I wonder if walmart carries air stones that would work? I think I remember reading that I would need good old wooden ones that produced really fine bubbles for a skimmer like this though.

lol never thought I'd try to hook this thing up lol
 
The nearest petco is a 40 minute drive :rolleyes:

I might pick some up tomorrow after work though. We'll see how everything is looking tomorrow.
 
FWIW, when I did my water change last night I spaced out and was pumping water back in directly onto a pavona colony that was out of the water. That in turn put a ton of slime into the water. My skimmer went nuts, but I turned it down a bit and the slime was all gone within an hour or two.
 
Well when it is in the budget I think I'll be buying a skimmer for situations like this. Are the Reef Octopus Hang on Back skimmers worth the money? They seem to get OK reviews on BRS.

In the mean time the Walmart air stones don't seem to produce the bubbles needed to get the old home made skimmer to skim. It is close though lol. Tomorrow I think I'll pick up some better wooden airstones to give it a try, if for no other reason that I'm curious now.

No real update on how the corals are doing in the frag tank today. Nothing looks dead but all of the corals are obviously mad and have no polyp extension. Another water change tomorrow morning. On the bright side, all these water changes will finally help get my nitrates to move down in the main system.
 
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