Monti nudi treatment progress

[jamiehill]

Over the last few weeks I had noticed some white spots on a couple of my montiporas but figured it was just areas where some detritus became trapped. This past Sunday I was preparing to do some fragging before the lights came on and noticed a new spot that was on a vertical part of my large red cap. I looked a little closer and noticed what looked like white frilly things at the edges of the dead areas. At that point everything clicked as to the problems I had been noticing. I think I might have just not wanted to face the possibility of having these pests in my tank.

I have probably 20-25 monti colonies in my tank both encrusting and plating so there is a lot of corals that were potentially infested.

I started researching the treatment for monti nudis and was starting to get really worried. These things are like a plague. There wasn't much good news to be found until I found an article by Eric Bornemans regarding treatment with Potassium Permanganate. This chemical disolves both the nudi and the egg clusters but is potentially harmful to the coral. At this point I decided that the potential loss to the coral was better than letting the nudis chow down on them and have the guaranteed loss.

I did a TMPCC dip last night on all of the ones that I could easily get out of the tank just to see how infested they are and all but my setosa frags had evidence of the nudis. I scrubbed off all of the egg clusters I could find and moved them all into my frag tank which is very full now.

I am going to do the Potassium Permanganate treatment this evening when I get home. I will make updates on the progress and hopefully add some pictures during the process.

I am also picking up a yellow coris wrasse today to help combat the buggers too.

Link to the Eric Borneman article

 

[Ilovereef]

Very good plan. Let us know how it's going and how you measure the dose of 50mg/L.

 

[jamiehill]

Very good plan. Let us know how it's going and how you measure the dose of 50mg/L.

I am going to do the dip in my 20g with about 15g of water to allow room for rock and the corals. I figure:

15 gallons = 56.775 liters (3.785 l/g)
50mg * 56.775l = 2.839g

I am just going to weigh this on a kitchen scale.

 

[tamarindthai]

Jemie,,to be able to keep them in control ecosystem is the only way.

 

[gas4544]

Good luck with the treatment.

Gary

 

[jamiehill]

I did not get to the treatment last night. I had a homeowners meeting to attend. I am hoping to get to it tonight.

 

[trido]

Good luck Jamie.

 

[danno14]

I echo the "good luck".....

If you would, please take a pic of the solution to show how tinted the water is.

 

[jamiehill]

I spent the afternoon doing the treatment today and just doing some general cleaning of the tank. I also re-aquascaped and am much happier with the rockwork now.

I am hoping this dip will do the trick. So far the majority of the corals are doing ok. There are a couple that I am not sure about yet. Time will tell.

Here are some pics I took during the treatment. I set up a 20g and a 30 long in my garage where my mixing drums are. I didn't feel like lugging the saltwater upstairs.

The first batch of corals in the dip tank:

The PP added

The first batch into the holding tank

The whole load

New FTS

 

[jamiehill]

Some of the corals after the dip

 

[gas4544]

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing this experience with us. We all learn together.

Do all of your montis seem to be responding positively, or at least not negatively, to the treatment?

G

 

[jamiehill]

Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing this experience with us. We all learn together.

Do all of your montis seem to be responding positively, or at least not negatively, to the treatment?

G

I think it is still too early to tell. Some of them were starting to show polyp extension before the lights went out and some still looked pretty browned out which is normal for the treatment. I guess the PP is absorbed into the coral and it takes a day or two for the coloration to return to normal.

I accidentally ran one of my emeralt crabs through the dip and noticed it when I was pulling the rock out of the holding tank to put back in the display. Needless to say it is more of a pinkish-purple crab now .

 

[jamiehill]

Here are some close ups of a few of the corals that went through the dip. You can see that it bleached them out a bit, but they have good PE and seem to be recovering. From what i have read, this is normal and they should regain coloration over a couple weeks.