Pest ID Help!

[new2saltyfish]

I’ve noticed my green anacropora losing flesh and thought I noticed some type of nudibranch. I dipped the whole coral and it seemed to stop. Well, now it’s happening again. I managed to siphon what i thought was the pest and sure enough ( see image below…they are the white things). Anyone know exactly what they are/ how to treat? Everything else looks fine, even the bubble gum digi right next to it.

 

[new2saltyfish]

I believe the species is Phestilla subodiosa

 

[DylanCameron]

Definitely some type of nudibranch. The reason it improves after one dip is because the treatment will kill the adults and juveniles but not eggs. The good news is that nudibranchs are very niche predators, so if this is your only anacropora this is the only coral you should need to treat.

It’s a fine line between dipping the coral often enough to prevent the nudi reproduction and stressing the coral out too much, it if were my tank I would take the coral out weekly and give it an active dip (make sure to use a turkey baster or small powerhead to actually knock the nudis off of the coral)

 

[DylanCameron]

I believe the species is Phestilla subodiosa

The nudibranch could be in the same family but it’s unlikely to be that exact species, as P. Subodiosa feed on montipora corals, and you stated your montis were unaffected. Treatment will be the same regardless

 

[new2saltyfish]

Yea, they dont seem affected. Seems just the anacropora. What is treatment? Any idea?

 

[DylanCameron]

Yea, they dont seem affected. Seems just the anacropora. What is treatment? Any idea?

Weekly dipping and inspection is where I would start. You stated that it improved after an initial dip, so I would continue using whatever dip you used.

The goal is to kill the adults and then kill the juveniles before they have a chance to lay more eggs. You could dip more frequently (every 3-5 days for a month) to really be sure that you’re killing them before they can reproduce, but just make sure you’re not stressing the coral too much by moving and handling it

 

[new2saltyfish]

Yea, it’s a fairly big piece, maybe 5x5 inches so not the easiest but i’ll try to mount it to a plug for easy removal and do that with coral RX. I might get a yellow coris wrasse as well. Wonder if i should use red sea dip vs coral rx. Any recs?

 

[DylanCameron]

I’ve used Coral RX with great success, I’ve never used or read up on the RedSea dip but it’s probably fine. Many people (myself included) use Bayer Insecticide as a dip and it works well (here’s a Bulk Reef Supply video about Bayer: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/faq-26-using-bayer-as-a-coral-dip-what-recipe-do-we-use)

You’ve got a fairly small tank, no? Probably better to go with some type of possum or pink streak wrasse, they’ll fair much better in a nano tank

 

[new2saltyfish]

Yes, only a 12 gallon aio. I will look into those. Hopefully with a wrasses and dipping it will take care of them