Montipora Eating Nudibranchs
Montipora eating nudibranchs are very small, up to half inch, are pale white to tan in color, and have many branch-like appendages along their back. They are very damaging pests in a reef aquarium can multiply quickly and consume corals in a very short period of time. As you can see in the pictures; corals that are infected with these nudibranchs start to appear white in color. This is where the monti eating nudis have eaten away the coral tissue leaving a skeleton in their tracks. The most likely corals to be attacked seem to be Montipora capricornis as well as Montipora digitata . Many times the nudibranch will begin feeding on the underside of the coral, and it will not become apparent to the hobbyist that the coral is being damaged until it can be seen in plain view on the top of the colony.
Zoanthid Eating Nudibranchs
Zoanthid Eating Nudibranchs (aka Zoa Eating Nudis) are also aeolid nudibranchs which are known to feed on your Zoanthid polyps. Zoanthid Eating Nudibranchs are very small (getting to about a 1/2inch) and are brownish in color or can even show coloring from the zoanthid that it has been feeding on.
Reproduction
Nudibranchs are hermaphroditic, and thus have a set of reproductive organs for both sexes, but they cannot fertilize themselves. Nudibranchs typically deposit their eggs within a gelatinous spiral. These eggs contain hundreds upon hundred of eggs with a very successful hatch rate.
Solutions
Natural Solutions
- Butterflyfish (Chaetodon genus) - Red Sea Butterfly and Thread Fin Butterfly - warning - these fish will also consume worms, such as feather dusters and those that inhabit live sand beds in the reef aquarium.
- Wrasse (genus Thalassoma and Coris)
sources
