Questions about wrasse's and monti nudi's

[dmahoney82]

So I have been battling nudi's on my purple monti digi and red monti for the last month or so. I am about tired of dipping these corals, and don't want to risk killing the corals. So I did some researching today on ways to rid these PITA nudi's and found that 6-line wrasse's have been known to eat nudi's. This brings me to my questions.
1. Do all wrasse's eat nudi's or only 6-line?
2. Will the wrasse eat all of the nudi's?
3. I have two feather dusters, sally lightfoot, and a fire shrimp. As long as I keep the wrasse fat and happy will these guys be safe?
4. Anything else I should know?

The only other concern I have is the amount of fish in the tank. I have a 55 gal with 5 chromis, mated pair of gold stripped maroons, medium yellow tang, and a medium naso tang. Everybody gets along great, and I don't want to start a fishy war just to rid my tank of these nudi's. Thanks for any input.

 

[fishgardener]

I don't know if 6 line wrasse eat nudi, but I have a 6line in a tank with 3 large feather dusters and numerous tiny ones, a royal gramma, firefish and a chalk bass. I use to have a clown in that tank as well and they all got along fine.
Sheryle

 

[FutureInterest]

No the wrasse will not eat all the nudis. It will help keep them under control though. Many wrasses will eat the monti eating nudis as they are apparently delicious to wrasses. The sixline is a good choice though.

The only way to truly rid yourself of the nudis is to transfer all your montis to another tank and dip them every 5 days. You have to be diligent as these things are very hard to be rid of once they're in your tank.

 

[dmahoney82]

Thanks. I only have a couple of pieces and Qt setup right now, so I've been taking a eye dropper and sucking off anything white is color. I have dipped the coral twice already and will continue on a weekly dip regiment till they are all gone or corals dead. This sucks. I really have no idea how they got into my tank. I guess I lucked out the last few years. I have now vowed to kill every monti eating nudi I ever come across.

 

[FutureInterest]

If you do dip every week, you should be fine. At the very least it will keep them in check. The corals are hardier than you give them credit for.

Do you know what the eggs look like? It would help greatly if you can remove those when dipping as the dip has no effect on them.

 

[dmahoney82]

I'm guessing the eggs are these little white specs that I keep finding on or around my monti. I've already sucked off 2 nudi's today. Believe me I'm doing everything I can to get rid of these. I only have a few sps in my tank and this purple monti digi is one of the firsts. It seems to have lost a little color, but nothing to serious yet.

 

[FutureInterest]

Yah they look like small round jelly sacs about 1.5 mm in diameter and they are filled with small white dots.

These things reproduce really quickly so you have to stay on top of it. If you see nudis, then dip the entire coral. Keep in mind that they will sometimes lay eggs on rocks nearby as well...