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Monti cap bleaching.
- Thread starter fatoldsun
- Start date
Another possibility with monti "bleaching" would be monti eating nudibranches. If you can, remove the entire cap from the rock and inspect it out of water.
What you will be looking for are small white or yellowish eggs that will be tucked into the crevices (usually on the bottom side). The Nudis themselves are white and look like this:
Here's how they look when they cluster together and chow down on your monti (You can also see the eggs grouped over on the right side):
These pics were borrowed from This article which might help you eliminate them if you do indeed have them.
Good luck Dave. I hope it's something else because these are a pain to get rid of.
What you will be looking for are small white or yellowish eggs that will be tucked into the crevices (usually on the bottom side). The Nudis themselves are white and look like this:
Here's how they look when they cluster together and chow down on your monti (You can also see the eggs grouped over on the right side):
These pics were borrowed from This article which might help you eliminate them if you do indeed have them.
Good luck Dave. I hope it's something else because these are a pain to get rid of.
Was it moved rescently? The way its bleaching is kind of odd to me because its almost a perfect square. Looks like maybe something was covering it for a period of time. The reason I'm saying this is I recieved a favia that half the colony was dead and it was almost a straight line due to it fell off where it was and was partially under the sand so only the covered part died off.
fatoldsun
NJRC Member
I'm not sure what to make of it... Po4 was 0.01 and Alk was at 10 dkh (which is a bit high I guess, but actually down from its peak a few weeks back - I added a small CaRx and had too much CO2 going in. Anyway, that was weeks ago and I slowly brought it down from 12-13 down to at or below 10. Temps have been ok. I have a chiller I run and two ceiling fans that have been on around the clock in this heat (due to all the windows - even with the house AC that room gets warm). Anyway, the chiller only runs for a few hours during the hottest parts of the day so it's not as if the heat's overwhelming the chiller.
as for nudibranches George - I'll take it out tonight and look but I haven't introduced anything to the tank in a while - like 2-3 months maybe. would they "lay in wait" that long? The only recent changes have been equipment - new skimmer, added the Ca reactor (and removed Kalk) and I had an issue where one of my cf actinics blew (like 2 weeks ago) - i haven’t replaced it yet but this piece is almost directly below one of the HQI bulbs which is fine - it's been there for a while. Actually, I had a similar problem back when I had a HA issue - just before that started I had moved this to a DIY mag-frag mount on the back glass. I thought the change of location might have lead to the issue so after the HA was under control I moved it back and it healed up nicely. It's been in this spot ever since. The last time it bleached where the HA was accumulating on the piece, now it's the same area but no HA - just bleached white.
I don't think anything was casting a shadow on it - it's really in a spot that's flooded with light - certainly it wasn't under something (covered in sand, etc...)
I don't have any real fragging tools - can I just use a wire snipper to break it or should use something else (I'm afraid the snippers may have some oil residue on them - WD40, etc...) - other tools in the arsenal are a hammer and chisel (or just a hammer) or the dremel (depending on how fast it needs to be returned to the water)
as for nudibranches George - I'll take it out tonight and look but I haven't introduced anything to the tank in a while - like 2-3 months maybe. would they "lay in wait" that long? The only recent changes have been equipment - new skimmer, added the Ca reactor (and removed Kalk) and I had an issue where one of my cf actinics blew (like 2 weeks ago) - i haven’t replaced it yet but this piece is almost directly below one of the HQI bulbs which is fine - it's been there for a while. Actually, I had a similar problem back when I had a HA issue - just before that started I had moved this to a DIY mag-frag mount on the back glass. I thought the change of location might have lead to the issue so after the HA was under control I moved it back and it healed up nicely. It's been in this spot ever since. The last time it bleached where the HA was accumulating on the piece, now it's the same area but no HA - just bleached white.
I don't think anything was casting a shadow on it - it's really in a spot that's flooded with light - certainly it wasn't under something (covered in sand, etc...)
I don't have any real fragging tools - can I just use a wire snipper to break it or should use something else (I'm afraid the snippers may have some oil residue on them - WD40, etc...) - other tools in the arsenal are a hammer and chisel (or just a hammer) or the dremel (depending on how fast it needs to be returned to the water)
Looking at the pic it looks like the healed part is not encrusted to any rock. So normally when we frag monti's like that we just do it by hand. Hold it with your two fingers and just snap it off. Using snips on a monti like that will usually cause it to snap and break in a way you didn't plan.
fatoldsun
NJRC Member
Took it out and all I found were what looked like small vermitid snails. It's a little easier to see in the second pic but in person they looked like spiraling calcified tubes.
I pulled the piece, broke off what I could and tried to get the snails off, gave it a coralRx bath followed by a rinse. I'll be watching the frags to see if I got to it in time...
I pulled the piece, broke off what I could and tried to get the snails off, gave it a coralRx bath followed by a rinse. I'll be watching the frags to see if I got to it in time...
fatoldsun
NJRC Member
the remaining 'frags" appear to have tissue receding still. Hopefully I won't regret having left it in (well the frags) the tank. Does anyone recognize the stuff from the underside pictures? Like I said I'm thinking vermitid snails but as much as I think of them as a pest - I really thought they were more of a nuisance and not really a risk to anything in the tank...
Doesn't look like any Nudi's are on there, so that's good news. The vermetids are a pest, but doubt they would cause the bleaching. I'd keep looking for other issues as the source of the problem.
You did mention / remind me that your tank is in the sun room. I'm wondering if maybe the glass windows acted like a magnigying glass and maybe too much light got concentrated on that small square patch? I realize that's reaching, but you never know.
You did mention / remind me that your tank is in the sun room. I'm wondering if maybe the glass windows acted like a magnigying glass and maybe too much light got concentrated on that small square patch? I realize that's reaching, but you never know.
Those are spirobid worms. I'm sure I spelled it wrong. The vermitid snails are in long tubes. These worms kind of have tiny fans that come out. The underside of many of my caps have them as well. Not a problem on my side. Personally I don't think they are causing the problem.
If there was nudis they would basically eat the coral not cause a bleaching like event. When I had those the montis flesh literally disappeared overnight.
If there was nudis they would basically eat the coral not cause a bleaching like event. When I had those the montis flesh literally disappeared overnight.
agreed..spirobid worms.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/crawls.html
Unfortunately I do not believe they are the cause of the receding cap though.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/crawls.html
Unfortunately I do not believe they are the cause of the receding cap though.