Eliminating coral-eating nudibranchs with potassium permanganate.

An Effective Solution

Purpose

     The purpose of this project is to thoroughly test the effectiveness of potassium permanganate solutions as treatments to kill the nudibranchs that prey upon corals of the genus Montipora. The project goal will be to find a concentration of potassium permanganate that will destroy both the nudibranchs and nudibranch eggs on a coral specimen within 90 minutes, without causing any lasting ill effects upon the coral itself. In attempting to find a viable solution to this problem, it is the aim of this project to decrease coral mortality in aquariums and thereby reduce the need for new specimens collected from threatened reef ecosystems.

Two genotypes of Montipora digitata.