Re: Polyp-feeding nudibranch

October 27, 2006
From: David Sherrer

Concerning message #8581:

I have small sea-slugs that recently appeared in my 10 year old reef tank that look just like the ones shown on this page. The first one was spotted about 6 weeks ago and was removed. Small ones are 1/8" with adults up to 7 - 8 mm. In a period of three weeks they have eaten about 7 square inches of a 4 year old, formerly thriving zooanthid colony. They have reproduced to the extent that I removed about 50 tonight in 30 min with a syphon. They hide below the open and closed polyps are are clearly eating them. There is no question this is a pest species for reef tank owners that should be removed immediately unless you goal is to propagate small brown sea-slugs. If anyone knows what will eat or kill these animals before they take down years of growth in the rest of my tank, please let me know.

David Sherrer
Radford, VA

freed42002@yahoo.com

Sherrer, D., 2006 (Oct 27) Re: Polyp-feeding nudibranch. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18048

Dear David,
I guess to you this is a catastrophe, but to me it is very interesting. This is almost certainly an unnamed species. Clearly you must have recently introduced some new rock or zoanthid to your aquarium, as these animals do not appear out of thin air. I am afraid that there are no known animals which specifically target aeolid nudibranchs.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Oct 27). Comment on Re: Polyp-feeding nudibranch by David Sherrer. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18048

Factsheet

Feeding on Palythoa

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