Planaria-eating nudibranch?

April 2, 2001
From: Drew Dram

Have you ever heard of a sea slug called the varians nudibranch? I have no further information on it other than it is black with two blue lines on the top of it and it the supposedly eats flatworms (Planaria), an eyesore to the marine aquarium that eventually becomes plague proportions. These flatworms do not harm many corals but most times they cover all the live rock in the aquarium and spread rapidly throughout the aquarium.These worms are nearly impossible to get rid of without using harmful chemicals in the reef aquarium that are detremental to fish and corals. Thre are few fish that eat these worms and when the planaria are in tremendous amounts the fish will not eat them because of the over-population. I have tried thirty second dips in reverse osmosis water and that causes the planaria fall off and die in the fresh water. So, now I can control them by not bringing them into the aquarium but I cannot control the ones in the aquarium. I am sorry I do not know where the nudibranchs come from but I do know that Planaria comes from Indonesia, and it is most often spread through the aquarium trade by way of wholesalers and retailers that have had it in their tanks.
Drew Dram

thomdram@earthlink.net

Dram, D., 2001 (Apr 2) Planaria-eating nudibranch?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4107

Dear Drew,
The slug your are interested in is Chelidonura varians. If you look at the information and messages above and below your message you will get quite a bit of background information about this interesting slug. It is not a 'nudibranch'. Nudibranchs are just one group or Order of Sea Slugs (Opisthobranchs). Chelidonura varians belongs to the order Cephalaspidea, which are commonly called Bubble Shells, because many have large bubble-shaped shells. If you have a look at the Species List you will see there are quite a few Orders of Sea Slugs. If you look at some of the species listed under each order you will get an idea of the great diversity found amongst the Sea Slugs.

Concerning where you can get some Chelidonura for your aquarium. Personally I think these animals are better left in their natural habitat. If collected, I suspect most will die in transit, and even if they survive they are unlikely to breed in captivity. If you have some other method of controlling flatworms, such as dipping in freshwater, I would suggest you continue to use that. The other thing to remember is that although the flatworms are a pest in aquaria, they are a natural part of the tropical environment, and certainly weren't asked to make the trip from the tropics to some aquarium in the city.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Apr 2). Comment on Planaria-eating nudibranch? by Drew Dram. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4107

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