This guy upsetting Duncan

[Reef-Masters]

Please help ID this little guy. He was on a Duncan this morning when we opened up the shop. Thought it to be a nudibranch of some sort and want to ID for proper course of attack.

 

[Mr Fishface]

Wow that is... something else. Did you try removing with tweezers? Curious if it came off fine or what it looks like in just a cup of water. I would try tweezers and see if it comes off easy or not.

 

[Reef-Masters]

Wow that is... something else. Did you try removing with tweezers? Curious if it came off fine or what it looks like in just a cup of water. I would try tweezers and see if it comes off easy or not.

Simply thought it was a piece of clove polyp so I sucked it off with my feeding baster. Came off relatively easy, however, once it was in the baster it stuck to the side. That is when I realized it was not a piece of clove polyp, it was in fact alive. I put it inside of a specimen cup on a piece of rock for observation. It is moving around and moves along the rock like a hydroid or slug.

 

[ahiggins]

You’ve definitely got yourself a nudibranch. A beautiful one at that. Unfortunately most nudibranchs exhibit the color of what they’ve been eating...so it’s definitely a predatory one I don’t have any experience of getting rid of these guys

 

[Mr Fishface]

Simply thought it was a piece of clove polyp so I sucked it off with my feeding baster. Came off relatively easy, however, once it was in the baster it stuck to the side. That is when I realized it was not a piece of clove polyp, it was in fact alive. I put it inside of a specimen cup on a piece of rock for observation. It is moving around and moves along the rock like a hydroid or slug.

Wow! Would love to see a pic in the cup if you get a chance. Quite interesting it was on a duncan coral too. I would have assumed the duncan would irritate the critter more. Initially I can honestly say I have not seen anything that looks like that, but that's why I am curious what it looks like in a cup. Might be easier to gauge more that way.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nudibranch which Could be a culprit. It is a member of the Eubranchidae, genus Eubranchus.which greatly mimic green algae and may bother zoas and other soft coral.

 

[Reef-Masters]

Wow! Would love to see a pic in the cup if you get a chance. Quite interesting it was on a duncan coral too. I would have assumed the duncan would irritate the critter more. Initially I can honestly say I have not seen anything that looks like that, but that's why I am curious what it looks like in a cup. Might be easier to gauge more that way.

Actually the photo is in a cup.

 

[KJ]

Aeolid nudibranch. Predatory on zoanthids.

 

[Reef-Masters]

Aeolid nudibranch. Predatory on zoanthids.

Thank you very much!

 

[Reef-Masters]

Thank you very much!

We will scour our zoa and paly colonies to be certain there aren’t any there.

 

[Ken_lou3]

You can buy berghia nudibranchs to wipe them out, they will eat them all, these are zoanthid eating nudibranchs and can wipe out your zoas pretty quickly if left untreated

 

[ScottR]

You can buy berghia nudibranchs to wipe them out, they will eat them all, these are zoanthid eating nudibranchs and can wipe out your zoas pretty quickly if left untreated

Berghia will eat aiptaisa. Not zoa eating nudis.

 

[Ken_lou3]

Your right, I Can’t find the nudibranch I was thinking of, a wrasse will also work, a melanurus, six line, choris, etc, I’ve also heard that a mandarin will eat them, I think one targets the eggs and the other targets the nudibranchs so they are best as a pair, not sure if that’s true though, I got a melanurus wrasse and a ruby red dragonette and never had a problem after that, I also heard flatworm exit will kill them but haven’t had any experience with it, thanks for correcting me on the berghia though, don’t want to see this guy waste money