slug id help please

[scootrnerd]

i found this slug in my tank at 12 am looked as though it was feeding on some glove polyps. its approximately 3/4 inch long i have looked all over and cant find any info on it, was hoping its a stomatella but i thought they where reef safe. i have removed it to a qt tank so mainly worried about eggs. i haven't added anything to the tank about 4 months. so where did it come from? any help is greatly appreciated :wall:

[snailrider]

That guy looks pretty cool. Was he actually eating the polyps or in the general vacinity? Is there damage to the polyps?

Is there a shell burried under a fleshy outer coat?

[salty420]

usually when someone says they have a slug it is infact a stomatella snail. in this case however it is not. i have no idea what it is but i can say it's not a stomatella, sorry.

[scootrnerd]

no there is no shell, yes he was hanging on the polyps there is some damage but not sure if it caused it

[Grins]

almost looks like a cucumber, but Charles probably has a better idea than I do on what it is.

[scootrnerd]

yeah but aren't cucumbers reef safe?

[Grins]

I'm starting to not even like the term "reef safe". Cucumbers can be great, some can be toxic when they die or become stressed. And as i said, not sure it is a cucumber. Charles1958 here has a lot of invert knowledge and I'd also check with the invert gurus on the invert site at RC for another opinion source

[scootrnerd]

thanks grin, it maybe mute anyway i came home from work and it gone! cant find it in the q.t tank filter nada!

[Grins]

Hmm hopefully you'll find it again. If it were me though I'd still post in the RC invert forum and hope that GreenBean or one of the other gurus there knows what it is.

[snailrider]

I was just at wet web media and saw a pic of what you may have.

A nudibranch. Looked alot like that, but which one I did not research, just pointing in a direction for you to look.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nudibran.htm about 2/3 of the way down

Keep us posted

[scootrnerd]

you are right it is a nudibranch. didn,t find an exact match on that site .so i ran a few searches myself and found the exact same one . thanks for the great research . it says they are a soft coral eater. the picture i found says that it was from around japan? how did it get in MY tank?

[Grins]

Sheesh now that you've said nudibranch I wonder why it didn't occur to me before. There are all different sorts and they all have specialized specific diets. I've had to deal with some nasty ones that eat zoas in the past. They can come in on anything though, substrate, etc.

[andy1130]

It can be really difficult to accuratly identify a species just from a picture, while its undoubtably some species of nudibranch i dont know if i would be 100% positive of the species just by comparing pictures. As to how it got into your tank there are lots of ways, remember a stoweaway doesnt have to make the whole trip on your rock or coral, he may have come in on a piece you've never seen and then migrated to somthing you bought out of the same tank at your LFS.
Out of curiosity, what species did you match him up with?

[scootrnerd]

don't remember the exact species and i am not searching again. like i said though i haven't added anything in 4 months! so i dunno where it came from. and ps. i found it again still in my qt tank. what should i do with it? i dont like ending the life of any living thing. do you think the lfs might take it? would it survive in a tank without corals?

[Grins]

If it has lived for 4 months it is eating something in there. You could try your LFS but don't be surprised if they don't want to risk it.

[andy1130]

Probably wouldnt survive to long - most of the nudibranchs have such specialized diets they eat one thing and thats it. I would also be carful because lots of them put out some VERY toxic chemicals when they die
I would try taking him to the LFS

[Denzil]

Looks simalar to a sea cucumber i had.