Slug ID?

[AW2EOD]

A few nights ago, I noticed a half dollar sized group of zoas gone and couldn't figure out why.

Tonight, I find this slug looking thing attached to and eating my new rock of clove polyps.

I killed it, by pinching it with grabbers and forcefully removing it from the Polyps. It certainly didn't want to let go.

Any ideas?

 

[Tahoe61]

It's it an Asterina starfish not completely regenerated?

 

[AW2EOD]

It's it an Asterina starfish not completely regenerated?

Nope. It's oval shaped. Like a wierd limpet looking thing, without a hard shell. I put it in a cup of tank water, hoping it would start moving around but, i took a chunk out of it trying to get it off my Polyps. It was fighting to stay attached.

 

[Tahoe61]

Hmmm. Put the container against a white background and take another image. Try and use a micro setting.

 

[JGT]

Might be a Polyclad worm. Hard to see.

 

[AW2EOD]

Might be a Polyclad worm. Hard to see.

Quite possible! I just Google imaged that and different color variation but that looks very plausible. I'm gonna get better pics in just a little while.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A few nights ago, I noticed a half dollar sized group of zoas gone and couldn't figure out why.

Tonight, I find this slug looking thing attached to and eating my new rock of clove polyps.

I killed it, by pinching it with grabbers and forcefully removing it from the Polyps. It certainly didn't want to let go.

Any ideas?

If I'm interpreting the bottom pic correctly, then this critter has two little rhinophores in the top left of the pic (the little "horns" found on nudibranchs that are chemosensory organs), and this critter is most likely an Arminid nudibranch.

If so, they're octocoral-eaters, so they may feed on softies, GSP, gorgonians, etc.

I would assume this is a Dermatobranchus species, as it appears superficially quite similar to D. dendronephthyphagus (though it has enough differences that I can say it's definitely not a member of that exact species). There are a ton of species in the genus (quite likely including a number of different cryptic species), so I don't know offhand which it would be, but none of them would be keepers in a normal reef tank.

 

[AW2EOD]

It's still in the tiny cup of tank water. I came home and it was still curled up and "dead". I poked it and the little alien **** came back to life. Lol!

 

[KrisReef]

It's still in the tiny cup of tank water. I came home and it was still curled up and "dead". I poked it and the little alien **** came back to life. Lol!

Darth Vader Coral destroying nudibranch. I hope it flew in solo in a death star pod and didn't hatch from a hidden clutch of alien invaders.

I might set up a tank and feed it excess coral growth since it's decked out like a Hollywood celebrity in a designer cape. Sorry it ate your zoa's without permission.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

It's still in the tiny cup of tank water. I came home and it was still curled up and "dead". I poked it and the little alien **** came back to life. Lol!

 

[AW2EOD]

Darth Vader Coral destroying nudibranch. I hope it flew in solo in a death star pod and didn't hatch from a hidden clutch of alien invaders.

I might set up a tank and feed it excess coral growth since it's decked out like a Hollywood celebrity in a designer cape. Sorry it ate your zoa's without permission.

I'm not one to kill something, because it might be bad, unless it's an invasive species/environmental hazard, so I'm in a conundrum. Lol My wife wanted me to put in the sump, until I explained their reproduction cycle, so that's a no. My 10 year old son wants to set up a tank for itself and to feed it single zoa Polyps.

We'll decide it's fate tomorrow.

 

[KrisReef]

I'm not one to kill something, because it might be bad, unless it's an invasive species/environmental hazard, so I'm in a conundrum. Lol My wife wanted me to put in the sump, until I explained their reproduction cycle, so that's a no. My 10 year old son wants to set up a tank for itself and to feed it single zoa Polyps.

We'll decide it's fate tomorrow.

I have never set up a GOFunMe page but I think there are enough "RIght TO Life" folks on this platform that we could quickly raise enough coin for you to set up a sweet little AIO for Henry the Squeezed to recover in and live a long productive life eating zoa trimmings that folks on here send in the mail to feed the little bugger.

Let's all pitch in and give what we can to save "Hank the Branch."