black lipods?

Brent RH

New member
I have a invert pocket book that has a clip on black lipods being a hazard to some corals. One LFS store I use has an employee that searches the LR tank for lipods to put in her tank at home. The other LFS I use says pull em when you see them. THEY ARE REPRODUCING IN MY TANK AT A DECENT RATE AND I NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!!!!!!
 
No its not in your links. I wish I could get my camera to work with this site. So, these things move like snails- when they are on the glass, their underside looks like a snail, they are all black(except for underside) with a small amount of white shell showing on their back(in a straight line), a black curtain all around their body, oval shaped, they grow in diameter but not in hight. sorry I know its a pain to play the guessing game
 
Stomatella snail? Something like this with a black shell?

stomatellasnail.jpg
 
yes but the shell is under the skin with a small line of the shell showing on their back. I've heard these guys are always ending up in tanks as hitch hikers from the live rock bin.
 
shell is white, skin is black. I found the shell from a dead one once and it looked just like a womans acrylic finger nail.
 
Are you talking about Scutus spp.? If you don't want any large ones that you have, I would be willing to pay to have them shipped to me, as I currently have only one.

Although Scutus are snails, not slugs, there is information about them on the extremely helpful seaslug forum.
 
Elysia, so they are called scutus. Ok, so clue me in. whats the deal with these guys? Why do you want them. They only come out when the lights are out. I've been flushing them. Good? Bad? How come so many people know so much more than me on here that have been in this hobby for such a short amount of time!!??? must be a lot of book worms on here!! Sure I'd ship you some if you have a practical idea for making it happen.
 
Brent, we know more primarily because we are a collective unit. Have you ever heard of the beans in a jar experiment? Studies found that when a large jar was filled with beans and 1000 people were asked to guess how many were in it, it was very rare that any one person would guess the right number, but when they averaged them all together, the answer was often dead on.

I'm willing to bet there is something in this hobby you know a lot better than many of us. Should the day ever come that we need to ask that question, then it is you who will be the expert. :)
 
Sorry Brent, I don't know anything about them. I assume Elysia wants them for diversity, which would suggest they are not so bad.
 
My user name is a genus of seaslug. I love seaslugs! Scutus are slug-like (often mistaken as a slug.) And I scan the threads looking for titles that might be slug related, in the hope that I can learn more about them or help someone with the little bit that I know about them.

Just like the Asterina starfish, people go back and forth on the Scutus spp. Calfo's and Fenner's Reef invertebrates book claims that they can't be trusted, however wetwebmedia (a Calfo Fenner beast) says that they can be trusted. I trust the seaslugforum more, and their reports say that the Scutus is a herbivore. I have one that is quite large; I believe 3" long.

I'm looking for more because I'm all for animals that are attractive and eat algae. They also are of a specific gender, so if I want them to reproduce in my tank, I'm going to need a few. And people only ever get them as hitchhikers from their live rock. Trying to get another one that way is going to be very hit or miss!

I definately wouldn't flush these guys, especially if you haven't seen them doing anything bad. If you can, post some pictures so we can be sure, but your description seems spot-on.
 
I know how to use a computer but for what ever reason I have trouble with this sites file size limitations and compressing. The pic up the page looks identical. Bad news for you is that mine range from the size of a dime to 1.5 to 2" I assure they have no problem reproducing. I've thrown many and they keep coming back. I can bank on finding 2 every time I wake up in the middle of the night and walk past my tank. maybe you have more and you don't know it? Do you ever look at your tank when everything is pitch black in the room?
 
I wish! Mine wasn't a hitchhiker on my rock, but grew up in someone else's system. I got it when they tore their system down. It has become quite limpet like, as it has a favorite spot that it returns to each morning. Of course, it is in an inaccessible corner, but...
I may have a photo when I first introduced it.

168303P1030258.JPG

sort of at an odd angle, but, never-the-less
 
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Oh yeah, its no mistake. Thats what I have. The ongoing question is... you want more of them. Others are very happy to get rid of them.
 
Again, I think they are attractive. And I have hair algae everywhere! I think people want to get rid of them out of fear. I don't fear them. I have been awake at all hours of the night, and have looked into the tank at all hours. It has never been doing anything even remotely suspect. Plus, I already have a pencil/sputnik urchin in my tank, that eats coraline. So I am willing to put up w/ a little less-than-perfect behavior for a cool animal.

Real shame that people are killing these animals. They are so cool.
 
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