blue velvet nudibranch

[Klaus777]

Has any used these to get rid of Acoel flatworms? I have a huge outbreak in my tank of these flatworms. I was thinking to try the blue velvet nudibranch to keep the population down. I have outstanding numbers of these in my tank so I don't think food supply would be an issue. However, I've read the blue velvet nudi only lives for three months... Is this true? or only life expectancy in a home aquarium not suffeicient in flatworms?

 

[iamwhatiam52]

They are beautiful and will eat a mind-boggeling amount of flatworms, like 3 or 4 a minute.

BUT!!!!!!!!!!!

Very difficult to keep in a reef tank.
They are swept away in the slightest current and get eaten by powerheads and overflows. I even put a fine screen over my overflow, but one crawled on it and got irretrievably stuck in the mesh.
If you do manage to keep one alive, I believe it will exterminate any amount of flatworms and starve. I put 4 in a 180 that was so infested that they were smothering corals, and in 3 weeks hardly a flatworm was left. By that time, all the nudibranchs had died violent deaths of one sort or another.

 

[iamwhatiam52]

Beautiful creature that should be left in the ocean.

Beautiful creature that should be left in the ocean.

I love these, but will never buy one again.
Putting one in a reef tank is murder.

 

[Elysia]

I don't know how many flatworms you have, only that I have read many posts by people who "know" that they have way too many flatworms for one of these nudibranchs to possibly eat all of them... the nudibranch always ends up dying either to a stinging coral or a power head as Iam mentioned, or they run out of food. And if you don't think the nudi would run out of food, then they really aren't going to help you with your problem, are they? I'm not trying to be critical, just wondering if the "use" of these animals has been thought through.

Despite the numbers, perhaps it would be worth while to use thin diameter rigid hose to perform water changes -- at the same time, use the rigid hose to suck the individual flatworms up and out of the tank. Sure, it won't be an overnight solution, but it also won't mean the death of an animal that you ultimately don't really have a desire to keep alive.

Sorry, lots of people probably think that a slug should be lucky to be of service to humans as a utility creature, but I really like sea slugs and hate to see them die in tanks.

 

[mscarpena]

I had a problem with flatworms and what I did to get rid of them is cut back on my feedings. I was feeding 2 times per day then I cut back to one and they just disappeared. I have left it a one time per day and I still see a few hear or there, but have never been out of control. I do not like flatworm exit because it never worked well for me and it caused some of my animals to become stressed out. Never killed any, but irritated them and stressed some badly.