Blue Velvet Nudibranches-Death to Flatworms!

[pk1]

So I finally got the sea slugs I've been waiting for. After a few snags with the order I placed with DFS, 4 large, healthy and stunning nudibranchs arrived yesterday. After carefully acclimating them over a few hours time, I placed them near the spots that have the highest concentration of the horribly ugly red flatworms that have taken over my tank. They immediately went to town on them. The head of the slug is covered in tiny hairs, and as they slither over the rock work they move their head back and forth, when a hair comes in contact with a flatworm, a proboscis snaps out and vacuums the little red devil right up. Very cool to watch. Here's a few pictures..

This rock was covered in FW's, and here you can still see a few

Hunting in the substrate

 

[eep013]

Those are cool! I didn't know they eat flatworms. Good luck with the eradication.

 

[gig]

you need to take a video of them in action, would love to see it!

 

[ziyaadb]

awesome thanks for the pics

 

[ashtree68]

Those are really neat, I kinda want to start a nudibranch tank... There are also about 10 other tanks I want to start. :lol:

 

[kerusso316]

Way to go. We need more of this,and a lot less chemicals.

 

[aiko670]

Way to go. We need more of this,and a lot less chemicals.

Amen brother! I hate seeing so many people just dump chemicals in their tank for the quick fix. It almost always leads to another problem that needs to be fixed.

 

[runningnreefing]

What are the downsides of keeping these beautiful nudibranches.

 

[gig]

What are the downsides of keeping these beautiful nudibranches.

do they starve to death once the flatworms are gone?

 

[fijiblue]

do they starve to death once the flatworms are gone?

Unfortunately, yes they do. They never get all the flatworms before this happens so you will go through the cycle once again. I have some video (back in 2005) that I took of them eating flatworms - I will try and post it if anyone is interested.

 

[pk1]

The possible downsides are that they will not eradicate them, or they will and then starve. I know of a few local reefers who have an infestation of FW's, so when (or if) the population of FW's start to dwindle, I'll be moving them along. I can't find much info on the life cycle of these creatures, so I have no idea how long they live in the wild, and I didn't find many instances of people keeping more than 1 in a reef tank...I hope they will breed. My hopes are not high, but what the heck.

Fiji, I am pretty sure I saw your video in my search, but please do post it with your experiences.

Here's one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wFujFhAdv0

And I have to say I am guilty of putting chemicals in my tank, I tried FWE 3 times. While it did kill or stun the FW's, they obviously were not all killed.

 

[fijiblue]

I tried FWE 3 times. While it did kill or stun the FW's, they obviously were not all killed.

Did you treat three time 5 - 7 days apart each time or randomly three times? To stop the life cycle, it is always recommended to treat 3 time with 5-7 days between each time (I prefer 5 days). That usually does the trick.

 

[NewSchool04]

That's great to hear!! Must be nice seeing those worms getting mowed down. If you start running low Patrick, you know who to call!

 

[ostrow]

Did you treat three time 5 - 7 days apart each time or randomly three times? To stop the life cycle, it is always recommended to treat 3 time with 5-7 days between each time (I prefer 5 days). That usually does the trick.

Except, if you have a DSB, in which case some will survive -- and be super-resistant as well.

 

[fijiblue]

Interesting - I never heard of that before. Im not sure why a photosynthetic animal would want to hide in a deep sand bed, but I guess it can happen.

 

[pk1]

I treated 3 full bottles in 2 weeks. Not sure of the actual time between treatments but it wasn't very long. Between the FWE, water and salt for the water changes and the carbon, the treatment cost a small fortune. It also decimated my mini star population and almost killed my fancy serpent star. If I didn't happen to notice it writhing around in pain it would have been a goner. As ostrow mentioned, I think my substrate provided a great hiding place for them, it's not a DSB and not quite crushed coral...the spaces in between provide great hiding places. I see the FW's up to an inch down in some spots.

 

[ostrow]

the spaces in between provide great hiding places. I see the FW's up to an inch down in some spots.

Yup.

Photosynthetic? Flatworms? I do not believe they are. There are threads from non-experts reporting them as such, but this information seems inaccurate.

See here:
http://www.ronshimek.com/flatworms.html

They co-habit with zooxanthellae which are photosynthetic, but the worm itself is not.

 

[fijiblue]

ummm - that would make them photosynthetic An acropora co-exists with zooxanthellae in it's tissue - would you not consider that photosynthetic?

 

[pk1]

semantics..

 

[ostrow]

Acroporas lack the capacity for independent movement, so the distinction while technically accurate is, in their case, irrelevant.

The flatworm is a mobile creature that hunts for food. It is probably the most efficient detritivore in our hobby. As such, flatworms can and will move deep into rocks and penetrate into sand beds. While they will not remain there permanently, they can survive for quite a long time in such environments. And, as a result, many can and will survive chemical treatments.

It's a significant, and not merely a semantic, difference.