Is this slug reef safe?

[ura]

Is it reef safe?

 

[pagojoe]

Nope. It's one of a handful of phyllidiid nudibranch species that occasionally shows up in tanks. Those are the ones that are toxic enough to cause big problems, and can (reportedly) even make people sick.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Airwolf75]

It has no known predators so it's probably pretty toxic, and it eats a sponge called Hymeniacidon. We see these diving in Hawaii all the time. They crawl around in broad daylight just daring you to try and eat it.

 

[ura]

Thanks for the info.

Can i keep it in fish only tank, or like a separate 2.5g tank just for him?

 

[LeslieH]

It might be Phyllidia varicosa, one of the most common members of the family. Beautiful but potentially deadly. Here's what Bill Rudman, one of the world's top nudibranch specialists & owner of the much beloved Sea Slug Forum has to say about keeping phyllidiids in aquaria:
"All phylliids protect themselves by taking chemicals from the sponges they feed on and refine them into particularly nasty terpene molecules with attached isonitriles. You don't need to know the chemical details but I have opened a door into a room in which I have kept phyllidiids overnight to be met by an acrid eye-watering atmosphere filling the room. Keeping phyllidiids in aquaria is a pretty sure way of killing other things in your tank within a short period. Experiments with P. varicosa have shown that, when disturbed, they secrete a poisonous mucus capable of killing fish and crustaceans in an aquarium (Johannes, 1963). Gunthorpe & Cameron (1987) also described the toxic qualities of three Phyllidia species (P. elegans, P. nobilis and P. ocellata) from Queensland waters."
http://seaslugforum.net/message/433

 

[pagojoe]

Thanks Leslie. That's the link that I would have posted if I'd had time to be thorough.

Cheers,



Don