Nudibranch ID please

[0rangeFish]

Found this guy in my pipe organ coral. The coral looks untouched, so maybe this guy munches on a different type of coral or all the sponge thats in between the pipe organ coral's tubes. He is about an inch long, tan with sandy pattern, white mouth and underside, and black horns. Please help ID this guys, I hope he hitched hiked in and didn't hatch.

 

[ginpang]

Ok. From far he looks like a ' fibre one ' cereal with a head but magnified he looks smooth white with yellow rings and dots..... In person is he frilly or textured? Is there ridges between the yellow?

 

[pagojoe]

It's an arminid nudibranch. They eat soft corals....and that particular species is predatory on "clove polyps," although it might eat other stuff.

Cheers,


Don

 

[0rangeFish]

ok, hopefully he's the only one. But any case I'll dip the coral and see what happens. The nudi is smooth with his pattern on him. I've had this coral for two years and this is the first time I've seen a nudi in my tank.

 

[0rangeFish]

Does anybody know how to get rid of these type of nudi. Will dipping in an iodine solution help? Do these nudi eat zoa?

 

[ginpang]

Helmut Debelius's nudibranch and sea snails indo-pacific field guide doesn't have the particular species , I thought it might. But like pagojoe says Armina sp. is the closest physiological match for your guy. Eats soft coral and sea pens the guide says.
It's most likely to dye off on it's own unless you have endless supply of food for it. Some Echinoderms are specialized in eating those but I don' t think any available in the hobby.Otherwise like almost all snails a copper dip will probably kill it.

 

[0rangeFish]

I'm wondering what type of corals it eats as I have a lot. Will it eat mushrooms, ricordea, gsp, xenia, or toadstools? What about zoa or palythoa? I'm assuming all sps and lps are safe as I have plenty of them also. The internet hasn't been too helpful about what the eggs look like/size or if they will live outside on the rock of the colony they are currently eating. If they stick to just the one colony, I can just get rid of it and be done, but if they live on the rock then I'll keep it around so most of the nudis don't wonder to other parts of the tank. One thing I am getting is a six line wrasse. Ironically I just got rid of mine for bullying purposes as she was the only old fish in the tank, and then poof this problem turns up. The wrasse must of been keeping them in check.