Nudibranch?

[SirSalty]

I found this critter leaving a small colony of zoas in my DT earlier today. That group hadn't opened in about 2 days, so I figured something was off, but chemistry checked out and none of the other colonies were affected.

It fluoresces bright orange under actinic light and crawls about like a snail. it's maybe 5mm in length. Because of the projections on it's back, the only ID I could come up with was a nudibranch. Any thoughts?

I have it in a plastic box right now just in case it has the potential to be harmful. The zoas have begun to slowly open again, though it could be coincidence.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[smtank]

Zoanthid eating nudibranch, you need to remove adults manually or dip the colony to remove them. Eggs appear as a spiral mass on the zoanthids that need to be removed as well a dip will not kill the eggs. GL

 

[SirSalty]

Zoanthid eating nudibranch, you need to remove adults manually or dip the colony to remove them. Eggs appear as a spiral mass on the zoanthids that need to be removed as well a dip will not kill the eggs. GL

Wow, I wonder where that came from. First time I've seen such a thing in there, and I've had this tank running with lots of zoa colonies for nearly a year. At least it was easy to spot.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

more info on aeolid nudibranchs - http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rs/

 

[cloak]

Keep your eyes peeled. Usually when there's one there's more. I ended up beating them by checking the tank everyday when the actinics came on and siphoned them out one by one. It was a little tedious, but there gone now. The zoanthids have never looked better. GL.

 

[SirSalty]

That's about what I'm doing. I siphoned that 1st one up when I saw it, and have been looking for them in the blue light since. Have yet to find any more though, so I hope it might have been a lone straggler on the last colony I added.

If not, hopefully the yellow coris wrasse my lfs is ordering for me will go after them.

Thanks for the responses!