Trap a Nudi?

[Instant Tang]

I think I've got a Nudibranch in my tank. I've seen it and it's NOT a snail of any type...and it's kind of large too.

So, someone at Ceasar's suggested I try krill and the modified plastic coke bottle trap trick to catch it.

Has anyone ever successfully captured a Nudibranch with this kind of trap? Are they attracted to krill- or will I just end up with my perppermint/cleaner shrimps in the bottle along with some bristleworms?

 

[northbay-reefer]

they move pretty slow, just use a large sringe and suck it out, the hard part is finding the eggs.

It could also be somekind of shelless snails, do you have picture of what it looks like ?

 

[Instant Tang]

No pictures yet...I've only seen it twice. It's about the size of a thumb...I'll need a BIGGER syringe than I currently have!

EGGS?!?!?

Oh jeez, thanks for really getting me concerned now!

 

[northbay-reefer]

TEll me what it looks like and I'll tell you if its a nudi or not, some nudis are not destructive.

btw, what is it eating out of your tank ? zoos ?

 

[Instant Tang]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9309756#post9309756 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by northbay-reefer
TEll me what it looks like and I'll tell you if its a nudi or not, some nudis are not destructive.

btw, what is it eating out of your tank ? zoos ?

I've only seen it twice. Once it was stretched across about a 3/4" gap between two live rocks. It looked snail-like, but the tissue was way to large to have been a snail. I also saw no shell, but part of it was hidden from my view. It appears mostly white, with muscle type striation marks in it that were grey and maybe a bit brown. It seemd to be about the size of a thumb, but it was hard to tell its exact shape because it was wrapped around an irregular rock surface.

The second time I saw it, it was in the same area...again in the early morning hours. This time I got a good look at it's "head". It had two small bumps (rhinophores?) that were about 2mm long each. It was about 12mm across in width and about 25mm+ in length- I didn't get to see the entire thing ever, it always slowly moves out of sight. It was semicircular in cross sectional shape. The color was mostly white, but upon very close examination, I could see small tan/brown spots along the length of it near the edge that was on the rock surface. (Think "pillbug" shape, though not segmented!)

My green staghorn has lost a lot of polyps, my blue and pinks are doing great... and my zoos do seem bothered by something. I've also lost a beautiful blue sponge that was doing so well for the longest time....

So, I'm concerned this creature might be enjoying a coral buffet in my tank every night.

 

[northbay-reefer]

OK from what you just describe, its not a nudi, but a type of shelless snail, I forgot the name of it, but it is harmless and is a nice hitch hiker. I have those in my tank too, they only come out at night

 

[Instant Tang]

No, if you're thinking of a papershell snail (strombella?) then it's not that...I have plenty of those...and this thing is a whale compared to the paper shell snails I have and am very familiar with.

 

[northbay-reefer]

No their are different types, some are black and some are white, but its in the same family as the strombella I think. Nudies are very short live and they reproduce like crazy

 

[northbay-reefer]

Ok I remember now, it is a type of limppid <-- not sure about the spelling