Velvet Nudibranch killer!

[Tyrenlds]

what is eating my velvet nudi's? I have put 2 sets of 2 nudis in the tank for flatworm control and both times they were eaten one after the other. I've seen the peppermint shrimps quietly stalk behind them during the day but never attack... i'm beginning to think they're the culprits but have yet to see it happen.

Has anyone dealt with a velvet nudibranch predator before?

 

[mounts327]

Do you still have any flatworms? If not then your nudi simply starved.

 

[Tyrenlds]

i've got an army of flatworms... would have fed them both for a month at least but each time a nudibranch was killed one per night beginning the very first night... half eaten carcass still floating around as evidence... I had the vortech down to the lowest setting and installed the mesh guard while they were in the tank, so I know they weren't chopped by a powerhead.

 

[mounts327]

I really don't think anything would eat it, or try to...I'm pretty sure they are toxic to most marine predators

 

[erendon]

Have you actually seen the bodies? Or do you just not see them anymore?

 

[Tyrenlds]

saw the bodies, or what was left of them... something ripped them up pretty good. And there wasn't little pieces floating all around, as you'd think there would be if they had taken a ride through the return pump. Just one large piece, about half their body.

 

[saltydude]

Where do you get velvet nudibranchs?

 

[Tyrenlds]

my LFS... they seem to be able to get them whenever they want.

 

[Peter Eichler]

What type of pumps/powerheads do you have in your tank? That would be my first suspect.

 

[Tyrenlds]

vortech in DT, covered with mesh... there's no way it got into the powerhead. He may have made it down to the sump and up through the iwaki return pump but i've got strainers on both the drain line and the pump inlet...

if it had been chopped in a pump would there be little pieces of him floating around or collected in the filter sock?