WTH is this? ID needed on this sea slug i just found...is he bad?

[CoralKitty]

good or bad? its about an inch long, i thought it was a snail on my glass untill i realized it had no shell.

 

[Snail-po]

plakobranchus ocellatus slug. It is reef safe and eats algea, good find because they are worth around $20.

 

[LeslieH]

I can see why Snail-po would think it's a Plakobranchus but it's really a species of arminid nudibranch, genus Dermatobranchus. They are all specialized predators on soft corals like Dendronephthya, Scleronephthya, Eleuthorobia & Siphonogorgia. So if you like soft corals it's bad.

 

[CoralKitty]

crap...i think its this http://www.seaslugforum.net/display.cfm?id=4428

now how do i get rid of them....
i found 2 more in my nano last night AND i have green cloves that have been closed for like 4 days

 

[Snail-po]

sorry for my misidentification.

 

[Sk8r]

sump. They should be ok in there.

 

[LeslieH]

You'll need to dip and do an extensive search of the colony. Look between the individual polyps & into any crevices if it's on rock. Keep an eye out for egg ribbons - there will be examples of Dermatobranchus eggs on the Sea Slug Forum so you'll know what to look for. They are hermaphrodites which live only to feed & mate so if you've got 2 or more there are probably eggs.

 

[CoralKitty]

i have sucked out almost 20 now >_<

how i did not notice them sooner is beyond me, i have not added anything new for a month and i think they came on the golden cloves 2 months ago as they began looking bad a few weeks after getting them. my green cloves closed up a few days before but i figured it was because i messed with the flow in my tank.

man i hope these guys just eat cloves and won't move on to any other species

 

[LeslieH]

That many? That's rough.... You better check all your soft corals & rock. How long did you quarantine the golden cloves?