zoanthid-eating nudis wanted

[LeslieH]

Hi everyone --

The identity of the zoanthid eating nudibranch was brought up on the Sea Slug Forum. Bill Rudman, the fellow who runs the SSF, didn't recognize it so there's a good chance it's an undescribed species. I posted a reply about it being a common pest in reef aquariums. Bill would like to get some specimens so he can work on it. I know that he'd also appreciate accurate information on what species it feeds on & where it came from (Fiji LR, Samoan LR, Florida LR, etc). You can learn how to preserve them properly by reading the instructions on the Sea Slug Forum (last of the 3 links).

http://www.seaslugforum.net/display.cfm?id=17487
http://www.seaslugforum.net/display.cfm?id=17613
http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=preserve

 

[geoxman]

In my years of trying to eradicate these, I have found that they do not discriminate on which type of zoanthid that they eat. I have never seen any on any of the palyothoa grandis species that I have purchased though.
I have bought rocks from LFS and online that had them and the pieces were from all over the world, at least places where zoanthids are grown/harvested.
I have noticed that there are different types of the zoanthid eating nudis. One of the types will take on the color of the polyp it is eating while others remain brown. In treating new pieces I have also seen certain nudis that will die from a double dose of FW exit, while others do not. The size of the nudi is not what determines which is killed. IMHO
They are very fragile and would seem hard to remove from the rock with out killing or damaging the specimen. Mr. Rudman might have better luck going to any LFS on the day of their shipment and most of the zoanthid colonies will have plenty of them on the newly arrived pieces. Good luck in your research and I look forward to seeing the results.