Non-toxic Sea Slugs?

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

So, I’ve tried to research this before unsuccessfully, but are there any sea slugs that are not toxic? I know some are less toxic than others, but I’m hoping to find ones that are either completely non-toxic or as close as you can get.

Any thoughts?

 

[JumboShrimp]

I’m not sure whether you are referring to these common Sea Hares, or some other type of creature, but over the years I have had these die in tanks as small as 20-gallons, and it never hurt anything. Hope that helps.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I’m not sure whether you are referring to these common Sea Hares, or some other type of creature, but over the years I have had these die in tanks as small as 20-gallons, and it never hurt anything. Hope that helps.

I mean any creature that is colloquially referred to as a sea slug (shell-less marine gastropods [i.e. sea snails with no shells], nudibranchs, sea cucumbers, etc.]), so the Sea Hares fit into the category.

Specifically, I’m hoping to find ones that wouldn’t release toxins into the tank when preyed upon, but I’m definitely interested in ones that don’t cause problems if they die from natural causes as well. With your Sea Hares, did you run carbon or do large water changes when they died? Also, did you remove the bodies, or were they taken care of by the CUC?

 

[Seymo44]

Lettuce nudibranch (not an actual nudi, they just call it that) are non toxic if I remember correctly. They primarily eat hair algae, and even incorporate some of the chloroplasts into their tissue. I’ve been told that they need lots of hair algae or they can starve. I want one, but I can’t get hair algae to grow in the tank that I want one. They’re like 6 bucks on reef cleaners.

I just realized how insane it is that I’m trying to encourage gha, just so I can add to my CUC…

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Lettuce nudibranch (not an actual nudi, they just call it that) are non toxic if I remember correctly. They primarily eat hair algae, and even incorporate some of the chloroplasts into their tissue. I’ve been told that they need lots of hair algae or they can starve. I want one, but I can’t get hair algae to grow in the tank that I want one. They’re like 6 bucks on reef cleaners.

I just realized how insane it is that I’m trying to encourage gha, just so I can add to my CUC…

Haha, hey if you like them enough for that trade off, then by all means go for it.

 

[Seymo44]

I kinda fell in love with them while diving near Ochos Rios, Jamiaca.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I had a little bit of a 'heads-up' each time... they started to shrink (no doubt from having eaten clean everything they could, and then running out of food), and so I was able to get them out fairly soon after they died. But I didn't have to run carbon or anything.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Most Nudis are specialized only a few kinds of coral/sponge/nem/etc.

The green/lettuce "sea slug (not a nudi)" (specfically Elysia Clarki or Crispata) eat only live algae (known to potentially eat a few kinds of Halimeda, Caulerpa and byopsis) to absorb the chloroplasts. Adults may not eat as much algae, relying more on stored chloroplasts to get energy. Either way, they are hard to keep, but much more possible than some others.

 

[Eric R.]

Lettuce nudibranch (not an actual nudi, they just call it that) are non toxic if I remember correctly. They primarily eat hair algae, and even incorporate some of the chloroplasts into their tissue. I’ve been told that they need lots of hair algae or they can starve. I want one, but I can’t get hair algae to grow in the tank that I want one. They’re like 6 bucks on reef cleaners.

I just realized how insane it is that I’m trying to encourage gha, just so I can add to my CUC…

I received 4 Elysia from Reefcleaners. I'm pretty certain that one, if not all four, are actually E. clarki, not E. crispata. According to this article, E. clarki is supposed to consume Penicillus capitatus, P. lamourouxii, Halimeda incrassata and H. monile, as well as Bryopsis plumosa. I have plenty of hair algae (I believe a Derbesia sp.) in this aquarium, but I haven't observed them eating it in significant amounts.

I can confirm that in my aquarium, I've seen the slugs on the P. capitatus that I also got from Reefcleaners. The P. capitatus didn't do well after being transferred to my aquarium, but most of them put out a new growth stem after being planted. I ordered 5, and 4 survived being planted into the aquarium. I would order a lot more (10+) for the 4 slugs were I to do it again from scratch, so that the slugs had plenty of this as a food source. I also received a bunch of either Halimeda monile or Halimeda incrassata from Reefcleaners, but I haven't observed them feeding on this as much. It's also not as well established in the aquarium. I could have ordered more of this as well to start with.

I'm probably the only reefer (well, there may be one or two others) that would like to have bryopsis as a food source for the slugs. This is my first time keeping them, 3 of the 4 slugs (the ones that I'm not certain were E. clarki) only lived 6-7 weeks. The 4th is still alive, it's been about 9 weeks. I'm not sure the age when I received them, other than that all 4 were adults. I've seen several bunches of eggs, and at least a handful of juvenile slugs, but I think the larvae prefer bryopsis as a food source, one that I don't unfortunately have in my aquarium. I didn't take any extra steps to collect the eggs or rear the hatchlings, it all happened in tank, and I believe they juveniles made it to at least 3 weeks old based on size and observed development. I had been hoping to get some bryopsis from a local reefer that was battling a bryopsis problem, but they hit it with fluc before I was able to get some from them. I've also had a cyano problem in the tank that flares up from time to time. It's also possible the larvae were consumed by predatory flatworms in the tank, I need to follow-up on this and potentially eradicate the flatworms.

 

[Eric R.]

So, I’ve tried to research this before unsuccessfully, but are there any sea slugs that are not toxic? I know some are less toxic than others, but I’m hoping to find ones that are either completely non-toxic or as close as you can get.

Any thoughts?

I've heard from another forum member that E. crispata can release toxins, and caused problems when they died in their tank. I had no observable problems with the 3 deaths of (what I believe) were E. clarki in my tank. I did not remove the bodies, as I did not find them. I had some CUC that were also QTing in the tank, and I didn't notice any deaths among them at the time.