What critter is this?

[sezaro21]

I was looking in my tank last night and noticed a bunch of these type of slugs on the rocks and stuff. Not sure what they are. Should and how would I get rid of them or are they ok to have. I dipped all my corals so I have no idea how they got in the tank.

 

[JoJosReef]

Looks like you have some baby cucumbers!

 

[sezaro21]

Are these a nuisance pest and should I get rid of them? They are all about .5" long. I didn't realize there were that many in the tank. Is there anything that would eat them?

 

[JoJosReef]

Are these a nuisance pest and should I get rid of them? They are all about .5" long. I didn't realize there were that many in the tank. Is there anything that would eat them?

In principle you don't want thungs eating or messing with cucumbers in your tank. They can be very toxic for the entire tank if bothered.

In your case, your best bet is to carefully remove them and bring them somewhere like the LFS. if it were only one, sure, great novelty. Lots of them? Now we're talking high risk. Some are more risky than others, but in general a worst case scenario is one crawls into a powerhead and "nukes" your tank.

Perhaps @ISpeakForTheSeas has a better idea of the species and knows better the risks?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@littlefoxx has a story to tell you when it comes to sea cucumbers

 

[sezaro21]

Damm. That sucks. I was hoping these wouldn't be bad. So how do I get these out safely without destroying my tank? @littlefoxx or @ISpeakForTheSeas, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[littlefoxx]

If those death noodles were in my tank I would rip the whole thing up to get them out.

 

[BryanM]

If those death noodles were in my tank I would rip the whole thing up to get them out.

Oh man, you made me laugh out loud.

 

[BryanM]

FWIW, they are great, useful critters. But I'm risk adverse, and their downside is pretty big, and I'd be removing them as well.

 

[littlefoxx]

Oh man, you made me laugh out loud.

 

[BristleWormHater]

How big is your tank? That significantly effects the risk factor. I dont think these small yellow ones get much bigger, unless you have a really aggressive fish I wouldnt worry about them.
Any ideas where they came from?

 

[sezaro21]

No idea where they came from. My tank is 75 gallons

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was looking in my tank last night and noticed a bunch of these type of slugs on the rocks and stuff. Not sure what they are. Should and how would I get rid of them or are they ok to have. I dipped all my corals so I have no idea how they got in the tank.

I dont see these as baby cucumbers bur rather sea slugs in the suborder Dendronotina, family Tritoniidae and should be removed. Likely based on numbers, there are /were eggs present which have hatched and there may be more and came in as hitchhikers.
Typical egg mass:

Baby cukes dont have antennae. These are typical baby cucumbers shape:

 

[sezaro21]

The other thing that I thought was weird was that everything I read about sea cucumbers says that they sift the sand bed and keep it clean. These critters are never in the sand and are only on the rock work. Never in or on the sand. So would that confirm that they aren't sea cucumbers?

 

[vetteguy53081]

The other thing that I thought was weird was that everything I read about sea cucumbers says that they sift the sand bed and keep it clean. These critters are never in the sand and are only on the rock work. Never in or on the sand. So would that confirm that they aren't sea cucumbers?

Thats what sea slugs and nudibranchs do

 

[sezaro21]

The water that I use for my water changes comes from a biology institute in town. They filter seawater from the ocean ,100 yd out from the shore. Using that water, it could that be where the eggs came from?