Pix & ID: Critters that come in your rocks: the good and the bad.

[Sugar Magnolia]

They are spirorbid worms. Harmless filter feeders. Good picture.

[Shorty Harris]

Okay, so I just recently added some corals to my first reef tank

First ID, this thing is about the size of two grains of rice put side by side. It is not mobile but it does flatten itself when brushed by a hermit crab's antenna. I don't even have a clue what it might be.



Second ID, center of photo, some kind of bivalve, maybe an oyster? it appears to have grown into the rock. Any special needs to keep it alive and well?


Third ID, no photos, but another bivalve, maybe a clam, very similar in size and shape to a pistachio shell. It is moving around deep in the zoa colony at night. Is it harmful to the zoas at all? If it is safe how do I keep it alive and healthy? There is also a smaller one lurking in that zoa colony.

Thanks!!

[Mstark11]

I've got green 'moss' on a few rocks. It's in little chunks, maybe the size of a dime, and it's puffy and thin. I took the rock out and it just lays flat

It's dead center in the first picture(top of the rock), and to the left of the hole in the center, in the second. Good or bad?
[IMG]http://i45.*******.com/9h2gw2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i47.*******.com/29yrzac.jpg[/IMG]

[SushiGirl]

Mstark, it's probably hair algae, which you don't want.

Shorty, the bivalves won't hurt anything. If your tank has enough stuff suspended in the water coulumn for them to filter out they'll do fine. As for the first pic, does it move or is it stationary?

[Shorty Harris]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Mstark, it's probably hair algae, which you don't want.

Shorty, the bivalves won't hurt anything. If your tank has enough stuff suspended in the water coulumn for them to filter out they'll do fine. As for the first pic, does it move or is it stationary?

That thing is stationary, the darker areas appear to be orifices. It does react to contact and changing water currents. Sometimes part of it will contract/flatten and other times the whole thing will contract.

[SushiGirl]

Sounds like colonial tunicates, harmless filter feeders.

[Shorty Harris]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Sounds like colonial tunicates, harmless filter feeders.

Thanks! I googled "colonial tunicates" and learned some new things!

Most likely that larger central orifice is a communal cloaca opening. Tunicates are more interesting than one might think just by looking at them.

[Carsonsig2012]

look at this fat daddy I found breaking down...

I have big hands... so for scale, I bet he was a foot long. never touched me thank god...

[nanoreef heaven]

Yowza! Get it out! LOL (shivers)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

[Carsonsig2012]

its amazing the size of stuff that can hide in a fish tank, let alone a reef.

[SushiGirl]

Wow, you've got my record beat! I've had 2 different 8 inchers on 38 gallon breakdowns before. As much as you see these things poking their heads out, I've never figured out why the huge ones never do LOL. You'd think you'd notice it!

[Misled]

My wife's gonna dream about one coming out of the tank tonight!!!

[Shorty Harris]

That colonial tunicate that SushiGirl ID's for me has split overnight! I looked at it before I went to bed and I was afraid it was dying because it looked really flat and pale. Today I see that it has split and now consists of 2 distinct units. If I knew that was coming I would have set up my camera to take time-lapse shots overnight.
Today's photo:

[mgproudfit]

I found this little guy on a piece of LR. Looks like a tiny anemone. Can anyone ID?



Last night he was all closed up, but he came out in full force this morning.

Last night's pic:

[chicagojoe]

Hi all, a huge thank you for this thread. it's helped out an awful lot these past 6 hours since i found it! I bought my first saltwater tank a week ago (12g Nano DX), and ran it. I got tired of waiting for the tank to start a cycle and went to the LFS and bought 2 big chunks of LR to help it along. I'm so new that I've no idea what looks good or bad so I grabbed from the "permium" LR tank. After reading this thread however, I'm concerned about what's on my rock. I've found most of it in this thread already, but a few I'm lost on.

on 2/22/2012 SushiGirl guessed this was a baby LPS Coral. I have 2, but i'm worried they might be a nuisance type so I figure it cant hurt to ask again. The blue arrow is pointing at it.

huh.jpg

Also I have some type of green "leafy" thing that the LFS told me was micro algae. now I thought it was called micro because it's microscopic? Should i be removing these whatever they are?

huh2.jpg

and I think I have a snail. picture is horrible because of where it's at.

SANY0018.jpg

My son swears he sees 3 worms. 1 red and bigger then the other 2, 2 smaller and blackish. trying to get images now, but these things are seriously camera shy and hate light and sound......

[ReeferKimberly]

Chicagojoe, the first is aiptasia, nuisance anenome. If you don't have something that will eat the shrimp (example a coral banded shrimp), you can get a peppermint shrimp, they usually will eat them. Or a variety of products to do it, people like aiptasia X. Once they get big enough I personally inject them with vinegar or let other organisms (peppermint shrimp, Berghia Nudibranch) eat them.

Second is some type is macro (not micro) algae. Some are great and beneficial, some will take over your tank and should be removed. I don't know much about which is which yet.

Third, is it a dove snail AKA Collumbelid? Check google images and see if it looks like it. Pic is pretty hard to tell. I'd look up stomatellas too just because they are such common hitchers. But it's foot shape looks like a Dove snail. Does it have a long snorkle looking think for a nose? Doves do.

The big red worm is probably a bristle worm. Check google images again. They are great for shrifing/cleaning the sandbed but wear gloves when handling live rock as they string. I wear gloves anyways, lots of nasties in the ocean.

[ReeferKimberly]

Mgproudfit, it looks like a majano anenome but I am not 100% sure as I have not had one in person.

[ioannis]

Hi all!

Found this little guy today. Looks like some kind of starfish. Its black and tiny. Anyone knows what it is and if it is coral safe? Thank you!

[ReeferKimberly]

That's an asterina star. They eat coralline algae and can reproduce rapidly by splitting. You will see a leg here and there. One person I saw said he saw his bothering corals. I personally don't mind them unless I see epic proportions. You will probably find more. They come in white, grey, salt/pepper, blackish grey, ect. I have a few pinkish ones too. Harlequin shrimps will often eat them but not always and if you get one and he eats them all or refuses to eat them you have to get him other stars to eat.

Chicagojoe. forgot to say Doves (and Stomatellas) are good little snails, don't get too big and can reproduce in the tank but I havn't heard of anyone having an issue with that.

[ioannis]

Thanx ReeferKimberly. I guess I will let this little guy live, and have an eye on him (or her )

[chicagojoe]

Thank you for the quick reply ReeferKimberly!

Originally Posted by ReeferKimberly

Chicagojoe, the first is aiptasia, nuisance anenome. If you don't have something that will eat the shrimp (example a coral banded shrimp), you can get a peppermint shrimp, they usually will eat them. Or a variety of products to do it, people like aiptasia X. Once they get big enough I personally inject them with vinegar or let other organisms (peppermint shrimp, Berghia Nudibranch) eat them.

Will the shrimp cause an outbreak of aiptasia due to being torn apart? Should i just remove the LR with the aiptasia on it before anything moves or spawns?

Second is some type is macro (not micro) algae. Some are great and beneficial, some will take over your tank and should be removed. I don't know much about which is which yet.

Thank you for the clarification.

Third, is it a dove snail AKA Collumbelid? Check google images and see if it looks like it. Pic is pretty hard to tell. I'd look up stomatellas too just because they are such common hitchers. But it's foot shape looks like a Dove snail. Does it have a long snorkle looking think for a nose? Doves do.

Didn't think to look, and now its hiding, will check tonight.

The big red worm is probably a bristle worm. Check google images again. They are great for shrifing/cleaning the sandbed but wear gloves when handling live rock as they string. I wear gloves anyways, lots of nasties in the ocean.

Will do, thank you.

[ReeferKimberly]

Nah, if the pep shrimp is an aiptasia eater (every one I have had was but people say some won't), anyways if he eats them he will take care of them all.

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by ReeferKimberly

Nah, if the pep shrimp is an aiptasia eater (every one I have had was but people say some won't), anyways if he eats them he will take care of them all.

Believe me.. when they eat it they will eat it all. They really like the smaller plants better too.

It wont really spread until you go and try to pull it out by force then it will send pods every where. The shrimp will gather them up and have dinner.

[chicagojoe]

good deal! thanks for the replies ReeferKimberly and worm5406. much appreciated. Now i'm off to figure out what this "snot" is.... lol

[Susan Lohrer]

I just noticed this whitish stuff on one of my rocks. I tried so hard not to take a blurry picture, too. It's fine-textured, branching (kind of like the tiny hair roots on a house plant), and it looks like it spreads via runners across the rock. I googled it, but because of the color, I'm not sure whether it might be anything that's listed on the pages I found.

Opinions?