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

[Mr. Demeanor]

Thought I would add these here. I think one of my sponges "spawned" if that is the correct term. I noticed it has what looks like little eruptions on it. I did not see anything come out but I have a LOT of white flakes floating around the tank. Looks like a sand storm. I took some extreme macro pics of the little critters where they have attached to the glass. I am not sure these are from the sponge.

These are tiny. The size of a pin head. Pics was taken at 12 megapixel through a magnifying glass and then blown up.





I have oh.....maybe billion of these floating around the tank!

[Mr. Demeanor]

This is the sponge. Like I said, I am not 100% this is where they came from. Arrow points to the little eruption. I will try and get some better pics of the little guys later. Supposed to be working......

[Sk8r]

That's weird stuff. I love this thread: you get to see a lot of strange things. OTOH, I'm thinking that's not sponge---that looks a lot like baby aiptasia (pest anemones), maybe even baby jellies.

[JustinFromAL]

Originally Posted by Mr. Demeanor

I think one of my sponges "spawned"


I have oh.....maybe billion of these floating around the tank!

Looks more like a hydroid to me. I get outbreaks of them occasionally in my tank. Lasts a few days and feeds my CUC well.

[Mr. Demeanor]

Originally Posted by JustinFromAL

Looks more like a hydroid to me. I get outbreaks of them occasionally in my tank. Lasts a few days and feeds my CUC well.

Ill have to look at some pics. I only have a few small hermits, snails, a banded coral, medium serpent star, and a peppermint in this 125 gallon tank right now so there isnt much to feed on them.

[SushiGirl]

Hydroid jellies.

[Mr. Demeanor]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Hydroid jellies.

Problem?

[SushiGirl]

Annoying, but not really a problem. Usually get an outbreak in a new tank, then they disappear.

[NT Nano]

Thanks for the great thread. I have gotten a couple positive ID's on things that I had suspicions about. Thought I would share the wealth by posting this pic of a eunicid worm I flushed out of a rock with soda water after he ate several zoa polyps and 2 anemone shrimp. All I saw at first were the tentacles peaking out of the rock at night, until I finally saw him extended. Mine was a baby at about 6 inches. He had "decorated" the entrance to his rock hole with bits of shell and sand glued together with mucus...might help others solve their own mysteries

[Sugar Magnolia]

Great pic!! Definitely typical eunicid behavior. I'm glad you were able to get rid of it.

[gobymasters]

Are you kidding me pistols are the best i own 5 right now no problems for 4-5 months now

[SushiGirl]

Originally Posted by gobymasters

Are you kidding me pistols are the best i own 5 right now no problems for 4-5 months now

???


NT Nano, great pic, very helpful!

[gobymasters]

????

[SushiGirl]

[J2T]

Originally Posted by gobymasters

????

I think SushiGirl along with everyone else is wondering what your comment about pistol shrimp was in reference too?

[gobymasters]

pistols are the least harmful thing i own 5 and they don't hurt anything

[gobymasters]

to the beginning of the thread

[J2T]

Originally Posted by gobymasters

to the beginning of the thread

Not to derail this thread but it helps if you quote what you are replying to so people know what you are talking about.

[gobymasters]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Generally---you WANT tiny life in your tank; a lot of it: a flashlight after dark should show you a LOT of critters on your sand.
Keepers: Good Guys bristleworms, spaghetti worms(in fact ANY worm, except one, listed below under bad guys). Spionids are fine. They're cleaners, like other things.
Mysis shrimp, tiny tiny tiny shrimp that make you think they're baby fish. Free fishfood.
Copepods and amphipods---copepods are white dots that move. Amphipods look like rolypolys or sow bugs. They do not have visible eyes! [if you see on of those, it's bad!] Again, free fishfood, and you can't have dragonets withOUT them.
Snails, stomatellas (saddle-shell snails). Chitons. Limpets. Wonderful guys. I'll add: strombus grazers, little snails that spin silk and use ropes to get where they're going.
Sponges (water filters). Occasional weird growths like networks on your rocks. These are great filters and improve water quality.
Occasional patches of algae that won't last long. In general, confine plants to your fuge. They block light, shed, and make problems.
Shrimp: cleaner and pistols, with caution: If you hear clicking in your tank---bad news. Pistol shrimp often kill fish. Pistol/goby pairs can end in the death of other fish in the tank. I had one kill its own roommate.
Micro-hermits with bitsy claws are fine. They walk on corals, but don't harm them. Neither would you, if you weighed that little.
Asterina stars: little starfish with a short leg: generally harmless Micro brittle stars, big brittle stars. All nice little cleaners.

Bad guys:but even these are ok in your sump I recommend AGAINST any crab but micro-hermits, whatever. Ever. Ever. Interesting to watch, but they need their own tank. Period. They eat fish, or other valuable things.
Shrimp: usually bad news, unless you want a mantis or pistol, and they're great specialty creatures: clicking in your rocks---pistol. Fish are in danger.
Eunicid worm: looks like a centipede with obvious tentacles on its head. Starfish in general. Green serpent stars.
Caulerpa algae: any rock that has it should be discarded.
Isopods: a cirolanid isopod looks like a roly-poly (sowbug) with obvious slanted black eyes. It attacks fish.
Flatworms--like the Star Trek emblem, a comet-thing on your glass or rock, with a forked tail.
Aiptasia, majanos---little 'volunteer' anemones, brown, nuisances.
Hydroids, look like a yellow-brown little mat of fuzzytopped sticks, about the diameter of a needle, about a quarter inch long. THey sting. Not nice.

In general, if you're in doubt of a hitchhiker, put it in your sump after posting a picture of it. Most things that don't go nicely in a tank can live a useful life in your sump, eating surplus food and detritus. A lot of neat things like barnacles, tunicates, and little clams don't last long in our tanks. Wish they did.

this is what i'm talking about

[Sk8r]

And my tiger pistol, recommended as a companion for a yellow watchman goby, killed its roommate and 3 other fish before I got him out. He was several years old, large, and for some reason started wanting territory all his own.

[gobymasters]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

And my tiger pistol, recommended as a companion for a yellow watchman goby, killed its roommate and 3 other fish before I got him out. He was several years old, large, and for some reason started wanting territory all his own.

well i just love my pistols and they are just so fun

[Sk8r]

They really are amazing and fun, gobymasters, and I'm very fond of gobies, too. But do watch them as they get larger. There may be a tipping-point after which they become a problem. The fish I lost include the goby and some firefish, which tend to go into rocks at night. Mandarins and scooters and some wrasses and dottybacks with that behaviour could also be at risk. If you start seeing fish turn up with a red spot about head or side, which is from being punched by the high-velocity pistols, it's time to get some younger pistols.

My original post was in no way designed to keep people from having pistol shrimp: they're fascinating creatures, and in a tank focused on them and having an owner who loves the type, they're as I said, fun. But do be aware they have the potential for problems, and know if you start seeing dings, the one to look for is probably the largest, who's grown too big to share. The other possibility is that the tiger pistol is one that can start misbehaving.

[gobymasters]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

They really are amazing and fun, gobymasters, and I'm very fond of gobies, too. But do watch them as they get larger. There may be a tipping-point after which they become a problem. The fish I lost include the goby and some firefish, which tend to go into rocks at night. Mandarins and scooters and some wrasses and dottybacks with that behaviour could also be at risk. If you start seeing fish turn up with a red spot about head or side, which is from being punched by the high-velocity pistols, it's time to get some younger pistols.

My original post was in no way designed to keep people from having pistol shrimp: they're fascinating creatures, and in a tank focused on them and having an owner who loves the type, they're as I said, fun. But do be aware they have the potential for problems, and know if you start seeing dings, the one to look for is probably the largest, who's grown too big to share. The other possibility is that the tiger pistol is one that can start misbehaving.

sorry for the other stuff its just that i think you shouldn't put them in the bad guys section

[Toxic Slurpee]

Here are a couple of semi-blurry pictures (sorry best I could get of it). I have quite a few of these guys in my tank. They're all quite long and wide. Is this a harmless bristle worm, or is this the sub-species fireworm that sting & eat corals?

[Sk8r]

Regular bristleworms. This kind can get about a foot long, but you regularly see just about this much of them, because they have a 'home rock' and feed in and around it. They're great cleaners.