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

[freewilly2]

Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia

First picture is a sponge, the other two are vermetid snails.

What is the recommended way to remove either?


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[alcimedes]

Originally Posted by freewilly2

What is the recommended way to remove either?


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Sponges are great, never a reason to remove them. I believe those snails are fine as well, but double check.

[Ron Reefman]

Originally Posted by freewilly2

What is the recommended way to remove either?

I'd be happy to have the sponge, it's a good thing for the tank.

The vermetid snails aren't necessarily harmful, but if their numbers go up, they can become an annoyance. I've never tried to get rid of the ones in my tanks and they haven't been an issue. But others have found them to be a problem.

[Bma1972]

Originally Posted by alcimedes

So I have some colonial hydroids on the base of a frag plug elsewhere, and those hydroids have the typical tube and then filters at the top. Those hydroids are also the brown color I see in photos of hydroids.

Whatever these tiny green things are, they've shown up now in three different places. I'll keep my eye on them and see if they get any larger, or if this is it.

For scale, they're maybe 1.5mm in total height, if that.

The hydroids I have on my other frag pictured below are easily 6mm of tube, and 1.5mm of filter at the end so these are much smaller for now. The hydroids are also brown, and don't fluoresce under the blue lights.

These are def. hydroids at the base of this plug, right?

Vermetidae snails on bottom of frag

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[Bma1972]

Originally Posted by AlSimmons

They look more like Colonial Hydroids IMO. These aren't necessarily bad, but they can be quite irritating it they come into contact with any corals. Definitely keep your eye on them.

They do look like a colonial hydroid.

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[Bma1972]

You can leave the sponges, usually a good sign of water quality. The Vermetidae you can break off with a feeding tube, the scalp right off. They at only a problem in abundance or if their feeder web is annoying corals, however they hurt like hell if they pierce your finger doing some rock scapeing. And in sure I just misspelled scaping.

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[Bma1972]

Originally Posted by Bma1972

You can leave the sponges, usually a good sign of water quality. The Vermetidae you can break off with a feeding tube, the scalp right off. They at only a problem in abundance or if their feeder web is annoying corals, however they hurt like hell if they pierce your finger doing some rock scapeing. And in sure I just misspelled scaping.

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They scrape right off

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[Etoimos]

While photographing my clam this evening, I found this little guy crawling on him. Is it an Isopod? Good, Bad, or Harmless?




I've also uploaded a pretty decent video of it to my site.

Any help ID'ing this little guy would be greatly appreciated!

[AlSimmons]

It looks more like a harmless Amphipod to me.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/rs/index.php

[Etoimos]

Originally Posted by AlSimmons

It looks more like a harmless Amphipod to me.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/rs/index.php

I think you are right. Thanks for the link.

[MreasyC]

What kind of nudibranch is this? And is it bad??


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[Sugar Magnolia]

It's a harmless Elysia.

[deputydawg88]

I wish my hitchhiking elysia slug was still about! I think it probably got eaten

[Etoimos]

I posted this over in another thread, but figured I should place it here as well so it would be more helpful to others.

One afternoon my son and I saw some white stuff come squirting out of one of the LR in our new tank. We could not figure out what it was, but a day or two later the Wife spotted these little guys (above and to the left of the orange Ric) hiding in that same piece of LR...



This is a photo of them with the lights out and lit with the LED on a cell phone. It is a little easier to make out their structure...



The general conciseness is that they are some type of Tunicate. They are also know as Sea Squirts. The squirting that we saw gives them that name.

The other day I was able to get a couple of good video clips of them squirting. If you have not seen these things squirting, it's pretty cool and the video is only 22 seconds long. The first and third squirt come out of the lower left of the rock, in the middle of the large purple area. The second and coolest squirt comes out up and to the top right, just above the large bright gray spot.

[ladynavyvet]

Originally Posted by Etoimos

I posted this over in another thread, but figured I should place it here as well so it would be more helpful to others.

One afternoon my son and I saw some white stuff come squirting out of one of the LR in our new tank. We could not figure out what it was, but a day or two later the Wife spotted these little guys (above and to the left of the orange Ric) hiding in that same piece of LR...



This is a photo of them with the lights out and lit with the LED on a cell phone. It is a little easier to make out their structure...



The general conciseness is that they are some type of Tunicate. They are also know as Sea Squirts. The squirting that we saw gives them that name.

The other day I was able to get a couple of good video clips of them squirting. If you have not seen these things squirting, it's pretty cool and the video is only 22 seconds long. The first and third squirt come out of the lower left of the rock, in the middle of the large purple area. The second and coolest squirt comes out up and to the top right, just above the large bright gray spot.

Awesome video, last time I saw something like was one a program about the great reefs.

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[Ron Reefman]

How often do they do that?

[Etoimos]

Originally Posted by ladynavyvet

Awesome video, last time I saw something like was one a program about the great reefs.

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Thanks. The last time I added some new corals to the tank, I moved that rock to a location that I could easily see and photograph/record.

Originally Posted by Ron Reefman

How often do they do that?

It is really random. That rock was in our tank for probably 3-4 days before we saw it squirt. Then no one saw it again for another couple of days. Since I moved the rock to it's new location, we see it sever times a day now.

The three in that video happened over the course of about an hour. I just recorded 1-3 minute clips as I did all of my water parameter tests and such.

[Corey212J]

Hi all, i'm guessing these are two different types of Aiptasia? They have only appeared in the last day or two, and the tank has been running for about a month. If they are Aptasia, is that a sign of good water quality, or bad??

Thanks

[Ron Reefman]

I don't believe there is more than 1 type, but they can look different depending on light, flow, age and more.

Aiptasia are not an indicator of good or bad water. They are willing to grow in either.

However, they can spread like crabgrass in a nice turf lawn if you give them a chance and they do damage to corals. Almost everybody with a reef tank would consider them pests and try to get rid of them as soon as possible to avoid letting them get a foothold in your tank. Once they do, they can be a giant PITA! Do a search and you'll find lots of ways to try and get rid of them, but it's WAY easier now than after you have an infestation!

[MreasyC]

Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia

It's a harmless Elysia.

Oh... well tbh the site of it gave me anxiety and I threw it down the sink . RIP


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[Rani]

Hey folks can anyone help me id what is this growing out of my LR - I have a few....


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[deputydawg88]

Vermetid snail.

[Corey212J]

Hi guys,

So i have another query....
I have discovered a stowaway crab in my LR. The only problem is he is very skittish, and dives back into the rock whenever I walk near the tank, so it is impossible for me to get photo! He is red /brown with quite large black tipped pincers..

anyone got any ideas what type of crab this could be? im struggling to find anything, and because i cant get a decent look / photo of him its even harder!

thanks in advance

[Corey212J]

okay so i think it is either a trapezia coral crab or a stony crab...

[AlSimmons]

Originally Posted by Corey212J

Hi guys,

So i have another query....
I have discovered a stowaway crab in my LR. The only problem is he is very skittish, and dives back into the rock whenever I walk near the tank, so it is impossible for me to get photo! He is red /brown with quite large black tipped pincers..

anyone got any ideas what type of crab this could be? im struggling to find anything, and because i cant get a decent look / photo of him its even harder!

thanks in advance

The links below might help.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/rs/index.php

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/12/inverts