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

[TheKman]

I have no idea what is on my chaeto but it's brown

[Mstark11]

This is my first 55gal. saltwater tank and I've just now started seeing this white hair-like tendrils branching off my rock.

I've had the live rock in for 10 days. When I poked at it with my net, it seemed unresponsive. All I can tell is it's stuck pretty good to the rock and it seems to be coming from little red lumps. It doesn't appear to have any sort of head or mouth like Aptasia, just those little tentacles sticking out.

Sorry for the quality but that's the best I could manage. :/

[SushiGirl]

TheKman, not sure what you're asking about, can you be more specific or get a clearer/closer pic?

Mstark too far away to tell, can you move the rock closer to the glass or crop around the stuff so it's larger in the pic?

[Mstark11]

Ok, I tried to put it against the glass and got a picture with my phone.

It's seeming to come from those red things.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Looks like the remains of some dead macroaglae.

[SushiGirl]

Yeah, could be. Could you just pull it off?

[Mstark11]

Yea it pulled off pretty easily. Some pieces were more stuck than others. I just wanted to double check what it was before I go trying to rip unknown things apart (:

[Toxic Slurpee]

We just noticed this guy in the tank the other day, he has really long antennae & a pretty long snout when hes moving around the tank. Any idea what this is (circled in red)?


http://i.imgur.com/bNRr8.jpg

[ReeferKimberly]

Originally Posted by Toxic Slurpee

We just noticed this guy in the tank the other day, he has really long antennae & a pretty long snout when hes moving around the tank. Any idea what this is (circled in red)?


http://i.imgur.com/bNRr8.jpg

I wanna say some kind of cowrie. (because you said snout). But I could very well be wrong. Is the shell very smooth looking?

[SushiGirl]

Stomatella.

[worm5406]

Little tentacle...

Look in the middle of the darker area at the top.

You will see one white tentacle... It pulls back and hides when i get close to the tank...

It is about 2 inches long.

Interesting... Ohh this is from my first set of LR that I got too, not that something else could not have hitched and just moved rocks over the time.

[SushiGirl]

Too far to tell, but based on what I can see & the fact it's white, I'm thinking digitate hydroid. Are you blocking the light when you get near the tank? Otherwise I haven't found them to respond to my proximity.

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Too far to tell, but based on what I can see & the fact it's white, I'm thinking digitate hydroid. Are you blocking the light when you get near the tank? Otherwise I haven't found them to respond to my proximity.

No the angle I came in was from a book shelf across the front, light is LED from the top. I can see it go out.. Almost like a starfish.. It moves and grasps... but it is solid white... My baby brittle ones are black and white... so it is strange.. The second I got to the tank (did not touch it) it retracted and hid... Fish swim by it and it does not hide though...

Interesting...

[SushiGirl]

I have some white stars that are smaller than the black & white minis, but they prefer the sand & don't react when I get near the tank. If it looks just like a starfish leg it probably is, though digitate hydroids also move & grasp & stars usually stick 2 legs out.

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

I have some white stars that are smaller than the black & white minis, but they prefer the sand & don't react when I get near the tank. If it looks just like a starfish leg it probably is, though digitate hydroids also move & grasp & stars usually stick 2 legs out.

Yeah it is only one tenticle... and does NOT look like my other brittle star legs... But the stars DO NOT pull back with I approach the tank...

[ac0go]

Does anyone know what the small tree like things are on these zoanthids? If I pull them out, they grow back in just a couple days.

[SushiGirl]

Looks lke algae & the feathery tips make me think bryopsis. There's an algae thread on here that talks about killing algae with hydrogen peroxide. You could try a hydrogen peroxide dip. Tank water & hydrogen peroxide mixed. I don't remember how much. Run a search on the zoanthid forum for "hydrogen peroxide dip."

[ac0go]

Well that's great! I'll do some searching. Thanks

[Cymonous]

What are the red puffy blobs on my rock? Red bubble algae?

[SushiGirl]

Yep, red bubble algae.

[Cymonous]

Do I have to cook the rock? I'm working on removing the bubble algae now. If I have to cook, what do you do with the I'm assuming now dead rock?

[SushiGirl]

Algae is normal in new tanks & nothing to do something as drastic as "cooking" the rock (which isn't really boiling or baking in the oven for those who don't know), even though lots of people like to respond in threads here in ways that make it seem the end of the world LOL. Continued good maintenance will help get & keep your parameters where they should be to not support nuisance algae.

Looks like your tank is small & new. I would take each rock out & place a small drop of hydrogen peroxide on each piece of algae you see, including the small sections of hair algae, then just put the rocks back in your tank. From what I've read, it won't appear to do anything at first but it will kill it. That caulerpa I see in both pics you should pull out along with any runners you can manage to pick off. If you can't get all the runners, drop some hydrogen peroxide on them too.

I think I see a small aiptasia in there too. Hit it with lemon juice injected in the mouth.

[davepal]

Ma'am Sushi, I am amazed at your knowledge. Do you keep planted aquariums too ?

[Cymonous]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Algae is normal in new tanks & nothing to do something as drastic as "cooking" the rock (which isn't really boiling or baking in the oven for those who don't know), even though lots of people like to respond in threads here in ways that make it seem the end of the world LOL. Continued good maintenance will help get & keep your parameters where they should be to not support nuisance algae.

Looks like your tank is small & new. I would take each rock out & place a small drop of hydrogen peroxide on each piece of algae you see, including the small sections of hair algae, then just put the rocks back in your tank. From what I've read, it won't appear to do anything at first but it will kill it. That caulerpa I see in both pics you should pull out along with any runners you can manage to pick off. If you can't get all the runners, drop some hydrogen peroxide on them too.

I think I see a small aiptasia in there too. Hit it with lemon juice injected in the mouth.

Thank you very much SushiGirl. Where do you see the Aiptasia? I do have a lot of tube worms on my rocks though too, but those are mainly on my other rock. I did pull off those large pieces of bubble algae at the base and even scraped off a bit more off the rock. I also found a few small pieces around the rock that I managed to get off as well. And yes, my tank is small and new.

[SaltyPaws]

I have just noticed I have a lot of these really fine, translucent white worms. They are as thin as a hair, and some come out of tubes while some are moving around freely. It's just a single thread-like thing, not a whole bunch of tentacles together. What could they be, and are they good or bad? Thanks!