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

[Oceanminded]

A few of the things I haven't been able to assign a definite ID to after looking through this thread and other hitch hiker indexes.

Brown and beige banded hollow-looking tubes...
I have a couple patches of these. These guys have feather-duster looking things coming out of them. I am afraid they may be colonial hydroids. Can anyone confirm if they are hydroids or feather dusters? Advice on getting rid of them (if that is what they are)?

Thoughts on this nem? I have about 15 of these little things...all nearly clear or translucent, most beige/peach in tint but some very pale pink. Ranging in size from 3 mm to 1 cm. I feel like they are corynactis or psueudocorynactis. They retract in the light and most have moved to shadowed areas after I turned the LEDs on for a couple hours.

Also a tiny brownish red protrusion with tiny white threads coming out too small to photograph. I'm guessing Foraminiferans? The protrusion is about half a centimeter out from the rock, the threads are just kind of waving around with the current.

There is also something black hiding on the ceiling of one of the larger caves in one of the rocks. It looks like it has suction cups or perhaps short stubby spines. Unfortunately it is too steep of an angle to photograph well or get a good look at. Seems to be partially in the rock and partially exposed. Any thoughts? I can see 3 cm worth of mystery creature. I'm hoping it isn't a shield slug.

Thanks to this thread and the hitchhiker index at lionfishlair.com I've been able to identify a bivalve, bryozoans, serpula feather dusters, polychaetes, ball and pineapple sponges, colonial tunicates, assorted other sponges (orange/yellow), a vermetid, and munnid isopods.

[Griznock]

last pic is a majano (spelling)
imo

[SushiGirl]

Last pic is pseudocorynactis.
Those are hydroids, I would run a search here on how to get rid of them. I have a small patch I can't get rid of.
Protrusions sound like foraminiferans.
Black with suction cups & spines sounds like an urchin. Maybe a rock boring on?

[SushiGirl]

Griznock, my guess is harmless spionid (sp.) worms.

[Griznock]

i bow to your superior knowledge,i had a few of these and the employ of my lfs informed me otherwise,i killed mine.....its a shame

[SushiGirl]

That's a shame, Griznock. I'm sure you didn't get them all, though LOL. They're just helpful in cleaning up small gunk.

[Oceanminded]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Last pic is pseudocorynactis.
Those are hydroids, I would run a search here on how to get rid of them. I have a small patch I can't get rid of.
Protrusions sound like foraminiferans.
Black with suction cups & spines sounds like an urchin. Maybe a rock boring one?

Hydroids...great. So it begins...

Foraminiferans is what I thought. I've spotted tons more all around the tank.

Great call on the rock boring urchin! I never would have thought of that. Did some research and this description exactly matches what I can see:

Echinometra lu****er has an elliptical rather than a round test (shell). It can grow to a diameter of about 8 centimetres (3.1 in) and grows larger at the extreme north and south ends of its range than it does in the centre. It has moderately short spines with wide bases and sharp tips. The colour of the test varies from black to deep brownish-red, often being more ruddy on its aboral (upper) surface than on its oral (lower) surface. The spines are usually black.

I've spotted two more of these in the same cave, they are each only about 1-2 cm wide. I hope they come out into the open, I adore urchins! Will post pics if they come into an area I can photograph.

[MortenB]

What have we here? Moves around like a snail, pretty fast. Too big to be a nudi?

Thanks, M

[MortenB]

I'm going to respond to my own post; pulled him out. Nudibranch. Very beautiful. I decided he's most likely trouble (when in doubt, pull it out, right?). M

[2to]

It's bright red and has white tendrils (bristles?) extending from each point where its body changes directions.

http://i.imgur.com/sqN2ABk.jpg

Not sure what it is . . .

Sadly, it pretty much disintegrated when I tried to move it to get an out of tank view. I'm guessing it's not a very complex animal.

[SushiGirl]

Morten, some nudis can get pretty big. Most of the ones that eat corals are usually small, but the larger ones are such specialized eaters that it probably wouldn't survive if you had left it.

2to, I've seen that before, but I'll be darned if I can remember what it is.

[ReeferKimberly]

I am like 99% sure this is just a baby spaghetti worm but it was so small and was moving like a starfish...well 'kind' of like a starfish. Also it was right at the top of my tank. I have just never seen a spaghetti worm out and about and moving quickly on the glass before.

Just a baby spaghetti? Or something else? It was about dime size.

[SushiGirl]

Spaghetti or hair worm.

[Pez68]

Just got my live rock and setup my tank. Got some hitchhikers:









What am I looking at?

[SushiGirl]

Pez, your post doesn't show up, probably because you're new & it hasn't been reviewed to ensure the links aren't spam yet LOL. All I can see from your first 3 pics is rock (pics are small). Last one looks like a Collonista snail, harmless.

You can look through my albums or my Homepage (click on my name to get there), or the rest of this thread & see if you see anything familiar.

[Pez68]

Strange, they should be 1024x768. They're actually bigger than the pics posted above mine...

[SushiGirl]

They showed small in Photobucket when I clicked on the links in the email, but I've noticed that before.

[Pez68]

Maybe this is a better picture. Is this aiptasia?





Hard to see since it blends in with the rock, I know...

[SushiGirl]

Yep.

[Pez68]

So, best way to get rid of it? Can I just pull the piece of live rock and use a butane torch to kill it for a couple seconds? It is just one that I see, but there may be more on that rock.

Edit: Or, maybe just make a peppermint shrimp or two part of my cleanup crew right away?

[SushiGirl]

Burn it, make sure you get it all, scrape it, burn it again because there will be some left, and rinse in saltwater.

[Rob in Puyallup]

Yesterday I bought a couple pieces of live rock rubble to use as frag homes. On one of the pieces I found these pinkish red critters. There's one white one as well, thinking it's dead.

The rubble is in a quarantine tank for the time being.

Any ideas what these are and are they safe for my mini reef?

[cloak]

Foraminiferans (harmless)

[Rob in Puyallup]

Thanks, Cloak. :-)

[ryansaid]

Need help on this some kind of sponge looking thing on top , and ??? in the middle of the pic.