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

[justinr2k]

Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia

Looks like a xanthid species. They are very destructive in a reef tank as they grow. They will eat snails, hermits, some corals and small fish.

Thanks. Guess I'll have crab for dinner.

Do you guys keep any emerald crabs in your main display? I have one and so far he's been good. Any bad experiences with them?

[SuperNiketas]

Discovered this starfish hitchhiker today. Excuse the bad pic, but, can anyone Id? He's got two arms missing but they regrow, right?

[bart2546]

If I could please get an ID on this crab that would be great. He apparently was a hitch hiker on either my new conch or has not bothered to come out of my live rock for some time until now. Sorry I couldn't get a better out and about pic, he kept burrowing further into the sand. Thank you!

[SuperNiketas]

Originally Posted by bart2546

If I could please get an ID on this crab that would be great. He apparently was a hitch hiker on either my new conch or has not bothered to come out of my live rock for some time until now. Sorry I couldn't get a better out and about pic, he kept burrowing further into the sand. Thank you!

Perhaps a Spider Decorator?

[justinr2k]

Originally Posted by snappenin

Let me try again... [IMG][/IMG]

A kind of leather is all I see. Maybe a cabbage leather?

[LisadaleNJ]

I think I had a few hitch hikers in my live rock. One looks like a small brittle sea star, has six legs and hides in the crevices of rocks. I also see some small tube worms, and the latest was some worm-like "thing" that just came out of a rock and just kept getting longer and longer until he disappeared. Weird. I am just hoping none of these are harmful to my tank.

[friedwilly]

I found this little critter in my Live Rock that I am storing for my 60 Gallon Cube build.

Could some one help me ID this critter and tell me friend or foe?

[justinr2k]

Originally Posted by friedwilly

I found this little critter in my Live Rock that I am storing for my 60 Gallon Cube build.

Could some one help me ID this critter and tell me friend or foe?

Looks like a bristle worm. Harmless.

[supervdl]

Originally Posted by friedwilly

I found this little critter in my Live Rock that I am storing for my 60 Gallon Cube build.

Could some one help me ID this critter and tell me friend or foe?

Bristle worm. harmless.

[MaskedRogue]

So, I spotted this on one of my live rocks. It looks like a hardened bubble or something. I tried to get a good picture of it, but where it is on the underside of the rock I have to shine a flashlight to really see it.

Any ideas?

[justinr2k]

Originally Posted by MaskedRogue

So, I spotted this on one of my live rocks. It looks like a hardened bubble or something. I tried to get a good picture of it, but where it is on the underside of the rock I have to shine a flashlight to really see it.

Any ideas?

Looks like green bubble algae. Get it out asap!

Remove the rock and pluck it off as best as you can. I'm not sure if treating the area with anything would be beneficial.

[MaskedRogue]

Also found this. It has definitely moved from the first time I saw it. Baby starfish? It's above the turbo snail in the white stuff.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Hard to tell, but I'm going with asterina starfish.

[jonesdeini]

Noticed this weird tunnel in the sand this morning.

There is definitely something inside of it.

http://imgur.com/a/tFd44

Thanks for your help!

[steeb]

I noticed this last week. Wasn't sure what it was. I snapped a pic on 4/14 to monitor its growth. It has gotten bigger.

[cloak]

Just a harmless sponge. No worries.

[steeb]

Originally Posted by cloak

Just a harmless sponge. No worries.

Any idea on how he got there?

[swiss1939]

Just wondering if these are digitate hydroids or spinoid worms or something else?


There is a longer one that sticks out of the rock to the left and actively extends waves around its hole when I turn the powerhead off.

My tank is starting 3rd week of cycle and am starting to see some hydroid jellyfish on the glass as well as some tiny red tree stump looking things with worm heads sticking out so I'm not sure if these white beard trim stubble looking things are something I should wipe out now before my cycle completes.

[swiss1939]

you can also see the red tree stump things on the left rock at the cave opening. Any idea what these things are?

[cloak]

Those small red things are Foraminiferans most likely. (harmless)

[cloak]

Originally Posted by steeb

Any idea on how he got there?

It just hitchhiked a ride in from somewhere, plain & simple.

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml

[Dtip]

Search for pineapple sponge. Generally, anything that's large, white, stationary over days, but without tentacles or complex structure is 9/10 going to be a sponge. They often don't last long term in smaller home systems, sadly, but they are definitely neat looking.

[Dtip]

So, amphipod question. I have what I feel like is a pretty standard variety of multilegged amphipod, but this particular crop does something I've never seen before. Namely, the pods on the glass seem to release these long, long strings from their back end (easily 10x as long as the pod itself. When I first saw it, I thought it was just hair algae that happened to have attached to the pod, but I've started seeing it too often and at too many varying lengths for that to be the case.

So... are these strings of eggs? weird parasites on pods? Amphipods that can grow one enormous leg? I've tried googling but so far have come up with no answers as to what this phenomenon could actually be.

[RandoReefer]

A standard bristleworm?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by RandoReefer

A standard bristleworm?

Yes, quite beneficial.