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

[sirbazz]

Well my new tank has had live rock for around 7 weeks now and up until now only snails have been added to help clean up of the waves of algae.

A few more hitchhikers have since shown up including a couple of different types of mantis and pistol shrimps as well as a few crabs. They're all too busy feeding off the live rock at night to bother with the home trap but hoping to catch at least some down the track when they.....well I don't know how yet!

Anyway here's a few pics of others that survived the initial curing process and seem to be travelling OK. Anything I need to get rid of ?

1. Posted a shot of this one a couple of weeks back. Have fed it raw shrimp pieces.


2. Some sort of slug? No antennae or other recognisable features on the top of the body.


3. Green mouth Zoas?


4. Mojano maybe? Hoping it's not and is actually some kind of paly.


5. Can anyone ID this algae? Snails won't touch it.

[SushiGirl]

I think #3 is majanos, though I could be wrong. Hard to tell from that angle, but the skirts don't look right for zoas.
#4 is a paly.
Would love to see the top of that nem!
Not sure on #2 since it has no antennas or anything on the top, maybe some kind of flatworm. Pretty colors.
Not sure on the algae, but you can check with John from reefcleaners.org. He has a nuisance algae link but I don't see it there. You could email him & ask if no one here can ID it.

So is this Florida live rock?

[sirbazz]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

I think #3 is majanos, though I could be wrong. Hard to tell from that angle, but the skirts don't look right for zoas.
#4 is a paly.
Would love to see the top of that nem!
Not sure on #2 since it has no antennas or anything on the top, maybe some kind of flatworm. Pretty colors.
Not sure on the algae, but you can check with John from reefcleaners.org. He has a nuisance algae link but I don't see it there. You could email him & ask if no one here can ID it.

So is this Florida live rock?

Thanks for that sushigirl...you just saved the paly from an early death.
I'll also keep an eye on #3 for a while until I can find an image of zoas or majano that are a better match. These are still very small in size and there's no visible stalk as yet.....they appear to be growing almost flush against the rock.
Will also keep trying to get a better pic of the nem as it's form develops further.

The rock itself is from Cairns Marine via one of our LFS's so would think that it originated from the Great Barrier Reef.

[SushiGirl]

I just assumed you were from the US LOL.

[Mr. Demeanor]

Got some more for review. This rock is covered with feather dusters that have started to move off into the sand. Tonight I broke out the magnifying glass and found some things I could not see (although I have poor vision).

This kind of looks like Aptasia. They are tiny tiny tiny and have never spread from this rock over the last couple months. First pic is when they are closed (little brown nubs), second when its open.

Hoping these are all hydroids????

Closed:


Open:


And then I have a couple colonies of these. Multiple colors and various sizes but all very very small. barley visible with naked eye.

[Mr. Demeanor]

Ill throw in a Christmas Tree Worm since I was playing with camera

[SushiGirl]

Definitely aiptasia/glass anemone (sorry!).
The 2nd ones I've seen pics of before but don't remember specifics other than some type of tube worm.

What kind of feather dusters are moving to the sand?

[Mr. Demeanor]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Definitely aiptasia/glass anemone (sorry!).
The 2nd ones I've seen pics of before but don't remember specifics other than some type of tube worm.

What kind of feather dusters are moving to the sand?

Theres one of the dusters just left in the first pic aptasia retracted "nubs".

The problem is there are so many cool filter feeding critters on this one rock that I hate to lose it.

[SushiGirl]

I can't see it.
You don't have to lose the rock, there are plenty of ways to get rid of aiptasia. There's always tons of threads about the ways on here.

[FidgetBridget]

Hey everyone...I just got some new LR in from gulfliverock...it seemed to be in excellent condition when it arrived Wednesday. I am a little concerned about a few things though:

1 - 1 of the large rocks has about 4 large clams on it...and there are a few more on some of the other rocks...not sure if these are good or not...don't want them dying & polluting my water

2 - There are several orange sea squirts on the rocks...2 I'm pretty sure are not going to make it b/c they have already have a white mucus like layer over them...should I remove the dying ones and leave the rest?

Besides that the rocks are covered in grassy like stuff...not sure if I need to leave it or not. Below are some pics

Thanks!

[sphilli40]

I have read through the 16 pages of hitchhikers on this thread... clicked on every link I came across.... It looks like a worm but it doesnt close up...I wish had a better camera.. it almost is like this one from one of the links I clicked on



here is my sucky picture



What do you all think.. it hasn't moved in about 2 hours... do you think I should get a bamboo skrewer and poke it see if it moves ????(LOL)

[SushiGirl]

The picture from the link isn't a worm, it's a tunicate. I do see a bristleworm in your pic, though.

[sphilli40]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

The picture from the link isn't a worm, it's a tunicate. I do see a bristleworm in your pic, though.

okay thank you..

one more question,,,,, can pods swim or do they only crawl.. cause I have a million pods in my tank... some time I see one jump off a rock and swim...

[SushiGirl]

They can swim.

[Kingerfish76]

so can anyone tell me what is the yellow sponge like thing in the first pic?

and is the second a bubble tip anenomi?

the third pic is just a pic of my set up



30g about 25lbs of rock one clown,sand sifter,5 hermits,3 snails, black urchin


which my urchin seems to be eating my coraline algea is this norm

fish2.jpg

fish3.jpg

fish1.jpg

[SushiGirl]

First pic looks like a sponge, but it's kinda far so no detail to tell for sure.
2nd pic is a Euphillya (hammer coral or torch coral or frogspawn). Anemones don't have calcerous skeletons.

[inaspin]

I posted these pics in algae but thought this maybe a better place since im not sure what it is yet. Any help would be great, I have went through pics for days and have not seen it yet. there are so many pics it could take forever.
Thanks,
Woody






That was the best pics I could get but im new at the aqua pics. I will try to get better ones soon but thanks for looking.

[SushiGirl]

Red bubble algae.

[Kingerfish76]

First pic looks like a sponge, but it's kinda far so no detail to tell for sure.
2nd pic is a Euphillya (hammer coral or torch coral or frogspawn). Anemones don't have calcerous skeletons.



__________________
I always fail at page claims.

it doesn't have a skeleton it's attached to a piece of finger coral

[Kingerfish76]

1. Is there a way to force a mushroom to multiply or do they do it on there own farely quick?

2. My black urchin is eating my coraline algea is this normal?

[Omni26]

Live rock is from Tampa Bay Saltwater so creatures are from the Atlantic/Tampa Bay/Gulf of Mexico.
Looks and feels like sponge or tunicate but forms these "cups" in the day, closes at night. To give an idea of size, the "cups" or polyps are about the size of a No 2 pencil eraser.
There are several of these colony's but this is the only in position to get any kind of clear picture. This is the bottom of the rock from the looks of the algae attached, so not a light loving organism whatever it is.

[SushiGirl]

Originally Posted by Kingerfish76

1. Is there a way to force a mushroom to multiply or do they do it on there own farely quick?

2. My black urchin is eating my coraline algea is this normal?

Mushrooms will multiply pretty quickly on their own. You can cut them up, but don't be in a hurry, pretty soon they'll be moving around and leaving babies behind.

Yes, that's normal.



Omni, they look like tunicates to me.

[mguiling]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

I agree with mndfreeze and Sk8r. My first tank I started with uncured live rock. The worst I got from that were hydroids that turned into jellyfish (the first hydroids pic I posted on this thread). This tank was started with dry rock (from my old tank) and a few pieces of cured live rock that was pest free. All of my other bad hitchhikers came from frags in all of my tanks.

WetShepherd, the small thumbnail pics came from a Nikon CoolPix 995 that hasn't been made for years now. I bought it in 2002 when they came out with the newer model. The larger pics come from a Canon 30D that they don't make anymore either LOL. We bought it in '06 right when the 40D came out. I would love to find another point & shoot like the CoolPix, it took awesome pics on the macro setting with its little fixed lens. Sadly, I haven't found anything comparable yet.

SushiGirl, I had a CoolPix also. I can't believe they dropped that model (with the swivel screen?). I'd been wanting a good camera for closeups, so I bought a used one on ebay. I can live with 3.2mp

[SushiGirl]

Yeah, but they're hard to get batteries for, especially that will last for any length of time. I bought a couple a while back with another charger, but ended up mostly using it with the cord. Someone told me I could get that camera fixed, but I haven't looked into it.

[JDM_SOHC]

Can anyone tell me what this is..?? Thanks..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bplR6WWROVs