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

[SushiGirl]

The big one looks like a polyclad flatworm (snail & clam eater). You say the 2nd thing is eggs? I've never seen their eggs before. Usually nudibranchs have ribbon looking eggs, not sure about flatworms. Sorry, my phone wouldn't open the pic earlier.

[Itsathermal]

Hey sushigirl, The second one is just a smaller version of the big one. When i looked close at the hammer coral all along the edge where the soft tissue meets the skeleton there were clutches of eggs, and those eggs were right where i found the two flatworms. I removed all of the eggs i could find as well.

[SushiGirl]

I thought the 2nd one looked lik a flatworm too. What did the eggs look like? Crazy that they were both under there together. Yuck!

[nanoreef heaven]

Agreed.

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[Itsathermal]

The eggs were in clusters that were laid out flat like marbles laid together on a table. They were small maybe .5mm sort of cream to light brown in color. Then they were sitting in a slim that was slightly darker reddish brown. I would say the clusters varied between 1/4" to 1/2" across and very irregular in shape. Its a wall hammer and all of the clusters were on one side on the hammer almost touching the flesh of the hammer but on the bare skeleton. The only thing i can think of for them being on the one side only is that, that side of the hammer would have received more current than the other side. I used a rubber glove as a precaution and the eggs were pretty hard to squish. It was easier to scrape them off than to smash them.

[Ridgelon]

I saw it cleaning up after a snail deposited it's "processed algae" near its hole. Should I get rid of this thing or is it safe for a reef tank?

[nanoreef heaven]

Looks like a nasty bristle worm. Some say it's fine some say no. Guess it depends how big it is. But search bristle worm.

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[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by Ridgelon

I saw it cleaning up after a snail deposited it's "processed algae" near its hole. Should I get rid of this thing or is it safe for a reef tank?

Just a bristleworm. They are beneficial detrivores. Their population is regulated by the availability of food. If you tend to overfeed you'll have a larger population.

[SPotter]

I noticed these growing on my back panel glass in my frag tank and then on the bottom of this piece of rock. They look like flowers or some kind of clove polyp and close touched. Not the greatest pictures and the color looks to be green and white.



Thanks for looking and your feed back!

[lightning whale]

hi rc members so i just set up my first tank and i noticed some nice looking hitchhikers but still don't know if they are good or bad and since i want to have a reef i need your help identifying these critters i have read the whole thread and still couldn't get figure out what i have on the live rock so here you go

[sfmacguy]

Originally Posted by lightning whale

hi rc members so i just set up my first tank and i noticed some nice looking hitchhikers but still don't know if they are good or bad and since i want to have a reef i need your help identifying these critters i have read the whole thread and still couldn't get figure out what i have on the live rock so here you go

the anemone looking things look like aiptasia which is a bad hitchhiker.

[SushiGirl]

SPotter, I have no clue what those are, never seen anything like it before. I'd have to look around, just not sure where to start LOL.

Lightning whale, the 1st pic looks like a bleached zoa. Not sure what I'm looking for in the 2nd pic. 3rd pic also looks like some kind of bleached polyp, but it has a lot of tentacles, which makes me think not zoa or paly. What do the 2 polyps do when disturbed? I'd like to see at least the 3rd pic one closed up and face on if you can. Neither of them is aiptasia, but I'm a little worried about that last one not being a polyp.

[SushiGirl]

Darn double posts...

[SPotter]

thanks Sushigirl. I will keep looking around. they scrape off the glass like anemones but I just dont know. I will try to get better pictures.

[lightning whale]

hi thanks for the replay sushi girl the first one contracts and close up when touched and you can see it moves it withdraw all its tentacles inside when touched

the second one i am referring to the big brown area on the LR which i can see small hair like on it when the lights are on and i can clearly see bleached out parts of it (i am guessing brain coral but that's just me being optimistic) and there are some small orange mushrooms on it

the third one changed places many times today it was moving and it finally settled here is a close up shot of it



and i found a new hitchhiker which i think its something interesting it looks like a mushroom inside a tunnel but with a green mouth in the middle i tried and touched it and it closed and shrunk to its tunnel



sorry for bothering you guys but am still learning and i need as much info as possible

[SushiGirl]

Lightning whale, where did you buy the rock?
The original 2nd pic looks like where a brain or other coral used to be. There's not any flesh on it, is there? As for the orange things, google orange ball anemone & see if that's what those are, I thought I saw ball tips on one when zoomed in. First pic here is not quite what I was afraid of (majano) I don't think, but definitely is some kind of anemone judging by this pic & it moving around. Rock anemone, maybe? Not sure.
Can't tell on the last pic, I'm on my phone.

I have no idea what's in the last pic, their color is so dark I can only make out a mouth. They're each in an individual tunnel?

[Spyderturbo007]

I get these little buggers on the glass a good bit, but normally only after the lights go out. The tank only contains my CUC at this time.

Sorry for the iPhone quality pictures.

[SushiGirl]

Harmless flatworms (except to copepods LOL).

[Spyderturbo007]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Harmless flatworms (except to copepods LOL).

So I don't have to worry about them taking over my tank or need to use flatworm exit?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by SPotter

I noticed these growing on my back panel glass in my frag tank and then on the bottom of this piece of rock. They look like flowers or some kind of clove polyp and close touched. Not the greatest pictures and the color looks to be green and white.



Thanks for looking and your feed back!

Could be a type of tunicate...maybe.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by lightning whale

hi thanks for the replay sushi girl the first one contracts and close up when touched and you can see it moves it withdraw all its tentacles inside when touched

the second one i am referring to the big brown area on the LR which i can see small hair like on it when the lights are on and i can clearly see bleached out parts of it (i am guessing brain coral but that's just me being optimistic) and there are some small orange mushrooms on it

the third one changed places many times today it was moving and it finally settled here is a close up shot of it



and i found a new hitchhiker which i think its something interesting it looks like a mushroom inside a tunnel but with a green mouth in the middle i tried and touched it and it closed and shrunk to its tunnel



sorry for bothering you guys but am still learning and i need as much info as possible

The first pic looks like a little rock flower anemone. Second picture, I can't really tell either, it's too dark.

[lightning whale]

thanks sushi girl for helping us out i bought the rock from the LFS and i live in the middle east
i think i have figured what they are the first two are rock anemone the second pic has brain coral with good amount of flesh alive but due to my lack of experience i think it will die and the black things on the rock i think are black tube coral

[cloak]

Originally Posted by lightning whale

thanks sushi girl for helping us out i bought the rock from the LFS and i live in the middle east
i think i have figured what they are the first two are rock anemone the second pic has brain coral with good amount of flesh alive but due to my lack of experience i think it will die and the black things on the rock i think are black tube coral

I think those black things in the picture might just be some type of palythoa.

[SushiGirl]

Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia

Could be a type of tunicate...maybe.

Sugar, I was wondering if those were tunicates, but spent the day yesterday hunting down snail names LOL.

Lightning, I was curious about where you got the rock because due to CITES here in the states we can't buy imported rock with any corals on it, which also led to the question about flesh on the coral skeleton.

Steve718, I saw a TON of snails like your white one, did you put a message out on the inverts board about it?

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Harmless flatworms (except to copepods LOL).

Came back from one week at the beach... ALL my copepods are gone....

I had one flatworm that I caught on camera before I left.

I used to like my copepods...