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

[dsdaley77]

Yes, number's 3 and 4 tried to catch his butt but he hid real good and I couldn't get him. He's a sumper now my Ruby is very peaceful though. Can we post video on here?

[Lyvric]

Found this anemone next to my duster. I don't think it's aiptasa as it is a solid white and didn't shrink away when I moved the rock/poked it with tweezers. Good? Bad? what type is this fellow? Sorry for the crappy phone pics

[Lyvric]

You know, I think I'll kill it anyways. Nothing good has ever come off this rock

[ReeferKimberly]

I wouldn't kill it before recieving an answer (if someone has one, I am no good with nems yet). It could be something cool. It is not aiptasia or majano....i'd wait.

How big is it? Maybe you can isolate the rock somewhere if you are extremely worried. There are some crazy knowledgable folks on this thread who may be able to ID. Can you make the pics bigger? I know they are not great quality, but they are also realy small.

Here I will see if I can make one a bit bigger and clearer hold on....

edit: nevermind the original file is just too small to work with

[Sugar Magnolia]

Your pics are just too blurry to make out what it is. Try looking at images of hidden cup coral to see if you can match your critter. Phyllangia americana.

Just a guess though given your description.

[SushiGirl]

I can't make out the pics, either. Look up cup coral like Sugar said, and if that's not it take a look at my albums or homepage & you'll see white/clear aiptasia. If the tips have little balls on them, it could be pseudocorynactis. I hate those, but I seem to be the only one that has ever in recorded history had problems with them LOL.

[dsdaley77]

Two new picks of that thing with the hard tips. Some kinda polyp or nem but really confusing.



And again fully extended....

[Mstark11]

Snail egg?

[SushiGirl]

Looks like a nerite snail egg.

I don't have everything up yet, but I do have pics of a lot of the most common things in my albums (get to it from my profile) and also in my Homepage (get to it via the dropdown under my name or my profile). It's easier than going through 47 pages here & might help keep this thread from getting too big too fast.

[Toxic Slurpee]

Can anyone tell me what this is? Sorry it's blurry but it's the best I could get. It's almost a dull red/brown color.

[nanoreef heaven]

Originally Posted by Toxic Slurpee

Can anyone tell me what this is? Sorry it's blurry but it's the best I could get. It's almost a dull red/brown color.

aiptasia:

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

[ArrowCrab]

Just a regular bristleworm or something I need to get rid of? Only questioning him because I think he was trying to attack a nerite snail. Plus he looks a little different from my other bristleworms

[SushiGirl]

Looks regular to me.

[someone19]

Just watched this guy crawl out of the rock yesterday. Do I need to try and catch him?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Yes, you need to catch it and toss it in the the sump. Likely a species of xanthid crab. They are omnivorous and can be destructive in reef tanks.

[StlScott]

I'm on week three of cycling my 29g w/30lbs of LR and 25lbs of LS... still haven't seen anything. I feel ripped off I wanted so bad to see some critters. I was really looking forward to this part, I've heard of folks getting star fish, crabs, corals, mantis shrimp (which would be really cool)...I don't even have copepods???? What gives?

[StlScott]

How funny...I post this message and stare into my tank and see a small star fish missing 2 legs. I believe this to be a asterina star. Should I take it out?

[SushiGirl]

It all depends on where you get your live rock from. Most people who get mantis, crabs, macroalgae, & corals get maricultured rock from companies in Florida who are licensed to place dry rock in the ocean, then pick it out at a later date. It you get it from someone's tank (other reefers or stores) you'll get whatever critters they have in their tank. If you get it from somewhere that gets it from a non-US island, there can be varying degrees of how they treat it, but they have to remove any visible life due to CITES. You can still get hitchhikers from that if they're deep in the rock. You'll mainly get hitchhikers from purchased frags.

[SushiGirl]

Originally Posted by StlScott

How funny...I post this message and stare into my tank and see a small star fish missing 2 legs. I believe this to be a asterina star. Should I take it out?

If it's an asterina (likely since it's missing 2 legs), it's totally up to you. Some people don't mind them & some think they're a pest. If it's a mini brittle, leave it.

[StlScott]

Will a Asterina eat corals?

[ReeferKimberly]

Originally Posted by StlScott

Will a Asterina eat corals?

Just corraline algae. I like them because they are a good food source for harlequin shrimp, don't have to spend money purchasing other stars.

(some harlequin don't eat them, so only do it when you have enough asterina to feed the shrimp and a backup plan of buying other stars if he won't eat them)

[cloak]

Originally Posted by ReeferKimberly

Just corraline algae.

That's not necessarily true. The zoanthids in my tank have never looked better once I started removing these stars on sight. There were quite a few times when the actinics would come on in the morning and I would find one or two on a colony. There's also some horror stories out there reguarding sps corals and these stars Be careful...

[SushiGirl]

It all depends on the specific kind, and it's virtually impossible to tell them apart. In 6 years & 6 tanks I've never had the kind that eat anything but film algae & coralline. That's where paying attention to what's going on in your tank comes in. Mine cruise all over my zoas, and I've watched them sit on a closed one for a while, then when they get through cleaning off the algae & leave the zoa opens back up. Now if they leave and the zoa is damaged, pull them. Or, as I said, you can pull them now just in case. The coral eating kind are rare in home aquaria, but it happens, especially when people share frags or a store sells frags with the wrong kind on them. That's why you usually hear about the bad ones in spurts instead of all the time. Same thing with the coral eating amphipods or isopods.

[cloak]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

It all depends on the specific kind, and it's virtually impossible to tell them apart.

That's reason enough for me. (better safe than sorry) Not to mention that an aquarium full of these things kinda looks like the tank has come down with chicken pox or something. Not attractive IMO. My LFS has a bunch of asterina stars roaming around. I almost want to ask if i can pull what I see. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have some diversity and all, but some things you can go without.

[Trent Jackson]

What is this guy growing in my garden of waterman zoas? At first, i thought he was a zoa bud that was developing, but during a feeding he put out tentacles.