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

[hogfanreefer]

Guardian, what a great pic of an incredibly cool and beautiful creature! Would almost make having the dreaded aiptasia worth it to have that guy gracing your tank.

[wenwillwego]

dthorn please post back with anything you find out. What you have is 100% what I have, as in the past few months I've also discovered mine to be snail killers.

[nanoreef heaven]

found a video I think it is the exact one. if it doesn't start you at the spot go to 53.35 timeframe.

Originally Posted by guardian_2000

This lil guy I happen to like since he was kind enough to rid my tank of 5 aiptasia that I had shown on my rock which people said to burn off and take out. Since then my emerald has also eaten most of the GBA off. The CUC has taken care of most of the fern algae which people said could of been bryopsis so I'm hoping it turns out to be a false id there. But I was just curious what this lil guy is specifically... I've combed tons of sites and can't id for certain. Just believe he is a Nudi.

His name is "*** I have some sort of tentacle monster in the tank that glows orange under actinic".....





Again thank you for the help.

[ReeferKimberly]

Berghia, I am 100% sure of it. I'd put money down on it based on the pics and that your aiptasia are disappearing. He will die when you run out. Do you have any other tanks? I have several berghia and have to switch either them out between tanks (when I can find them) or switch out rock between tanks to keep them fed. I feed my aiptasia just so they will multiply so I can KEEP my berghia alive because I have a snowflake eel who will eat any peppermint shrimp and I don't want any aiptasia eating fish. Beautiful pics. When he loses color and turns white he is about to die of starvation. In those pic he is well fed.

[dthorn]

Originally Posted by wenwillwego

dthorn please post back with anything you find out. What you have is 100% what I have, as in the past few months I've also discovered mine to be snail killers.

Haven't heard anything back from leslie yet, will post here if I learn anything. So far though, I've been looking and asking around for nearly six months with absolutely zero results. Hopefully I'll find some answers soon!

[lil_delta]

I recently had to quarantine all of my fish from my display tank and have since then had an outbreak of some pods... I think they are the munnid isopods but would like clarification.

I have a link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...98128099282402

Thanks everyone!

If the link doesn't work please let me know

[SushiGirl]

Yep, they are.

[dcfluegel]

wow - great info and thanks for the pics - way helpful

[lil_delta]

That is great news and I can't believe that you, SushiGirl replied. You are like a celebrity and you've replied to my post!!! Keep up all the great work!

[Mstark11]

On the topic of aiptasia, is that what I have that is so rudely surviving on the bottom of my rock?

[Pufferfood]

Originally Posted by Mstark11

On the topic of aiptasia, is that what I have that is so rudely surviving on the bottom of my rock?

Looks like aiptasia to me, though I could be wrong. Haven't been that long in the hobby.




On that note. I tossed in half a hikari algae wafer today in my 142G for the hermits & snails, but the first thing that got to it seemed to be about 5 5~6mm isopods and about 20-30 much smaller ones, that I assume, are the same species. The larger ones weren't eating the smaller ones at any rate.

Only useable picture I was able to get, they are so bloody fast.
[IMG]http://i49.*******.com/34qk8xc.png[/IMG]


Whilst I would love to know the species, can I at least assume these particular ones aren't a danger to my fish given their love for the algae wafer? (My 1" clown fishes seemed to have fun trying to catch the smaller ones at any rate )

[nanoreef heaven]

Originally Posted by nanoreef heaven

found a video I think it is the exact one. if it doesn't start you at the spot go to 53.18 timeframe.

geeze i thought it put the video in there and i just realized it didn't. here it goes let's try this again. http://youtu.be/8ncUVddkK3Q

[nanoreef heaven]

sorry dp. don't know what's up with rc so slow for me today.

[Sekunda]

Back again with another monster from the depths...

I just purchased a gorgeous piece of pipe organ coral and this dude came creeping out of it about 45 minutes after it was in the tank. I know it is some kind of nudi, but is it a good one or a bad one? He is about 1 1/2 inches long, and he is quarantined in a measuring cup at the moment... Thanks for the help as always!

Matt

[SushiGirl]

I would guess bad. They're rarely good & they're usually directly or or around what they eat. I'd get that coral dipped.

[guyderam]

Hi there... Ive just set up a nano reef tank = 10L.
Its cycling now.. about day 5 now..
So far ive been finding all kinds of tiny little life. Worms, fan worm, copepods.

Today i found this little green crab.
Can some1 pls tell me what it is and is it safe to be kept with corals, fish?

[SushiGirl]

Reef safe as far as I know. I've had them twice in the past. They came in in maiden's hair algae frags. The algae always died off & the crabs didn't survive very long once their home was gone. I had one that tried to hide in a tiny patch of hair algae for a week, then iit was gone. I don't think they do well without the algae to hide in. Mine ate small bits of meaty foods. If you look at my homepage, there are a few pics in there. Cute little buggers, and they're swimming crabs. I always wished I could have kept them longer.

[guyderam]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

Reef safe as far as I know. I've had them twice in the past. They came in in maiden's hair algae frags. The algae always died off & the crabs didn't survive very long once their home was gone. I had one that tried to hide in a tiny patch of hair algae for a week, then iit was gone. I don't think they do well without the algae to hide in. Mine ate small bits of meaty foods. If you look at my homepage, there are a few pics in there. Cute little buggers, and they're swimming crabs. I always wished I could have kept them longer.

Thanks mate.. I have like 2 of em now.. and i think one just laid lots tiny yellow eggs...!! haha.
Wont they disturb the fishes?

[SushiGirl]

They won't get any larger than that, so no worries about the fish. The female should carry eggs on her abdomen until they're hatching, then she'll release the fry into the water. I loved mine. Took a month before I knew I had the first one because they're the same color as maiden's hair. One day when feeding I saw the "grass" part. Took several times to figure out what they were even after that because they'd close the parting back really fast. It was cute to see them do that, then grab the food LOL. My first one would sit in my hand after the algae was gone.

[dthorn]

I am still trying to figure this out. I found an exact match @ http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchanemone.html I have found matching picks under nynantheae anemone, but under the pic it says a member of edwardsiidae. Finding this makes me feel like I could finally figure this out, but I'm still having some trouble finding an exact match that includes any type of basic information about them. I'm hoping this new information can help the experts point me in the right direction. I need to learn more about them so I can decide how to handle them. I'm guessing they need to go, and a natural predator is the only way I see them going anywhere. Thanks again for the help so far and for any other help or suggestions anyone can offer.

[artkwan]

Hi there -

Just wondering what these objects may be. I labeled them accordingly. Maybe someone smart can help me do some ID-ing?

Thanks a bunch!

[cloak]

1. It looks kind of like an amphipod. (harmless)
2. Not really sure. Possibly a sponge or tunicate. (harmless)
3. Flatworm (bad/can multiply to plague like proportions)
4. Vermetid snail (harmless IMO/the population will usually rise and fall, depending on how much food is available in the system)

[artkwan]

Originally Posted by cloak

1. It looks kind of like an amphipod. (harmless)
2. Not really sure. Possibly a sponge or tunicate. (harmless)
3. Flatworm (bad/can multiply to plague like proportions)
4. Vermetid snail (harmless IMO/the population will usually rise and fall, depending on how much food is available in the system)

Gotcha -

If it is flatworms, then what is the best way to get rid of them, meaning natural predators? I would prefer not to use chemical warfare like Flatworm exit.

They do move really fast though, so I originally though they were some sort of Copepod.

Vermetid snail - is it true that they never move? That bump has been on that rock (and others on other rocks) since the day I started the tank.

It almost looks like there are "claws" or horns sticking out of that hole. What would be the web like stuff that's spewing out of the hole from time to time?

Thanks so much in advance!

[GroktheCube]

Can anyone help me with this anemone?

I'm thinking it's a somewhat odd looking Aiptasia, but I'm not positive.

It's not quite fully extended in these pictures, I couldn't get it to cooperate. The mouth disk is about 3/4" across.

[SushiGirl]

Artkwan, 2 & 3 might be the same thing. 3 is a flatworm but it's the harmless kind that just eats copepods. Usually they boom then die out. Vermetids don't move, the horns are antennas like on other snails. The web is mucus they put out to catch food particles & they reel it back in to eat. They usually boom in tanks, sometimes dying back & sometimes just moving to more hidden spots in the tank. We have tons of them but they finally moved to under rocks, etc. where they're not so annoying.

Grok, it's hard to tell exactly what kind of nem that is. The tentacles look a little rounded in that pic. Are they always that way? is it kind of green like maybe a majano?