I.d. Help please!!!

[DRRosen3]

Alright. I've had this tank up and running for about a week now. It was started using all live rock (from another reefer) and live sand (from both another reefer and live sand purchased from Petco). I've got plenty of questions that I'll just number (for easy responses) and put the question right above the picture.

#1 CAN SOMEONE IDENTIFY WHY THIS ROCK HAS TURNED DARK BROWN?

#2 I GOT THIS STARFISH FROM THE REEFER WITH THE ROCK. HE WAS GOING TO LET IT (AND SOME OTHERS) DIE. THE FISH IN THE TANK ATE HIS RAYS DOWN TO LITTLE NUBS. HE STAYS ON HIS BACK ALL THE TIME NOW, AND VERY RARELY MOVES. DO YOU THINK HE'LL MAKE IT?

#3 I DON'T HAVE ANY LIGHTING IN MY TANK. THIS YELLOW SPOT CAN ONLY BE SEEN THROUGH THE CAMERA. TO THE NAKED EYE IT'S NOT THIS VIBRANT. IS IT CORALINE AND I JUST CAN'T SEE IT BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE LIGHTING YET?

#4 ANY TIPS ON GETTING RID OF THIS AIPTASIA? HE'S THE ONLY ONE THAT I SEE SO FAR, BUT WHEN I TRY TO YANK HIM OUT WITH TWEEZERS HE SHOOTS BACK IN BEFORE I CAN GET A GRIP.

#5 WHAT'S THIS GRASS-LIKE STUFF? IT'S GREEN IN COLOR AND SPROUTING IN A FEW SPOTS ON ROCK. OH, AND HOW CAN I GET RID OF IT?

#6 A SPINY BROWN BRITTLE STAR DROPPED THIS LEG A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO. HE DISAPPEARED UNTIL TODAY, WHEN HE EXTENDED HIS LEGS BACK FROM UNDER THE ROCK HE'S UNDER. THE LEG MOVES EVERY NOW AND THEN. SHOULD I LEAVE IT AND IT'LL GROWN INTO ANOTHER STAR? OR REMOVE IT?

#7 CAN ANYONE I.D. THE PURPLE AND RED? I FIGURE THE PURPLE IS PROBABLY CORALINE; BUT I'M PRETTY SURE THE BROWN/RED ISN'T.

THE REST ARE JUST SOME SHOTS THAT I THOUGHT WERE PRETTY COOL.

The last question I have (#8)... Given all the growth on these rocks, if I seed the tank with a good piece of live rock with some good coraline on it, and given the right alkalinity and lighting, will the coraline tank over the rest of the rocks or is this rock I have too far "gone"?

Thanks in advance for any and all responses.

 

[Jstdv8]

1 is diatoms, pretty normal as your initial cycle happens in your tank.
3 Sponge
4 Aiptasia
5 hard to tell, but it might be green star polyps or hair algae, need a better pic

The others i have no idea

 

[DRRosen3]

1 is diatoms, pretty normal as your initial cycle happens in your tank.
3 Sponge
4 Aiptasia
5 hard to tell, but it might be green star polyps or hair algae, need a better pic

The others i have no idea

Well I know that the fourth one was an aiptasia, I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for me to get rid of him. Especially that don't involve moving the rock. It's actually one of the main support rocks for my whole aquascape. ...and are you sure number three is a sponge? It's actually flat to the surface of the rock. Not like protruding or anything.

 

[DRRosen3]

BUMP. I'd really like to get some answers. 35+ views and only one attempt at an answer? =/ Or even send me in the direction to find some answers, please.

 

[shifty51008]

Jstdv got them right, i would say 5 is hair algae though.

And you can just inject the aptisia with boiling water, lemmon juice or kalk paste

 

[MacWilliams]

You can always get a peppermint shrimp to take care of the Aiptasia. Tho i have heard they can be hit or miss on if they eat it or not. My shrimp takes it out as soon as he notices it. Took him 10 minutes to take out 3 small aiptasia when i put in a new rock

The purple is coraline. It should take over once you get your water parameters in check and the tank matures. The red i believe is cyano. Not 100% sure tho.

The stuff in #5 sounds like green hair algae. Once you get some clean up crew in there they will start to knock that out.

Good luck.

 

[crsswift70]

Found this on wiki in regards to brittles. This goes against what i thought however; "Ophiuroids can readily regenerate lost arms or arm segments unless all arms are lost. Ophiuroids use this ability to escape predators, in a way similar to lizards which deliberately shed (autotomy) the distal part of their tails to confuse pursuers. Moreover, the Amphiuridae can regenerate gut and gonad fragments lost along with the arms. Discarded arms have not been shown to have the ability to regenerate."

Since you have just one aiptasia, i would use one of the chemical methods mentioned above.

Everything else looks like a sponge, bristle worm, normal algae or filter feeders.

 

[Reef Doctor]

Have you tested your water parameters? Particularly ammonia? You just set up this tank, and I wonder if your initial cycle chemistry is stressing your critters?

 

[TimeConsumer]

2) Probably not, if it is on its back, that's not good.
7) Purple is coralline algae, Red could be another variety of coralline or cyano. Is it slimy or crunchy?

 

[ca1ore]

Even if you used live rock from an established tank, you will still see a 'mini cycle', particularly if you reused old sand. The brown stuff is diatoms and will go away once excess silicates are depleted.

Starfish can be really hard to keep, so if it is disintegrating I would remove it from the tank.

Picture #3 is some kind of sponge, is a good thing.

Picture #4 is an aptasia anemone - I use Aptasia-X regularly and find it to be very effective against the occasional interloper. With a more extensive infestation, biological controls may be required, but they Aptasia-X first.

Picture #5 is hard to make out. Might be hair algae (is not star polyps) - best bet is to get a clean up crew in there sooner rather than later.

Picture #6 - remove the leg, unlikely to grow into a new star in a reef tank.

Picture #7 - pink and red coralline algae, good thing

Definitely don't dump the rock, doesn't look bad at all. I would definitely get a clean up crew including a bunch of hermits. A CUC cleaned up my rock to the point where coralline now dominates.

 

[DRRosen3]

Have you tested your water parameters? Particularly ammonia? You just set up this tank, and I wonder if your initial cycle chemistry is stressing your critters?

Ammonia has been testing at 0 so far.

2) Probably not, if it is on its back, that's not good.
7) Purple is coralline algae, Red could be another variety of coralline or cyano. Is it slimy or crunchy?

I figured he's on his back because his rays are too short for him to use to pull food into its mouth. So it decided to just remain on its back and catch whatever food happens to pass by? He's STILL alive and moving every now and then. As for the algae I haven't reached in and touched it. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Definitely don't dump the rock, doesn't look bad at all. I would definitely get a clean up crew including a bunch of hermits. A CUC cleaned up my rock to the point where coralline now dominates.

I have definitely been looking into a CUC. I've been considering the following:
1-2 Emerald Crab
1-2 Peppermint Shrimp
-3 Turbo Snails (I have 3 right now, but I heard they can knock stuff over constantly so I'm considering getting rid of them.)
25-30 Blue Legged Hermits (I was told to get 1/gallon, but I always thought 90 of those suckers would be kind of excessive.)

...thoughts?

 

[MacWilliams]

The turbo snails can definitely knock things over. But so can hermits. Anything can knock things over. I have 2 turbo's in my tank and i love them. Cleaning machines. Just make sure you glue down any coral frags you get and you should be ok. Also, make sure your rock stacking is sturdy if you arent gluing them together. They are a good addition to your CUC tho.

 

[ca1ore]

If snails and small hermits are knocking over your rocks and corals then you have not put them together robustly enough. An urchin will bulldoze a robust setup, but not snails or hermits.

Your proposed CUC looks fine to me. Might also want a bunch of snails to move around the substrate as well. Check out reefcleaners, they are top notch.

A healthy star will not be on its back. They use their tube feet to move food to the mouth, not the arms. Only thing I have ever seen remove the arms from a healthy star is a harlequin shrimp. Fish and snails will pick on a dying or dead one though.

 

[DRRosen3]

If snails and small hermits are knocking over your rocks and corals then you have not put them together robustly enough. An urchin will bulldoze a robust setup, but not snails or hermits.

Your proposed CUC looks fine to me. Might also want a bunch of snails to move around the substrate as well. Check out reefcleaners, they are top notch.

A healthy star will not be on its back. They use their tube feet to move food to the mouth, not the arms. Only thing I have ever seen remove the arms from a healthy star is a harlequin shrimp. Fish and snails will pick on a dying or dead one though.

Nothing's been knocked over yet, so I suppose it (the rock structures) should be sturdy enough. No corals yet since I don't have lighting on the tank just yet.

I've got 2 Nassarius Snails in there right now. Think I need more? I had 3, but one got stuck between two rocks and one of the critters ate it (I'm assuming because I haven't seen it out of it's shell and the shell is still between the rocks and I saw a bristle worm invading the shell and feeding I assume.).

I'll continue to keep an eye on the star but neither it nor that "disconnected" arm are decaying/dissentergrating yet.