need help ID'ing these

[omeg]

Hi, I posted this in the newbie forum, wanted to post here as well..

I need help IDing these. Thanks for your help.


I got a bunch of these growing in my tank....good or bad? if bad, how do i get rid of it?

I'm suspecting this may be sargassum....can someone validate?

Got these with some clavularia, they look similar however when retracted, their polyps look like polyps...

 

[reefnetworth]

apstasia is the first one. peppermint shrimp love them.
i believe your right on the second one its seaweed. got tang?
the thrid one is _____ ive got em' and cant remembr their name for nothing. i know you can frag em' and there are numerous colors of them. uuuhhhhh!! sorry, ill remember soon as i hit reply. REEF-ON!!!

 

[So Cal shaggy]

first one are hydroids not aptasia some say they can become a pest but in my experience they are not a problem

 

[omeg]

thanks guys, a few in the newbie forum have thought the 1st one is aptasia. I don't think they are as they don't get any larger than the size of a zoa's mouth. Also they build tube like housing from the rocks, you can see it in the second picture.

Maybe i'm just in aptasia denial?

 

[NicoleC]

Top two photos are hydroids; they are definately not aiptasia. Turn off the pumps and dose kalk paste on top of them. Their stings can really bother your fish and corals -- and possibly you! -- what you are seeing is the sessile stage. So nuke 'em.

The second photo may or may not be a sargassum sp.; it's too soon to tell. I would lean towards it NOT being sargassum sp., but some other brown macro. Where did the rock some from?

Third photo -- does the coral have a stolon mat, or is it just all soft?

 

[omeg]

I suspected #1 was hydroid, but a quick google image match didn't show anything that looked like that. Will nudibranches eat these guys?

#2, rock came from figi I believe. Everything was killed on that rock except for a few dark stubs that grew back into that thing.

#3 when retracted they look very similar to green star polyps (stolon mat is purple). For reference, you can see a baby clavularia at bottom left and a full grown stalk at top right.

 

[NicoleC]

#1 Nope. They don't spread too fast; you can control them with kalk.

#2 It will probably die off. I have seen those starting to grow on several Fiji rocks, but they never last. Once it grows up you may be able to get a match on www.algaebase.org

#3 Call 'em purple star polyps. Briarium sp.

 

[omeg]

Nicole,

thanks, if you have any interest in those thing on #2, let me know - I can chip a piece or two away for you. They grow soo slow.

 

[mnguyen878]

Get the Hydroids asap. I've seen how quickly and how ugly they can make a reef look. My buddies tank was overthrown with them.