Newbie: Friends or Foes

[FireViper]

My 12 year old daughter and I just jumped into the hobby and are looking to learn. The basics: we've a new 55 gallon tank, with 40 lbs of live sand and 30 lbs of live rock, jump started with Dr Tim's. We've apparently survived our diatom bloom, as well, and have been up and running for a few weeks.

The guy at the LFS (actually, local coral store) tested our water and all checked out so we added two very small pairs of clownfish (potential yikes, or so I've learned) and a few coral. Allegedly, our live rock was free of critters, but we've found otherwise. Lots of little guys cruising all over the rock. Hopefully a good thing.

Anyway, we've found a few things we're not so sure about and the images are attached. We're assuming the snail is harmless; hopefully so, as it appears we have a few. What looks like a starfish is another story. We've read some are good, others not so much. It appears we have several of these as well.

The last specimen photo'd came with a coral frag. Allegedly a couple of tube worm type guys, though what was two has quickly become about six. Doesn't look like some of the aiptasia we've seen, but worried just the same.

Finally, my daughter noticed a couple of long, black tentacles reaching out from the rocks. They moved and seemed to be alive. Odd to say the least for us newbies.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[billdogg]

First picture is a harmless and quite beneficial snail, the name of which escapes me right now (it's too early!)

#2 appears to be a small starfish of some sort - also probably harmless

#3 are some zoanthids with a few yellow polyps thrown in. Both are fine, but can spread fairly quickly is the conditions are favorable to them.

The black tentacles are probably mini brittle stars, also beneficial little critters that are present in most (all) tanks eventually.

HTH!

 

[homer1475]

1 is a beneficial snail, as bildogg said, "name escapes me at the moment".



2 is an asternia star. Some are bad, most are fine. I leave them be as I like the biodiversity. Up to you if you want to pull them.



3 is some zoas(small polyps) with some palythoa(large polyps) mixed in. Again up to you if you want to remove them. Zoas should be fine, but the palys may overtake the tank is a short amount of time.



WARNING
If you decide to remove the palys, make sure you read up on palytoxin! It's not something to be dealt with lightly. IT CAN KILL YOU

 

[Thornbreaker]

1. Looks like a trochus? Fantastic snail if that's what it is. I have a half dozen and they mow about everything down.

 

[Dmorty217]

I second that it looks like a Trochus

 

[FireViper]

Thanks for all the help. My daughter was especially worried about the "bad" anemones. Now I can tell her, the yellow guys are fine, just deadly. That'll be a hoot for mom! A nice match for the slightly venomous snake she has.

Thanks for the ids on the snail and starfish (just can't call them sea stars). Fun free additions, especially as both seem to be pretty colorful.

Fun new hobby for us!

 

[jlmawp]

Thanks for all the help. My daughter was especially worried about the "bad" anemones. Now I can tell her, the yellow guys are fine, just deadly. That'll be a hoot for mom! A nice match for the slightly venomous snake she has.

Thanks for the ids on the snail and starfish (just can't call them sea stars). Fun free additions, especially as both seem to be pretty colorful.

Fun new hobby for us!

While we're in learning mode, those actually aren't anemones. They are both a type of soft coral that are stationary, but as Homer said, the bigger palythoas tend to spread rapidly. Just keep an eye on them.

 

[FireViper]

She (me, too) were wondering if they might be a type of aiptasia which we have been told is "bad" for reef tanks.

Have done a little reading on the yellow polyps and apparently they aren't so nice to the other corals. Interestingly, they were hitchhikers on frag of zoas. Do we need to separate them onto their rock? Should we try to separate them from the zoas as well?

Thanks again for the help!

 

[billdogg]

I am not sure what y'all are looking at in the 3rd picture. All I see are yellow colonial polyps and green zoanthids. I really don't think they are palythoa sp at all. Paly's tend to have longer tentacles than zoanthid sp. IME.

jm.02

 

[hkgar]

be aware of palys

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2515630

Read the stickies at the top of this forum.

 

[OldReefGuy]

Fire...IMO re: separating them....I would leave them as is. They will figure it out, and most spread out to other rocks

 

[FireViper]

Fire...IMO re: separating them....I would leave them as is. They will figure it out, and most spread out to other rocks

Certainly makes it easier! Thanks! Hopefully they'll go one way, the zoas another.

 

[FireViper]

be aware of palys

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2515630

Read the stickies at the top of this forum.

Scary stuff indeed. Thanks for sharing. Helped me convince my daughter to no stick her fingers into the hammer coral as she does with the anemones at the local tide pools.