Picked up my fish and corals finally, need lots of help/advice please.

[xdestry]

Hi guys, I bought an established setup 3 weeks ago and the livestock has been being taken care of by a fellow reefer I met here on the forums. I picked up half the stuff today and need some help with identification and need also your advice some of the rocks and what to do with them. Thank you for any help you can provide.



2. Need ID on the zoa

3. ID on the red zoa

4. ID on the birds nest coral, looks like Seriatopora to me that is all dead in the middle. Also need your advice about the rock. It is covered in around 30 aiptasias both large and small, should I ditch the rock? If I were to ditch it how would I take off the coral?

5. Need ID, looks like a xenia but different from the others in the tank, anybody know the exact species?

6. Whats this snail? Seems to have hitchhiked in on one of the rocks

7. Should I ditch this rock? Absolutely infested with aiptasia maybe around 30 on there as well, but its got the two xenias on it. Are these xenias valuable and is it possible to remove from the rock?

Some rocks seem to be infested with aiptasia, if I killed these aiptasias with aiptasia X would you recommend taking them and putting them in a quarantine and killing them in there, then returning to the main tank?

Thank you guys for all the help you've provided me in the past few weeks, I am just getting started now with the livestock and need to know what they are so I can start researching on the care for them. Thanks for reading!

 

[alf03]

Number 1 are Duncan's...

 

[xdestry]

Number 1 are Duncan's...

Ah thats right thanks, forgot the name there.

 

[shesacharmer]

The first two are zoa's...it's pretty hard to be accurate in naming them since there are thousands of names. You have some nice yellow sponge on that first rock. The Seriatopora Birds Nest is a mess. Since the rock needs so much work I'd suggest carefully snapping the whole thing off the rock. Remove all the dead parts. The live parts can be superglued sideways (laying down) on a different rock. Even small broken pieces can start a new frag for you so you will have something to trade with friends later. Then you can dip the whole rock in white vinegar. Let it soak and then scrub it with a brush. Soak in clean seawater before putting it into your QT for observation. If any aiptasia resurface you can inject them one by one in your tank or you can try a peppermint shrimp to eat them. It seems like your whole infestation might be too many for the shrimp to handle all at once but if you get rid of most they might take care of the rest.

You can either chip the Xenia's off the rock and then glue that rock to another or you can slice them off with a razor blade and glue them to a new rock. Chipping will probably shock the coral less...the rocks usually break readily enough.

Your hitchhiker friend is a Stomatella. He's a free member of your clean up crew. Good luck!

 

[biocube14g]

Hi guys, I bought an established setup 3 weeks ago and the livestock has been being taken care of by a fellow reefer I met here on the forums. I picked up half the stuff today and need some help with identification and need also your advice some of the rocks and what to do with them. Thank you for any help you can provide.



2. Need ID on the zoa

3. ID on the red zoa

4. ID on the birds nest coral, looks like Seriatopora to me that is all dead in the middle. Also need your advice about the rock. It is covered in around 30 aiptasias both large and small, should I ditch the rock? If I were to ditch it how would I take off the coral?

5. Need ID, looks like a xenia but different from the others in the tank, anybody know the exact species?

6. Whats this snail? Seems to have hitchhiked in on one of the rocks

7. Should I ditch this rock? Absolutely infested with aiptasia maybe around 30 on there as well, but its got the two xenias on it. Are these xenias valuable and is it possible to remove from the rock?

Some rocks seem to be infested with aiptasia, if I killed these aiptasias with aiptasia X would you recommend taking them and putting them in a quarantine and killing them in there, then returning to the main tank?

Thank you guys for all the help you've provided me in the past few weeks, I am just getting started now with the livestock and need to know what they are so I can start researching on the care for them. Thanks for reading!

The 2nd are radioactive dragon eyes
The 3rd are eagle eyes/whammin watermellons

4th, I'd ditch the rock with aptasia/birds nest. To get the birds nest off, just break off whatever live pieces you want as close to the base as possible and superglue to a clean rock

5th is a Xenia, it's just closed up

6th....hard to tell....have any other pics?

7th. I'd ditch the rock and xenias all together. Xenias multiply very quickly, but off you really want them you can usually get them between $0-$5 for a good sized frag.

You could use aptasia x, but it would be easier to let the rock dry out for a few days, then scrub it to get off most of the dead aptasias or algae, then rinse it a few times under a hose, then boil it. After that, most dead stuff is gone and the rock should be safe to put back in the tank.

Good luck!

 

[gone fishin]

Me personally I would remove what you can of the birdsnest and glue it elsewhere.,they are pretty fragile. for the xenia it is up to you. They are fairly cheap and spread at a great rate almost as fast as the aiptasia. As for the infested rocks I would leave them out in that great California sun for a few days then place them in a bucket and see if any aiptasia survived.

 

[Sk8r]

Aiptasia is usually not a big problem. You might just pop that rock into the sump, get a handful of juvenile!!!! peppermint shrimp, and let them work on it. I say, in the sump, because pep shrimp sometimes will be a nuisance to specimens, particularly when new. I usually have a few aiptasia in my sump fuge. I also have one pep shrimp in my main tank, so any that do make it through the pump get noshed upon real quick. Peps might bother xenia, but the stuff 'smells' so bad few things will bother it twice.