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

[debincalif]

More Hitch Hikers to ID

More Hitch Hikers to ID

Ok, so it's too hard to see in the pics I took... plus my pics wouldn't open last time I tried to post them anyway.

So SushiGirl posted a pic of a Collonista snail... I think the next hitch hiker is one of these critters. Are they really small? The one in my tank is less than 1/4" diameter.

The latest hitch hiker I just saw a few minutes ago. I *think* it's a small brittle star, but can't see enough of it to tell for sure. There are two arms sweeping out into the water from inside of a hole in a rock. Very thin and about 1 1/2" length, with the bristly edges. Definitely not a pair bristleworms - I had those in my previous tank, and this is not what they look like or how they behave. If it's not a brittle star, what else could it be?

The only hitch hiker I had in my first tank was a bumble bee snail... so this time around is pretty fun... four hitch hikers so far!

 

[SushiGirl]

Yes, they're very small even fully grown.
Arms sounds like brittle star to me.

 

[AnselnEdie]

Flatworm

Flatworm

I had a few of these fall off a new hammer coral when I dipped it, but apparently I didn't get them all. From what I can find, I'm thinking it's a waminoa flatworm. Can anyone confirm that?

Consensus seems to be that they're pretty harmless unless they explode. Do you agree?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Yes, those are harmless unless you happen to be a copepod. LOL, they eat copepods.

 

[AnselnEdie]

unless you happen to be a copepod

:uhoh2: Yikes!






Thanks, Adrienne!

 

[ReeferKimberly]

Have you ever seen a Stomatella like this? I haven't so I am checking. I could not get a pic but I did a pretty good likeness if I do say so myself, on paint...especially since I have shaky hands. So, it looks like a stomatella but it's shell lookes just like a black coquina shell with white stripes. Not the typical stomatell shape I have seen. Also the white and black are very intense, not dulled like most stoms I know.

 

[SushiGirl]

We have some orange stomatellas with very iridescent orangish/blackish shells and some gray/silver ones plus some pinkish ones & none of their shells are dull, but I've never seen one with black & white stripes, just solid black with white on the whorl. I'd have to look around to see what I can find, or maybe you could PM Pagojoe, the resident snail expert & see what he thinks. That is a pretty good likeness you drew LOL.

 

[ReeferKimberly]

We have some orange stomatellas with very iridescent orangish/blackish shells and some gray/silver ones plus some pinkish ones & none of their shells are dull, but I've never seen one with black & white stripes, just solid black with white on the whorl. I'd have to look around to see what I can find, or maybe you could PM Pagojoe, the resident snail expert & see what he thinks. That is a pretty good likeness you drew LOL.

lol thanks, my paint skills are legendary (not, lol). Wow pink and orangy ones, cool! I love stomies. I think they are my favorite hitcher and def my favorite snail. I love my little stomies. This makes at least three spotted. If the damn polyclad worm doesn't eat them, maybe they will breed someday. (still looking for that worm, have not seen him since the first time)

 

[SushiGirl]

We found the mother of all polyclads in our tank Friday night, there's half a clamshell embedded in one of my big base rocks that is 3 x 2 1/2 inches & it almost covered the entire thing when it crawled across it. My boyfriend called me over to ID it & it was halfway in a hole by the time I got there. It's my mission to catch it somehow LOL. Explains why none of our turbos lived. It doesn't seem to bother with the stomatellas, Florida ceriths, or columbellid snails, though...we still have plenty.

As for your possible stomatella, after searching since I last posted, I just now found this pic on another forum, so I'm guessing you just have a really cool stomie. I'm dying to see a pic of yours!!!

 

[ReeferKimberly]

That's him! How do you do it? I am guessing it's a combination of knowing where to look, having a bunch of things favorited, being competitive and a touch of OCD. Am I right? You remind me of me, but worse! Good job, again! Totally him, shell is a tiny bit more triangle shaped here, but not enough for me to think it's a different kind.

Shucks you got a polyclad too, well, if you like snails and clams! He has taken out my turbo since I found him. But my scallop, small clams and stoms are still here. How do you plan to try and catch yours? I think if I do anything rash he will just break into more worms. If I ever see him again I have the siphon ready to suck him out, that's the best I have thought of yet :/

 

[SushiGirl]

OCD, competitive, patient, & good at google. I did find a bunch of new reference sites to bookmark while I was looking, but I had to go through 4 pages of "black white stomatella" links to find it. I thought it was funny that the board I found that on, it was ID'd by Melev, who is in our local group here.

Siphoning would be the best bet to get out the polyclad, but I'm trying with a baited bristleworm trap at night & hoping I see him before he slithers back out LOL. I'm up pretty much all night, or at least every 4 hours, right now to take pain meds anyway. I have some frozen clam meat I'm going to use as bait.

 

[wenwillwego]

As for your possible stomatella, after searching since I last posted, I just now found this pic on another forum, so I'm guessing you just have a really cool stomie. I'm dying to see a pic of yours!!!

I got a similar one (for free!) from my LFS, he/she has since spawned a pretty decent colony of similarly colored babies. I fricken love snails.


Here is my critter. I was thinking at first it might be a spaghetti worm, but hopefully you can see from the pictures his tentacles are much more... organized. Some sort of peanut worm maybe?

 

[SushiGirl]

Never seen one striped that way, but certainly seems like a peanut worm.

 

[Gagonzalez]

Sushigirl,

Here's a better pic of what I think is a Hammer Coral.

Also took a better pic of that basket. I think it may be some sort of bivalve/clam now.

Found 2 stomatella snails. 1 1/2" and the other 1/4".

 

[Gagonzalez]

Also bought the rest of my rock and found I have a few more hitchhikers:

A small worm that is too small to take a pic of (1/2" long) but it has about a dozen close tentacles and was picking up very small pieces of coral and was covering his hole. Is this a peanut worm? Good or bad?

Also found aptasia on 1 piece under the rock. How fast do these guys multiply? I just started the cycle about 1 week ago so no corals or fish yet. Was hoping to get a peppermint shrimp to eat it after the cycle is done and I add inverts in. Would this be ok?

Finally.........Found something hiding in a hole that is an alternating Blk/Red/Blk color. Can't tell what it is but after some searches through Google I think it may be a fiddler crab. It has not come out yet but it is a very glossy Red and Black. Unless there is Urchins this color, I don't know what else it could be. Any Guesses?

 

[SushiGirl]

In your first post, which pic is supposed to be of which thing? Are the first 2 pics the basket thing?

First 2 pics, does it come in & out of the hole & move around? Looks like something I usually call a barnacle, but is actually something else that I'd have to try to find again what it is. What's the pink thing behind it in the 2nd pic (also on the left in the 3rd pic)?

I can't tell what that is in the third & 4th pics, tunicate maybe?

Not sure what I'm supposed to be looking at in the 5th pic.

In your 2nd post, the worm might be a spaghetti or hair worm.

For the aiptasia, it might be too large for a pep to eat. I would take the rock out & fry it to a crisp with a lighter, scrub the area with a clean toothbrush, rinse with saltwater outside of the tank & put it back in the tank.

No idea on the last thing.

 

[Gagonzalez]

1st and 2nd pics are the hammer.

3rd and 4th is the basket

5th is stomatella

Next Post:

1st and 2nd is aptasia. about 1/4" to 1/2" tall.

3rd pic is red and black ball thing inside of the rock. Thinking crab or urchin. Definitely not a worm. Hard to tell what though. Have a flashlight on it to try to ID it better but this is the best pic I can get.

 

[SushiGirl]

Well, I'm still thinking the"bivalve" is a tunicate since I think I see more than one siphon, but I can't be sure. The "hammer" still looks like a majano to me. If I could see it from the top and/or when it's been disturbed that would help. Still no idea on the last one. It would have to be a very, very tiny fiddler & those aren't common hitchhikers at all.

 

[Lyvric]

Fluffy tubes

Fluffy tubes

I keep forgetting I can put hitchhikers here. I've added nothing new in my tank for a couple of months now. I cleared off hair algae on the same rock, but now this is next to my large feather duster? Sponge? more algea? Anenome?

 

[Gagonzalez]

Thanks Sushi,

I'll keep an eye on them and see what turns out. Appreciate your help.