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

[SushiGirl]

I have one frag that gets small bubble algae & usually take the frag out & pick them off periodically.

 

[CanuckReefer]

Hey guys i just got some live rock to seed my tank from the sump and there is some pod looking stuff growing in the sump on the rock now.

Just wondering if its good or bad and i should try to get rid of it before it makes it way to the DT?

Wont let me post a photo, so heres the link
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv266/Spoolin335/photo-5.jpg

 

[cloak]

Aiptasia. (not good)

Check this out.

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml

 

[CanuckReefer]

Aiptasia. (not good)

Check this out.

http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/hitchhiker.shtml

Awesome, thanks for the reply!
I was doing some reading and figured they were some kind of Anemone but was not sure what kind.

Glad i found them early before they spread and ruin my tank before it even gets going.

 

[cloak]

Awesome, thanks for the reply!
I was doing some reading and figured they were some kind of Anemone but was not sure what kind.

Glad i found them early before they spread and ruin my tank before it even gets going.

Check these out.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/reefslides/index.php

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/reefslides/index.php

 

[castrojc]

What is this? A sand worm?

What is this? A sand worm?

Found this guy this morning

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Found this guy this morning

Bristleworm. They are harmless, beneficial detrivores.

 

[Tristen]

These have been growing on the glass and on the back of my tank... that's a generic fish net in the background for a size comparison

 

[ReeferKimberly]

Those spirals are tiny little feather dusters. Harmless filter feeders that will come and go. Moreso in the beginning of a tank.

 

[Tristen]

they're kinda neat =^_^= i wish coralline algae would grow instead, lol, but the tank's only a couple months old, so it is what it is

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

They are spirorbid worms. Harmless filter feeders. Good picture.

 

[Shorty Harris]

a few ID's requested

a few ID's requested

Okay, so I just recently added some corals to my first reef tank

First ID, this thing is about the size of two grains of rice put side by side. It is not mobile but it does flatten itself when brushed by a hermit crab's antenna. I don't even have a clue what it might be.

Second ID, center of photo, some kind of bivalve, maybe an oyster? it appears to have grown into the rock. Any special needs to keep it alive and well?

Third ID, no photos, but another bivalve, maybe a clam, very similar in size and shape to a pistachio shell. It is moving around deep in the zoa colony at night. Is it harmful to the zoas at all? If it is safe how do I keep it alive and healthy? There is also a smaller one lurking in that zoa colony.

Thanks!!

 

[Mstark11]

I've got green 'moss' on a few rocks. It's in little chunks, maybe the size of a dime, and it's puffy and thin. I took the rock out and it just lays flat

It's dead center in the first picture(top of the rock), and to the left of the hole in the center, in the second. Good or bad?

 

[SushiGirl]

Mstark, it's probably hair algae, which you don't want.

Shorty, the bivalves won't hurt anything. If your tank has enough stuff suspended in the water coulumn for them to filter out they'll do fine. As for the first pic, does it move or is it stationary?

 

[Shorty Harris]

Mstark, it's probably hair algae, which you don't want.

Shorty, the bivalves won't hurt anything. If your tank has enough stuff suspended in the water coulumn for them to filter out they'll do fine. As for the first pic, does it move or is it stationary?

That thing is stationary, the darker areas appear to be orifices. It does react to contact and changing water currents. Sometimes part of it will contract/flatten and other times the whole thing will contract.

 

[SushiGirl]

Sounds like colonial tunicates, harmless filter feeders.

 

[Shorty Harris]

Sounds like colonial tunicates, harmless filter feeders.

Thanks! I googled "colonial tunicates" and learned some new things!:thumbsup:

Most likely that larger central orifice is a communal cloaca opening. Tunicates are more interesting than one might think just by looking at them.

 

[Carsonsig2012]

look at this fat daddy I found breaking down...

I have big hands... so for scale, I bet he was a foot long. never touched me thank god...

 

[nanoreef heaven]

Yowza! Get it out! LOL (shivers)

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Xparent Pink Tapatalk 2

 

[Carsonsig2012]

its amazing the size of stuff that can hide in a fish tank, let alone a reef.