They appeared alive and well until getting too close. Once the tentacles touch the snail it becomes paralyzed and I've only seen anything after that once. They stretch their body and tentacles to the snail. The one time I saw it a nassarius snail was almost completely in one's mouth. I believe it intended to consume the shell and all. I turned on the lights to see better and take pics and the creature slowly retracted and spit the snail out. All of the larger snail shells remain, but empty. I could literally watch a snail fall into their territory where I couldn't save it. It would be moving trying to right itself until the tentacles touched it. Can't honestly say how fast they stopped moving or if they were paralyzed or dead. If I remember right my cuc came with 40 snails, which were all gone in no time. 3 peppermint shrimp apeared to stalk them, but never attack. Scarlet reef and blue legged dwarf hermits and my emerald like to grab at them, but they just retract like lightning under the sand. The snails all disappeared, the peppermints disappeared after a month, everything else is still happy and healthy. I occassionally notice tiny burn holes in my mandarin's fins that I wonder if these creatures or something else cause(I buy him pods). I have done a ton of digging around and have no clue what they are and if snails are the only thing I had to worry about. If that's the only concern once I identify them I can just get more hermits. Thanks for trying to help, you guys are definitely on top of things around here and I feel lucky to have found this site.
Pix & ID: Critters that come in your rocks: the good and the bad.
- Thread starter Sk8r
- Start date
Shorty Harris
New member
Are they definitely worms? Sounds like the snails are getting stung by the tentacles which makes me think anenomes or hydroids.
I'm just a noob that likes to read. I don't think they are a worm either, was just repeating what it was identified as in a previous pic in this post. I believe it was identified as aiptasia on the other page I quoted. I could have misread the posts or the poor comparison of pics could have made them look like aiptasia or a peanut worm tube. I just referenced the two places in this sticky where I saw pictures of the same creatures I'm trying to identify. A very advanced creature, and I've got nowhere searching the net for months. I've shown videos and pics to all of the lfs people and posted on several online forums. I suspect some type of hydroid or nem as well, but that alone hasn't helped me much with what to do about them, if anything. I get lost easily being a noob and don't get any closer to an answer with each search. In the end, I always go back to researching things more important for a noob in way over his head trying not to fall through the ice. Thanks again for the help people. After reading this whole post I'm confident this group can help me figure it out or at least point me to someone who can. Happy reefing!
helokittylovr
New member
volcom5655
New member
Help with ID please. It has been around for last couple weeks but just recently relocated so i could take a photo.
guardian_2000
New member
This lil guy I happen to like since he was kind enough to rid my tank of 5 aiptasia that I had shown on my rock which people said to burn off and take out. Since then my emerald has also eaten most of the GBA off. The CUC has taken care of most of the fern algae which people said could of been bryopsis so I'm hoping it turns out to be a false id there. But I was just curious what this lil guy is specifically... I've combed tons of sites and can't id for certain. Just believe he is a Nudi.
His name is "*** I have some sort of tentacle monster in the tank that glows orange under actinic".....
Again thank you for the help.
His name is "*** I have some sort of tentacle monster in the tank that glows orange under actinic".....
Again thank you for the help.
SushiGirl
Premium Member
Wow, those are awesome pics! If it ate your aiptasia, I would guess it's a Berghia nudibranch. If all your aiptasia is gone & it is a Berghia, you might want to pass it along/sell it to someone with an aiptasia problem since it'll die without aiptasia to eat. I've never seen such a good pic of a Berghia, so I couldn't tell you if it actually is one, but their diet is strictly aiptasia so that would be my guess.
guardian_2000
New member
Thanks for ID. I heard there was an nudi that ate aiptasia. I definately don't want him to die. He freaked me out the first time I saw him. Was checking the liverock I had gotten for christmas and saw two of my aiptasia were gone. Out from where one used to be these lil blue and yellow bubbles popped out of a crack. Slowly more and more then the tentacles face came out and the bubbles slithered up the rock and into a hole. Been about a week and a half since then and this guy just came back out last night and freaked out the gf crawling all over another rock that had had aiptasia and he was going to all the places where the aiptasia used to be. Haven't seen any new aiptasia since the first time I saw this guy.
hogfanreefer
Active member
Guardian, what a great pic of an incredibly cool and beautiful creature! Would almost make having the dreaded aiptasia worth it to have that guy gracing your tank.
wenwillwego
New member
dthorn please post back with anything you find out. What you have is 100% what I have, as in the past few months I've also discovered mine to be snail killers. 
nanoreef heaven
New member
found a video I think it is the exact one. if it doesn't start you at the spot go to 53.35 timeframe.
This lil guy I happen to like since he was kind enough to rid my tank of 5 aiptasia that I had shown on my rock which people said to burn off and take out. Since then my emerald has also eaten most of the GBA off. The CUC has taken care of most of the fern algae which people said could of been bryopsis so I'm hoping it turns out to be a false id there. But I was just curious what this lil guy is specifically... I've combed tons of sites and can't id for certain. Just believe he is a Nudi.
His name is "*** I have some sort of tentacle monster in the tank that glows orange under actinic".....
Again thank you for the help.
ReeferKimberly
Marley & Me
Berghia, I am 100% sure of it. I'd put money down on it based on the pics and that your aiptasia are disappearing. He will die when you run out. Do you have any other tanks? I have several berghia and have to switch either them out between tanks (when I can find them) or switch out rock between tanks to keep them fed. I feed my aiptasia just so they will multiply so I can KEEP my berghia alive because I have a snowflake eel who will eat any peppermint shrimp and I don't want any aiptasia eating fish. Beautiful pics. When he loses color and turns white he is about to die of starvation. In those pic he is well fed.
dthorn please post back with anything you find out. What you have is 100% what I have, as in the past few months I've also discovered mine to be snail killers.
Haven't heard anything back from leslie yet, will post here if I learn anything. So far though, I've been looking and asking around for nearly six months with absolutely zero results. Hopefully I'll find some answers soon!
