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

[Pez68]

So, I nuked the aiptasia yesterday by taking out the piece of rock it was on, and burned it with a little mini torch I have, and scraped what I could off. Last night I was checking on the tank once I had the lights off, and noticed something absolutely devouring the rest of the dead aiptasia. It looked like some kind of shrimp? It was mostly translucent with a small bit of brown on it's back. This morning, the dead aiptasia is all but gone.

Thoughts on what it could be? It seemed to be able to move pretty quickly. I wish I could have got a good picture, but it was in a really tough spot on the rock.

This was the best I got:

 

[cloak]

An amphipod perhaps?

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rs/index.php

 

[rmcaum]

TBS ID Please

TBS ID Please

The first picture is of some unknow yellow polyps. They are probably tunicates or sponges, but much different than others that I have in my tank. The second is of some white polyps attached by runners growing on some halemeda. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[Dectr6]

What the crap is this?

What the crap is this?

Found this in my tank today and have no idea what it is. It's approximately 1 inch tall and the shell is heavily ribbed and very coarse-grained. It does not look like any type of normal snail. The whole underside is a foot similiar to a limpet and it is very very firmly attached. I tried pulling on it very hard to dislodge it but it felt like I would have pulled it in two and killed it if I tried to pull much harder. Just noticed it today and does not appear to be moving. Any ideas on what this is and if it is safe or not to keep in my tank? Thanks, David

 

[Pez68]

What are these pink and white things, that are growing in the hole in my live rock?

 

[Dectr6]

Update

Update

It just detached and I removed it to take clear pictures. Appears to be a clam or mussel of some sort but if it is, the shell fits together very tightly and the joint can't be seen. I'll post the best pic since I haven't figured out how to post more than one at a time. Looking at these pictures, this must be what I've heard is a common hitchhiker called a turkey wing mussel. In some of the pictures it looks very much like a birds wing. Hopefully more Experianced members will Id it for me. Thanks

 

[pagojoe]

Dectr, it's a not-so-distant cousin of the Turkey Wing, but is considered to be in a separate family. It's Cardita variegata, probably "most likely to hitchhike" in its family.

http://www.seashellhub.com/Carditidae.html

Cheers,



Don

 

[SushiGirl]

Pez, I think cloak is correct. Pink things are foraminiferans. Please take a look through this entire thead, my albums or my homepage. Most of these things have been IDd here already, some in the last couple pages.

Rmcaum, your first pc looks like a featherduster, but not sure I'm looking where I'm supposed to be looking. 2nd pic may be zoas? Hard for me to tell on my phone, it's blurry when I zoom in.

 

[Pez68]

I've been through pretty much the entire thread. I'm just completely new to this, so have a really hard time telling whether or not they are the same thing as other people's pictures. Sorry about that.:lol2:

There seem to be a billion different organisms that can come in on our live rock, and a lot of them look really similar. Crazy.

I appreciate the help.

 

[Nizz]

I am not sure exactly what these are?

 

[SushiGirl]

Looks like sponge.

 

[Nizz]

That's what I am thinking. But never seen sponge with extension like these.

 

[Nizz]

Maybe this is a better picture

 

[SushiGirl]

This one's not as long, but I have had some that are, just not in a good spot for pics.

 

[Nizz]

Ok I think my thoughts on it being a sponge are good

 

[thallone]

Just got my live rock and setup my tank. Got some hitchhikers:


What am I looking at? :crazy1:

In order looks like : aptasia, aptasia, hydroid, unknown snail - need to see the shell.

 

[SushiGirl]

Collonista snail, answered on the previous page.

 

[rmcaum]

Thanks SushiGirl!

Thanks SushiGirl!

I appreciate the response to my earlier post, it is a cool service that you do for us here on RC. I think I have a better picture of the white polyps from my original post. All of this rock is maricultured down in FL.

I think that they must be some type of clove or even a glove. In this one, you can clearly see the runner that attaches each polyp. each polyp has eight arms. When upset they can retreat to just a little white dot on the seemingly flat runnner. They are definitely not feather dusters or aiptasia, just don't want to leave them in there if they can cause problems.

The second picture is of some kind of urchin I think. I have six or seven of them, but none have spines on top. They are really pretty flat and about half the size of a dime. It feels just like an urchin, I just can't find any examples of an urchin that doesn't have needles on top and that is this flat.

 

[SushiGirl]

Definitely looks like a coral rather than a pest. Pests are usually solitary anemones. The cloves I usually see are much more fluffy, but that doesn't mean I've seen all of them LOL. And that's definitely an urchin, I had one like it a long time ago. I don't remember the name, though.

 

[rmcaum]

Thanks again Sushigirl. You have eased my mind. Have a great weekend and holiday.