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

[taricha]

I'm a live and let live kind of guy and don't really like the idea of killing things without reason so it's hard for me to reconcile just chucking something out of the tank! Is there anywhere I could safely move him to, where he won't cause me problems?

This hobby will eventually involve throwing away a lot of living stuff. Unavoidable. But if you want to delay that for a while, put this guy in a bucket until you get a definitive ID.
But spoiler alert, it will probably be a species that isn't reef safe.
Think of it this way, when we buy a coral, we are buying the food of marine pests. So it would be very hard for pests not to come along for the ride.


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[AlSimmons]

I would and I found it again earlier (before your first post!) but it has disappeared again. I'm new to keeping a reef tank, though it is something I have had ambitions of doing for a good 5 years now. I'm a live and let live kind of guy and don't really like the idea of killing things without reason so it's hard for me to reconcile just chucking something out of the tank! Is there anywhere I could safely move him to, where he won't cause me problems?

Being that these things have very specific diets, if you deprive them of this then they probably won't make it. Just as an example if that is in fact a Montipora Eating Nudibranch, if there's none of these corals in the tank then it's probably going to starve to death. If you keep it then it's only a matter of time before your corals start to decline.

 

[deputydawg88]

This hobby will eventually involve throwing away a lot of living stuff. Unavoidable. But if you want to delay that for a while, put this guy in a bucket until you get a definitive ID.
But spoiler alert, it will probably be a species that isn't reef safe.
Think of it this way, when we buy a coral, we are buying the food of marine pests. So it would be very hard for pests not to come along for the ride.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Being that these things have very specific diets, if you deprive them of this then they probably won't make it. Just as an example if that is in fact a Montipora Eating Nudibranch, if there's none of these corals in the tank then it's probably going to starve to death. If you keep it then it's only a matter of time before your corals start to decline.

Only coral I have currently is the yellow star polyps. I was somewhat suspicious of it as it only seemed to appear after the coral was introduced, though I think it is probably coincidental. I suppose if it is going to die either way, probably a quick death is more humane than letting it starve and I guess ultimately I can reconcile with the thought that he must go if it means the coral lives happily.

 

[deputydawg88]

There doesn't seem to be a button to edit my posts so I apologise for a double post but thank you all for your help!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I bought this algae and added to my system.
Is it the Caulerpa algae mentioned in your 1st post as a bad guy?

I believe what you have is Caulerpa racemosa var. peltata and it can be a problem in a nice coral reef tank and a wonderful macroalgae in a refugium or a planted tank. It puts out root like structures that makes it hard to get rid of as new growth will start from any root bits left behind.

 

[deputydawg88]

Is this some kind of aiptasia?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Looks like some kind of pest anemone.

 

[PeterBel]

Is this some kind of aiptasia?

Possibly majano anemone, also a Pest!

 

[deputydawg88]

Just found this crawling about in my refugium. Any idea what it is? I thought it looked kind of like a chiton but it looks as though it has legs, it looks kind of like a woodlouse

 

[Joecam]

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Hello all, as a newbie I'm struggling to find out what these funnels are. In the pic to the left of my receding favia are 2 funnels. I have recently noticed a single tentacle reaching out every so often.

Question is: what is it & is it harmful?

Apologies for the poor picture quality could notice get my phone to focus.

Thanks in advance

 

[Ron Reefman]

It's a chiton. All chitons have 8 segment shells with a 'girdle' that holds them together.

 

[deputydawg88]

It's a chiton. All chitons have 8 segment shells with a 'girdle' that holds them together.

Awesome, that's what I hoped for, I thought I had counted 10 segments but it was moving quite fast so I couldn't really tell. Is it worth sticking it in the display tank as part of the CUC?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I would. I wish I had a couple. I've brought a couple home from collecting in the Florida Keys and they are a 'tidal' species and they like to stay at the water line and then even climb all the way out of the aquarium. Maybe now with the new tank being eurobraced they won't... I may have to try again.

 

[deputydawg88]

Some better-ish pictures. Sorry, I thought the other picture might be a little misleading because in my attempts to google chitons I haven't found any that look like this guy. It seems to behave like a chiton though.

I don't want to add it to the DT without being sure, I'd hate for it to turn nasty! Se

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Great pictures! What you have there is a scale worm which is a member of the polychaete family. They eat small crustaceans, pods and may go after the occasional small snail.

 

[deputydawg88]

In that case I think I'll leave it in the 'fuge. I can't imagine it will do much damage to the copepod population and the hermits I have in the DT are a fair bit smaller than this currently so I'd rather not take the risk.

Thank you very much Sugar Magnolia and Ron Reefman.

 

[themagicman]

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Hello all, as a newbie I'm struggling to find out what these funnels are. In the pic to the left of my receding favia are 2 funnels. I have recently noticed a single tentacle reaching out every so often.

Question is: what is it & is it harmful?

Apologies for the poor picture quality could notice get my phone to focus.

Thanks in advance

It looks kind of like the Chaetopterid worm outlined in the link below. (Figure 10.) These are harmless and a great part of your CUC.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/

 

[mmonkey]

Any ideas on what this may be?

Any ideas on what this may be?

I upgraded to a larger tank this past weekend and ran into a few surprises.

1. Blob (See photo) Is this a egg sack of some sort? It's location was on the under side of a rock.
2. Ten baby Nassarius Snails.
3. Gorilla Crab. I had no idea he or she was in my tank. Maybe 3/4"
4. A couple of large 2" x 2" white sponges.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AlSimmons]

I upgraded to a larger tank this past weekend and ran into a few surprises.

1. Blob (See photo) Is this a egg sack of some sort? It's location was on the under side of a rock.
2. Ten baby Nassarius Snails.
3. Gorilla Crab. I had no idea he or she was in my tank. Maybe 3/4"
4. A couple of large 2" x 2" white sponges.

Thanks in advance!

It's just a harmless sponge.

 

[FNGsaltwater]

Are these anything to worry about?