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FAQs on Identification of Stinging-Celled Animals 11

Related Articles: Cnidarians, Water Flow, How Much is Enough,

Related FAQs: Cnidarian IDs 1, Cnidarian IDs 2, Cnidarian IDs 3, Cnidarians ID 4, Cnidarians ID 5, Cnidarians ID 6, Cnidarian ID 7, Cnidarian ID 8, Cnidarian ID 9, Cnidarian ID 10, Cnidarian ID 12, Cnidarian ID 13, Cnidarian ID 14, Cnidarian ID 15, Cnidarian ID 16, Cnidarian ID 17, Cnidarian ID 18, Cnidarian ID 19, Cnidarian ID 20, Cnidarian ID 21, Cnidarian ID 22, Cnidarian ID 23, Cnidarian ID 24, Cnidarian ID 26, Cnidarian ID 27, Cnidarian ID 28, Cnidarian ID 29, Cnidarian ID 30, Cnidarian ID 31, & Anemone ID 1, Aiptasia ID 1, Stony Coral ID 1, Mushroom Identification, Soft Coral ID, Alcyoniid ID, Xeniid ID,

Cnidarian Identification 2-1-08 Hello. <Hello. Yunachin here.> Can you please help me tell whether the attached photo is an anemone or a coral? We've had this piece of live rock for 6 months or more and originally thought this was a coral. Yesterday, however, I noticed that it aggressively moves to take food that drifts nearby and very quickly takes the food into a hole in the center of its body. I thought only anemones did that, so now it's got me wondering, which one is this? I've checked your site for Cnidarian identification help, but I am still unclear which this is. <This is in fact a type of anemone, Aiptasia. It is a common site in marine aquariums and if not removed can become a very troublesome tenant, even multiplying. Peppermint Shrimp are a good choice as are Red Legged Hermit Crabs if you are searching for something to devour this pest. Here is a link to help you learn more about them and methods to eradicate them if you choose: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/Aiptasia/aiptasia.htm ;> Thanks, <You're welcome!> Stephanie

Re: Mystery Cnidarian: Aip. contr.  2-2-08 Hello Yunachin, <Hello again!> Thanks for the response. I read (and read, and read some more) on your site now that I know what kind of anemone we're dealing with. I definitely want to get rid of it immediately, but I'm concerned about my corals. We have a large variety of big, beautiful corals that were also quite expensive. It sounds like the peppermint shrimp and/or the hermit crab will eat those indiscriminately, in addition to the Aiptasia. Is that the case? <I have never experienced any problems with TRUE Peppermint Shrimp eating corals. The problem is they are sometimes mislabeled and are really Camelback shrimp, which will taste your corals. Worry not though as they are easily distinguished, the Peppermint Shrimp being a much lighter color than the Camelbacks. As I see, the only danger of adding the shrimp is they might be at risk of getting eaten by any current livestock you have already. As far as the Red Legged Hermit, they too will leave your corals alone and go on scavenging for algae and Cyanobacteria. They may become food if you have puffers though. Other than that you are in the clear! Good Luck with your new clean-up crew.---Yunachin> Stephanie Well, that's good news then, thanks for your help! <You're welcome! --Yunachin>

And it's free! RMF

ID Help Requested - Zoanthid?  2/1/08 Yesterday I saw something on a rock of mushrooms I had recently purchased. I didn't take a long look at them but I assumed it was Daisy Coral (aka Clove Polyps)... <Think this is so> but this morning I went and had a proper look and it's something I've yet to come across and can't find on a web search. They are small, about the size of Yellow Polyps. Each polyps seems to have two tentacles <? Looks like more to me> which moves around collecting particles which float past. They are white with light green tips, white mouth and the pad at the end of the 2 tentacles are white as well. Could they be some kind of Parazoanthus? Regards, Paul <Please see here re Cnid. higher tax.: http://wetwebmedia.com/cnidaria.htm and the linked files where you lead yourself. This looks like a stoloniferan to me. Bob Fenner>

Polyps? Data?   2/1/08 Crew, I have some growths on the back of my nanoreef. I have not been able to identify them, and sadly not been able to get a decent picture. currently living in the tank are a damsel, some reef hermits, red and blue legged, and Astrea snails. 1 zoanthid colony and 1 colony of "ballet dancers" individual yellow polyps. It looks like a *Parazoanthus gracilis *though I am only guessing based on the image. when my skimmer crapped out one me, I have a remora on its way now, the ballet dancers kinda went down hill, there had been something like 20 or so polyps now there are only 4. these growths on the back of the tank do not look like Aiptasia, but do look similar to the polyps of the Zoa, they are a translucent white in color. I looked at the images on the site and can find nothing that matches them, any idea what these could be? <... how might one guess given the above description?> should I worry? <?... maybe> they are growing on the glass and silicon, but not on the rocks. is there anything, other than the obvious improving water conditions, which I am working on by doing partial water changes twice a week now, of about 10% each time, to improve the health of the dancer? thanks again, Forrest <Possibly knowledge gained by reading... Please start here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm Cnid. Systems, Health... the Zoanthids... Bob Fenner>

Coral ID -- 1/26/08 Hey how you doing? Hope all is going great! <Mmm, okay> I recently collected a few corals from our local shore, they see to be doing fine as I had drip acclimatized them for around 2 hrs! <Good practice> The images are of my quarantine tank with natural sea water, which was collected with the corals. <Mmm, okay... need to be distanced a bit more here... like a good 15 cm. twixt colonies/pieces... I encourage placing the skeletons up off the bottom as well... with pieces of drilled PVC pipe... to allow circulation, observation, the "dropping off" of unwanted hitchhikers> After the image of the full tank, I have send close ups of each type, please try and ID these, so husbandry can be provide accordingly! <... am given to suggest you NOT collect what you don't know the simpler husbandry/biology of...> Thanks in advanced, happy reefing! <? FWIW, I concur with your initial assessments the "not know/n" is some sort of Faviid... Bob Fenner>

Pest? Nope, Corallimorph: Pseudocorynactis sp. -- 1/24/08 Hi Crew, <Hi there.> Not the best pictures but here are two of what I think are pests. <Thankfully, they're not pests. They're neat little Corallimorphs in the genus Pseudocorynactis, commonly called Ball Anemones, or Ball Corallimorphs. They're mostly nocturnal, extending their feeding tentacles at night to catch any zooplankton or pods that might happen by.> I only see 3 in the tank but want to make sure what they are. The third one is deep in a rock and I can only see the white tips. <That's typical with these. For more information, please see the FAQ at the first link, along with the photos and FAQ's at the second: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mushridf4.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mushrmidfaq2.htm .> Thanks
<You're welcome. Take care -Lynn>

Identification of Mushroom/Ricordea/Zoa's    01/13/2008 Hey Guys, <<Hello, Andrew here>> I love your site, its priceless to beginners like me! You save me hours of dead ends with all the posts! :) <<Thank you, nice to hear>> I recently decided to upgrade my fish only tank with Fiji live rock and a few easy soft corals...some small Zoanthids (about 7 baby polyps), a mushroom, and a Ricordea, all of which are pretty tiny as I have a 20 gallon tank for the moment.. looking to upgrade to larger more stable system when funds allow, and it will make most things such as selection so much easier. Anyway, I need some ID's on what I bought so I can care for them better, and the guy at the saltwater aquarium store got on my nerves and I forgot to ask for more specific names. (They are the best within several hours drive, although they do push sales with little regard to what happens to them after :( ) So here is what they look like so far: Mushroom- a kind of bright burnt orange color with a small stalk for a base (its a little bigger than a dime) <<These will be Actinodiscus - or commonly known as red mushrooms. Keep separate from the other corals, can be a little feisty>> Zoanthids- also orange\red color with a whitish core (tini tiny) <<One manu different Zoanthid SP - Treat as any standard Zoanthid. Read more here. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/zoanthid.htm >> Ricordea- blue\green and a little bigger than a quarter <<This will be Ricordea florida - More info can be found here. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/corallim.htm >> I have about a 1/4 inch of sand base with about 1 1/2 inch crushed coral on top (didn't want to lose my sand critters when I changed substrates). I am running a protein skimmer and a Penguin 150 water filter with carbon and an Aqualight 60w actinic\10,000k and about 6lbs live rock\ 14lbs or so dead live rock (just started buying live rock). The water filter pushes enough water around the tank but at low flow so I put the Ricordea where the water makes the slime move a little but not the Ricordea and also the Zoanthids. The mushroom I put to the other side where the water flow is lowest but still circulating well and consistent....is that about right? Everything I've read said mushrooms don't do best in much current and Ricordea like a little current to remove slime but like I said, the Penguin doesn't push very much. Don't know where I should put the Zoanthids so I just put them in the same area but about 4 inches apart. Don't know if powerheads are necessary or desired so I don't have them. <<Ricordea don't need a vast amount of flow, the Zoa's need more flow again, not high though and the mushrooms are best to be placed in slow to medium flow>> Being so small, is there anything I need to do differently? I figured I need to be more careful with the small ones than I would larger ones. Calcium is very high (just did 40% water change) but don't know if its harmful at high levels.<<Wont do hard at 500ppm, however the water change is good for bringing that own>> I bought some frozen coral food (mix of zooplankton and other stuff). am I doing everything right so far? Do I need to feed the mushroom usually? Some things I read so I really shouldn't supplement them much, just allow them light.... <<You sound like your on the right track with it all. Just be diligent with water quality, more info on feeding and habitat can be found in the above linked articles>> Thanks for your willingness to help! Joshua <<Thank you for the questions, A Nixon>>

Coral (?) identification James, <Now Bob... James couldn't get your file to open... but it does here for me> Sorry about that. I resent to myself and it said about 78kb so it should be ok. Thanks Coral ID 1/6/08> <Brian, can you resize the photo to something like two or three hundred Kb and resend. I had two beers waiting for the file to download and it still wasn't finished.> Thanks, James (Salty Dog)>> Hello, I didn't see anything quite like the attached picture in the archives, so I'm hoping you could give me a hand by helping identify. I've had it since I received the live rock about 1 year ago. It was about half the size it is now, and has many evenly spaced, bright green centers with brown hair-like 'appendages' all around it. It doesn't appear to spread to other parts of the tank or grow rapidly or have any threatening features, so I'm just curious what you think it may be. If you think it is something I should be concerned about, please let me know. On the other hand, if there's something I should do to help take care of it I'm open to suggestions. Thanks. > <Looks like a sponge rather than a Cnidarian... but need to have a "closer", more highly resolved pic to make out a bit better. Please send this along... of whatever size. Bob Fenner>

Hitchhiker #2 I.D. and advice 1/6/2008 Dear Crew: <B in B> Here is my second question for the New Year. Please forgive me for being so greedy. But, after reviewing of a dozen pages of Cnidarians I.D. and Hydrozoan I.D., I am stumped. These tiny fellows are approximately 4-5mm in length. They grow in clusters as shown and are starting to spread across the underwater landscape. I fear them to be some sort of unwelcome Hydroid. What do you think? <Look more like Zoanthids to me... do they share a communal base?> I chose to send this photograph because one of the animals in the lower left hand corner of the picture is back-lit showing some of the internal structure. If indeed a hydroid, I presume you recommend waging war. Thanks again for all the help you give to all of us. Brad in Basalt <Mmm, I'd somehow isolate the colony to prevent its spread, bumping up against other sessile life. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/zoanthid.htm Particularly on Compatibility/Control. Bob Fenner>

Re: Hitchhiker #2 I.D. and advice, Zoa? Thanks for the reply Bob, <Welcome Brad> Good question and good advice! I cannot tell you if they share a communal base yet because they are so small and fuzzy that destructive testing would be required. <Mmm, yes. Do take a cursory read through here: http://wetwebmedia.com/cnidaria.htm re the major distinctive differences twixt Cnidarian higher taxa> I can tell you that they seem to be able to "propagate" rather than "spread" to other locations as 4 of these clusters have shown up in various locations within the tank. Is it possible that the original colony was fractured by invertebrates with the pieces subsequently swept away on the current? <Yes> Thanks again, B in B (under piles of a major snow today) <Brrrrr! No thanks. The weather is currently even bad in S. California. BobF>

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