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FAQs about Live Rock Hitchhiker/Creature Identification 10

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Related FAQs: Live Rock, Answering Some LR FAQs by James Fatherree, LR Hitchhiker ID 1, LR Hitchhiker ID 2, LR Hitchhiker ID 3, LR Hitchhiker ID 4, LR Hitchhiker ID 5, LR ID 6, LR ID 7, LR ID 8, LR ID 9, LR ID 11, LR ID 12LR ID 13, LR ID 14, LR ID 15, LR ID 16, LR ID17 LRID 18, LRID 19, LRID 20, LRID 21, LRID 22, LRID 23, LRID 24, LRID 25, LRID 27, LRID 28, LRID 29, LRID 30, LRID 31, LRID 32, LRID 33, LRID 34, LRID 35, LRID 36, LRID 37, LRID 38, & Non-Vert IDs 1, Tubeworm ID, Polychaete Identification, Live Rock 1, LR 2LR 3, LR 4, LR 5, Curing Live Rock, Live Rock Selection, Shipping/Moving, Placement, Lighting, Water Quality, Live Rock Studies in Fiji Collaboration & ChartsCopper UseMarine Landscaping, Marine BiotopeSumps, RefugiumsFaux Rock,

Live Rock Hitchhiker ID... a styling Stylasterina  5/17/06      I would first like to thank the WWM crew for all that you do for all of us; all of your help is very much appreciated. <Welcome>      I have two reef tanks right now that are 5 months old, with lots of interesting 'things' growing on my live rock.  I was wondering if you could possibly ID this pink tube like critter growing on my live rock.  Thank you again for your wonderful site!! Tracy <Tis a beauty! And an indication (positive) of the good care of this system. Please see here: http://wetwebmedia.com/sylasterina.htm Bob Fenner>

Something squirting white stuff in tank  - 05/13/2006   Hello sorry to be a bother but I noticed something weird going on in my tank this morning.  I was on the phone and was looking in my tank when all of the sudden I saw some white stuff come out of the rock (looked like milk).  I tried to see what exactly it came from but I didn't see anything.  A few minutes later I saw it from another spot, a few minutes later it came from another spot, a total of about 6 times.  Anyway what the heck is going on, is this a method of reproduction for Aiptasia or possibly sponges, maybe bristle worms?  I noticed that my torch coral and bubble tip anemone were not happy about white stuff when it hit them they retracted, now half of my torch coral is closed and my anemone is closed up. The torch and anemone could just be a coincidence and maybe I'm worrying for no reason.  I have heard of snails doing this but there were no snails where this "stuff" came from.  Any ideas of what this could be.  Water parameters are Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, phosphate 0.2 calcium 400ppm.  I have in tank Favites brain, Trachy brain, several sponges, green star polyps, torch coral, bubble tip, Kenya tree, cleaner shrimp, serpent star, kole tang, clown fish, and about 10 snails.  Also since I am already being a bother the Favites brain has some recession along the edges, I have been feeding him and he's about 12 inches away from 230 watts of power compact lighting (55 gal tank). Is there anything I can do or just wait and see what happens. Thanks a lot, Ryan Nienhuis. <<Ryan:  There are many reported cases of worms and/or other critters spawning in our tanks (though Aiptasia usually reproduce through fission).  Often, if you frequent other reef forums, you will hear many people making the same comment about the same time of the year.  This lends support to the theories that spawning events are tied to lunar and/or solar cycles.  That said, your other critters are not happy because they have found themselves living in a love fest and they can't excuse themselves to another tank.  When spawning events happen, most people do extra water changes and/or add carbon to help pull some of the extra stuff out of the water.  If you have a protein skimmer, they often will go into overdrive during spawning events.  Usually, the negative impact on the other critters will go away within a few hours.  Congratulations, you are now a proud Papa (you just don't know of what)!  Regarding the Favites, you don't say how long you have had it.  If you have had it for awhile and the recession is new, you have to figure out what changed.  If it is a new addition, it might not like the amount of light it is getting.  You can try to lower it in the tank to see if that helps.  Best of luck,  Roy>>

Re: something squirting white stuff in tank   5/15/06 Thanks for the quick response.  I have had the Favites brain for about 2-3 months but upgraded my lighting from 130 watts to 230 watts so I will try your suggestion of lowering it in the tank.  Thanks, Ryan. <<Quite welcome I'm sure Ryan but, with whom did you correspond?  Do please include ALL of the previous email (don't edit out responses) in the future so we know who to give this/give credit to.  Regards, EricR>>

Squirting live rock  - 5/12/2006 Quarantining live rock lifted a piece out for closer inspection to have a jet of water shoot out and hit the wall, guessing 20-30mls worth. Couldn't spot the culprit,  what do you think? john <What a planet eh? I'm not leaving! There are many groups of organisms that this jet of water might imply... crustaceans, worms, mollusks... Enjoy! Bob Fenner>

Live Rock Guest   5/4/06 Hello WWM Folks,    <Scott>   I want to thank you all again for helping me to "re-learn" this hobby. I am in the process of converting an existing 40 gal "old-style" (undergravel filter) <Whoa! Time warp!> tank into a live rock system. The tank has run on about 40 lb live rock for about 8 weeks and it currently has a very healthy population of  -  2 cleaner shrimp, a peppermint shrimp, a small colony of zoanthids (live rock stowaways) a diadema urchin and a turbo snail (a few fish to come later). The tank conditions continue to improve, with hair algae now giving way to some more interesting things on the rock.      Today I saw a critter that I could not believe was a live rock stow-away - but there it was. A large (say 1 1/2 inch long or larger) animal that looked like a slug or some kind of soft shell snail. It had sort of a mottled grey-to maroon color and seemed to be eating algae. I was able to take one good photo, which is attached.       I checked the web site references, along with the "Reef Invertebrates" book by Mr. Calfo and Fenner and can't seem to find a match. I wonder if you can tell me if this is a welcome addition, or something I should try to remove.       Thanks in advance for your reply.      Scott in Woodland Hills, CA <Is a gastropod/snail of some sort. Species ID will/would take a few more pix... obverse, side... and looking through reference works, sending this about to friends/associates who deal in such Mollusks... Our ref. here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marinvind1.htm Bob Fenner>

Reproductive goo? help!    5/3/06 Hello, <Hi there> I've e-mailed you before for different things, and this time I tried the forums: live rock, & marine fish general; I'm not sure where exactly it fits in, but no one's responding, and I'm scared this may be some sort of 'egg' sack. I'm not sure what it is:     Well this morning I went into my 'fish room' (they're That spoiled) to turn on their lights, and noticed this thing on a bit of my live rock. It's white and fluffy, seems rounded, and moved with the flow of the water, (sways, but always 'attached' to the live rock pictured) if you look closely It seems to be made up of small white dots? <Yes, I see these as well> Small white dots enclosed in some sort of transparent goo casing, which is rounded and the shape can be described as... a fat 3 leaf clover? (that's all I can think of) What the heck is this stuff? It definitely wasn't there last night. It seems to be about 3 1/2 inches. I provided some humongous pictures so you can see it in detail. Can anyone shed any light on this?? Thanks, - Taryn <Does appear to be some sort of reproductive event. What livestock are present in this system? Depending on who/what this is it might be expedient to vacuum it out. Bob Fenner>

Re: reproductive goo? help!    5/4/06 Thank you for your quick response! <Welcome>   I currently have 3 ocellaris clown fish 1 blue damsel 1 yellow tailed blue damsel 1 lawnmower blenny 2 emerald crabs 1 Condy anemone 2 blue legged hermit crabs 1 flame scallop 2 small hitch hiker snails I have a 55 gallon tank, been established for approx 6 months.. I wonder what this thing is? - Taryn <Mmm, from the list above... only the Clowns look to be likely... are two of them hanging about the area? Might be another invertebrate that you don't see/list... didn't buy expressly. Bob Fenner> Re: reproductive goo? help!    5/4/06 I never knew the clowns eggs would look like that, I didn't even take them into consideration! I'm sure there's things in my tank I'm unaware of.. I didn't think there would be anything big enough to leave that many eggs though. I guess I'll find out in a few days if they 'hatch'? <Yes... if they do> How strange.. Thank you again, I feel more comfortable with 'the blob' knowing you're confused too. :)- Taryn <All the time... some intentionally. Bob Fenner> Re: reproductive goo? help!    5/4/06 oh, and no, they generally all swim around differently, I haven't seen any signs of paring. <As stated, could well be "something else"... not purchased, or even an organism "surfacing" on its own... a sponge, tunicate... many other possibilities. Microscopic examination... Bob Fenner>

Re: reproductive goo? help!  - 5/5/2006 something surfacing? That sounds like a big possibility actually. <Is> Do you think I should leave it in there? <If it were me, mine, I would> Sorry to bother you again, I'm just unsure if I should watch it, or remove it.. Or bring it to a fish store? I'm not really sure. thanks, - Taryn <Doubtful the store could be of help... unless they had a dissection microscope. Bob Fenner>

Growth On Live Rock..."Dead" Looking Rock - 04/22/06 Hello there, <<Howdy!>> I'm new to marine and just setting up my first tank which will be for a porcupine. <<I hope you have been reading/studying before making your purchases>> I purchased some live rock the other day and have a question about something growing on a invert/plant fossil that came with my rock... (not sure what it used to be) so please see attached pic. <<Mmm...difficult to discern anything from this picture...other than this is some of the worse (as in "bleached"..."devoid of life") live rock I have ever seen.  You bought this from an LFS?...was it even "wet" at the time?>> I'm worried that it may effect the health of my puffer so any ideas as to what it could be?  It seems to only grow within the end of the stems. <?> It is a white cocoon that looks to me like either a fungus or capsule for eggs or something. <<From your description (can't see anything in the photo) I would say it is very likely a syconoid sponge...harmless if not beneficial...no need to worry mate>> Thanks in advance and "well done" with your site.  I'm sure it must have saved many fishes lives. <<Am hopeful/in agreement.  Regards, EricR>>

Serpulid Worm Explosion - 04/19/06 Hey Crew, I got a question and my local pet store has no idea what I am talking about. <<Hmm, okay...let's see if I can help>> I have seen "tubes" that are slowing forming on my live rock. <<Very likely these are Serpulid worms>> We have had our tank set up for almost 3 years and have noticed out of  these tubes we are seeing opaque hair like worms. <<Mmm, not the "worm" itself, but rather a sticky filament the worm uses to trap/retrieve detritus for feeding>> Rarely are they ever out of the tubes but there have been a few. Some of the tubes we see nothing in them but when I do my water change, I see "webs" coming from them.  Do you have any idea what they might be and how I can get rid of them? <<?!... Why do you want/think you need to get rid of them?  They are a harmless and beneficial detritivore.  Populations will typically wax and wane based on the amount of available food stuffs...high populations "might" be an indication of overfeeding>> They don't seem to be creating a problem and all my fish are healthy but it just looks bad. <<A matter of perspective I suppose...>> I do have a nice established tank with 2 pajama cardinals, a  tomato clown, a red brittle star, a large green brittle star, hermit crabs (3), 2 turbo snails, and a dragon goby.  I just recently added a banded shrimp hoping  that it will get rid of these "worms".  Any type of help would be welcomed. <<The Coral-Banded shrimp may prey on the worms, as might some of the smaller wrasses...and if the tank is large enough (75+), a Copperband Butterfly will certainly thin their numbers.  But my advice is to leave them alone as they are serving a beneficial function...the population will be self-limiting and will likely reduce on its own>> Dawn from Florida <<Regards, EricR from South Carolina>>

New SW aquarist in the buying, what's this mode   4/18/06 I am just switching a 55 gallon brackish aquarium to salt and I am now at a specific gravity of 1.023. In this I have one butis butis and one butis humeralis. I have 0.15 ammonia, <Want zip, none> ph 8.4, normal alkalinity, 0 nitrite, and a reading of 2.5 ppm nitrate. Will continuing to use a detoxifier work for removing my nitrate? <I would not... Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nitratesmar.htm and the linked files above> I have just been so excited about adding the cool stuff that they have for sale in the fish store but I know I should be patient. <Yes> So anyway, I settled for some cured live rock, several blue leg crabs, an emerald crab, and astrea snails. I am not very learned on live rock so I have a few questions. Am I wrong to buy live rock that has lots of cool looking "things" on it? <Wrong? Mmm, no... though a good deal of this life may not be around for long...> I brought 1 piece and I stared at it for hours only to find a few itsy bitsy teeny timey fan worms (I'm guessing). I got another piece and it has a lot of coralline algae on it and what I am guessing to be amphipods or copepods, who knows. <You will... soon... by study, observation> So, I made yet another trip to a different fish store and I brought two live shells and some other small pieces of live rock. I got the shells because they have stuff on them lots of teeny timey fan worms (what are the ones with red and white striped fans/feathers). On the other end of the shell is a cool looking anemone (I'm guessing) but I am not sure what it is. I have been recently scared to death by reading all the posts on Aiptasia. I have included a picture of this seemingly flat anemone with a distinctive mouth and a row of approximately 2cm tentacles that are almost transparent except lots of timey whit dots, the ends of the tentacles are a solid white dot. What is this? <Not enough detail in the image to tell> Next, on another shell there are these groups of mysterious tentacles that are coming out of nowhere, they are probing around and stretching to unbelievable lengths. When bothered they disappear only to reappear seconds later. What are they and did I imagine being stung when I was moving the shell? <Likely a tubiculous "spaghetti" worm> The picture of this is kind of hard to see. Finally, I think, is this stalky looking anemone (I'm guessing) most of it seems to be dead but there are a few stalk/tubes that have teeny tiny clear tentacles ending with a white dot. This picture is also hard to see because they would not stay out for the photo (shy anemone?) I guess I do have a few more questions; the first is about this strange little thing on the back of one of my rocks it has a small white base and about four red projects that are about 1mm long, what is it? And, can any of these be kept safely in my tank or can they be used as a sort of test group to monitor my water conditions before I add the stuff I want? Please help!! <... take your time here... more reading, less buying... and you'll do fine. Bob Fenner>

 

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