FAQs about Live Rock Hitchhiker/Creature
Identification 10
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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> |
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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> |
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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> |
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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>> |
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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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