Hairy leggs

[Goldmoon]

Hi, I just recieved today a fiji orange zoanthid polyp rock. On it I found a very small black urchin, a long flat orange kind of worm, a heliacus snail. I removed all 3 of them knowing at least that the snail was bad for zoanthid. When I removed the snail it was in front of a very small hole (1/4 inch) and from that hole I saw 2 thick dark hairy leggs coming out of it. I try to grab that thing with tweezers but sure enough it was faster then me. Went into the hole. I guess I freaked out

I try to push the tweezers as far as I could in all direction to kill the thing. At this point I do not have any picture of the beast. If it is still alive I must have scared it to death. Anyone knows what it can be and if I should do anything to remove it from there?
TIA

 

[Anonymous]

I would guess that it's a crab of somekind. You could try dunking it in freshwater for a minute to see what comes out.

Ty

 

[Goldmoon]

Tks

I tried pouring fresh RO water with a seringe through the hole but doing so I noticed there was an exit on the other side of the rock. I poured about a cup and nothing came out.

It could have gone that way when I tried to squish it with the tweezers..
I am not sure if I can risk a fresh dip with polyps? They already have been through a lot.. (ordered on-line from Flying Fish Express) Just put in the aquarium a few hours ago...

 

[davelin315]

My guess is it's a brittle star. Do the legs sway or are they stiff? If they're stiff, then I'm wrong, but some brittle star species are very small, very hairy looking, and black and white striped. If it's a crab, take the rock out, hold it upside down out of the water for a bit (shouldn't harm the zooanthids to be out of water for a while) over a cup or something, and let it crawl out. If you're uncomfortable leaving your zooanthids out of the water for too long, spray them with water from your tank periodically to keep them moist. That way, you don't kill it until you know what it is (although you probably killed it already by jamming stuff in there).

 

[Goldmoon]

We did find a real tiny bristle star (hitchhiker too) but it did not look like the thing that is in the rock. Real late last it was peeking its claw out a little.. seems like it was trying to grab a polyp or just eating some algae on the rock near the polyp.. hard to tell

I would try your trick but after a full night in the tank I kind of even doubt it is still in the rock. Someone on another board said he had one of those and it turned out to be a mushroom-polyps eating crab..

Anyways.. husby is the *boss* (his aquarium) so I will show him your message and let him decide if he thinks it is still there.
Well this week end if we see it again in the rock even if it is late we will be able to do something (removing the rock and leave out in the air for a bit) Kind of hard during work days since it seems to show itself real late at night (past midnigt)

Thank you very much for your help...
(the spray polyp rock is a neat idea, I did not think about that)

Hope I will be able to get the little fellow out so we can describe it more and see if he diserves to live or die!

[ August 09, 2001: Message edited by: Goldmoon ]

 

[Goldmoon]

Saw it again tonight.. looks definitly like a crab.. the legs that are not hairy are striped grey and white...