Newbie needs some Hitchhikers ID help

[my68t3]

:?: I would like to find out what these things are, and if any of them are unsafe for my tank.
They all came on the rock that I bought from my LFS.
They are all numbered to make it easier to reply to a specific image.

If any of these are harmful for my tank, please let me know how to get rid of them too.

I know #6 is a polyp of some kind, #7 might be a worm of some sort, and #9 & #10 are possibly some sort of algae.

Any ideas or suggestion are appreciated. :wink:

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

Michael

 

[mr_X]

i'm not sure about everything, but picture 8 which looks like chaetomorpha (a type of macroalgae) could grow to eventually be a nuisance. a herbovore should eat that for you. zooanthids, which are corals, (numbers 1 and 6) are nice to find on live rock. 7 are tube worms, which are good. number 9 i am finding on my new setup as well. i imagine it will disappear as the tank matures (another type of macroalage). number 2 is a macroalage also..is that purple? pretty cool. i wouldn't worry about that either. i can't make out number 5. is this florida live rock?

 

[cindre2000]

1-Zooanthids
2-Macro Algae (need a better lit pic)
3-Macro Algae (need a better lit pic)
4-Zooanthids
5-Copepod
6-Anemone, not your standard apitasia.
7-Vermitid Snails
8-Some type of 'fleshy' Macro algae
9-Hair Algae.
10-Either micro crustaceans or clumps of diatoms.

 

[Anonymous]

My complete guesses?

1: Button polyps, of the good variety zoanthid as opposed to the potentially poisonous polyp that slips my mind right now. It will come to me as soon as I'm not thinking about it!

2: A macroalgae called Blue Ochtodes. It is kinda rare on message boards and if it gets too big, you can selll it! I've had lots of people here ask me to mail them some. But, herbivorous fish will eat it, so when you get a nuisance alga, you can kiss it good bye! Save some in your sump if you can.

3. Maybe sponge or scroll algae? Very safe either way.

4. More zoos or Palythoa. Thats the word I was looking for on #2! Watch them and if you end up fragging them, be sure to wear gloves and have good ventilation.

5. Manjano anemomes. Can get very invasive, and sting neighboring corals. You can feed them kalkwasser paste if you just have a few. If they get over whelming, get a butterfly fish (who will pick on your other corals). Best to get rid of them now! Feed them paste, wait 'till you think they are gone, then turn all the rocks over to see if there are more. Really, if just one lives, you will be so sad. Take a few weeks and get them gone now.

6. Possibly neomeris alga? A good one, but some what delicate. Might not live long.

7. Tube worms or a calcerous alga. Either way, good sign of healthy tank.

8 & 9 could be the same alga? Could be in the chaeto genus, but who knows?

10. Is that a heater in the background? I am going to guess fish poop (detritus)!

Where did you get some great live rock with such good diversity? Except for the manjanos....

 

[cindre2000]

The anemone does not look colorful enough to be a majano and #7 is snails, not worms.

You are thinking of Palythoa. Identifiable from its connected base.

 

[SnowManSnow]

Im going with majano on that anemone

b

 

[brandonberry]

Me too. I've seen several color variations of them sometimes depending on how much light they are under. Definitely get rid of them. I hate those snails in #7 also. They tend to get a little invassive and though relatively harmless, they blow a snotlike substance onto your corals. Personally, I'd crush them with a small hammer or something. The fish will enjoy munching on them then.

 

[my68t3]

Thank you everyone for your help. I know some of the images were a little blurry, but I'm dealing with a pretty small tank (12 gal nano cube deluxe). I do not have any fish yet, just hermit crabs for now. Trying to get a hang of regulating my water before I spend any money on more expensive stuff. I did have a shrimp for about 3 weeks, but I think he got stung by my aiptasia right after he molted. I was pretty bummed and I killed the aiptasia the next day after work. I also had a sand sifting starfish for about 2 hours, I kid, it was more like 8 hours. He was dead by the next morning. I was told I didn't acclimate him long enough; expensive lesson learned.

To answer the questions that you asked, I'll start with the oldest post first:

mr_x:
The majority of my rock is Fiji. I like the way it looks and it's a little cheaper. To be honest with you, I have no Idea what kind of rock are in pictures 1-4, I picked them up at the LFS last week cause they were cheap, looked cool and had a lot of stuff already on them.

SeahorseWhisperer_:
I stopped by a LFS that I had never been to and grabbed a couple small pieces (just about a pound) cause I thought they looked cool and they had a lot of stuff growing on them. The LFS is called Saltwater Endeavors, they are located in Jupiter Fl.

Thanks again, I'm sure I'll be posting more hitchhiker ID helps soon. Just about every day I find something new in my tank. I love this hobie!!

Michael

 

[Anonymous]

You might consider getting peppermint shrimp for the aiptasia spores that will show up. After you get rid of the manjanos!

It looks like you have a great start! What kind of fish are you going to get?

(The sand sifter might have died from no food? He was probably already starved at the LFS)

 

[my68t3]

I know the image is really not very good, but #5 isn't an anemone, it is some kind of little bug. By friend, who is helping me get stared, told me they are good because they are food for the other stuff in the tank.

I'm gonna try and see if I can borrow a friends professional camera so I can zoom in really close and get a good focused picture to post.

Not sure what kinda fish yet, I know I want a couple of "Nemo" clowns, but I'm not sure what else to get as of yet... any suggestions?

 

[Anonymous]

OOPS! I got my five and six mixed up!

6 are majano! I really would kill them now before you get too much time and money invested into the tank.....

 

[brandonberry]

The bug looks like an amphipod. They are good. They will scavenge uneaten food and the fish will eat them as well.