Unknown hitchhikers

[Arch01]

I've had my tank up for about four weeks. Every few days I notice some new hitchhiker, most of which are familiar. However, today I came home and noticed some new ones and hoped you guys could help me figure out what they are.

1. I've noticed these little worms crawling around, some a little over an inch long. Most of them are closer to 1/8th of an inch. They seem to be getting together to make new little worms because I am noticing them more and more.

2. Dunno. Maybe a nudibranch. The color in the picture is pretty acurate, but in real life he is about a 1/4 inch long.

3. These things are all over my glass. This is the only picture I can get of them. They don't move much, but they seem spread pretty quickly.

Thanks for any help.
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New Relationship Advice Forum

 

[Fatal Morgana]

I have them too.
1, just harmless worms
2, yes, a nudi. Harmless IME
3, hydra, can sting little pods, disappeared on its own... watch it move around on glass! May want to do something about them...

 

[Arch01]

May want to do something about them...

What can I do about them? I have tons of them on my glass.... If I clean them off the glass with my magnet will they die or just go somewhere else?

Thanks for your help.
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blue moonshine pics

 

[Fatal Morgana]

They just go somewhere else. If you look at one closely, you will notice that it has white spots on it and tons of stinging cells. See if you clean them off the glass and siphon it out when you need to do water change. As long as you don't notice any damage to coral it contact with, or overpopulation (limit by the food, which is mostly amphipods and isopod that they can catch, or even photosynthetic, but I not too sure about the latter), you should be alright...

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

to add to the info FM has provided you with here's a bit from Ron Shimeks Odd critters page. FWIW, I've had them in all four tanks just after the cycle was complete. They seem to multiply quickly then vanish just as quickly. Guess I didn't have "favorable" conditions as mentioned in the article, but then IMO that's a good thing. stinging little $!@^*$#$ are not welcome in my tanks.

The animals are between one and two millimeters in diameter. These are organisms which are turning out to be relatively common. They are crawling hydroid jellyfishes, which do not swim, but rather move around the tank sort of like a small, soft, slow spider. They move by fastening on to the substrate with their adhesive patches. The tentacles are tipped with concentrations of nematocysts. There is a red eyespot at the base of each tentacle. These organisms become quite abundant in some reef systems, and then rapidly disappear without a trace.

A Japanese researcher, Dr. Yayoi Hirano, provided the following information:

"They are crawling hydromedusae, in the species Staurocladia oahuensis. There are about 15 species of this genus known in the world. All of them have branched tentacles, and can adhere to substrata, such as algae, by the tentacles, with the surface with eyespots facing upward. The tip of the lower branches are used for adhesion, and the upper branches have a few or more (depending on species) nematocyst clusters. Arrangement of the nematocyst clusters is a key to identify species. They reproduce asexually either by budding or fission, so under favorable conditions they often can become abundant in aquariums. This species has been found in a fish farm and also in a abalone aquaculture center in Japan. It seems the species has a high rate of asexual reproduction under favorable conditions. Even one jellyfish accidentally introduced in an aquarium may increase in a population of hundreds within a few months if the conditions are really good. It is also very possible that the polyp stage of the species lives on corals or rocks which may be brought into the aquaria. The polyps may form a dense colony if it is provided with much food. Within a short time the number of polyps may be very large, and the polyps may produce many jellyfish. The jellyfish and polyps will eat Artemia nauplii and copepods.

 

[Arch01]

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep an eye on them, and hopefully they dissapear before all of my pods do.
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Ferrari 330

 

[Anonymous]

Nice ID there Sugar Mag..

 

[Fatal Morgana]

There are a few thread on the third item, here is a pic:

these are some of the links:

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=57778
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=494551#494551

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[WATERMAN R 83]

I have an awesome book that has id's on all that kind of stuff and tells what their purpose is in a reef tank. it's called "reef invertebrates" by anthony calfo & robert fenner. i think it is very informative....it's in the $40 range, which isn't too bad for a book.