Barnacles

[crazyelece]

Ok I just found something in my tank that looks like a barnacle (at lest the fake ones I have seen). It is what my new purple carnation came attached to. I thought it was just a piece of live rock but I saw it moving inside today. So I am starting to research to find out exactly what it is and if it is harmful or not. Any body know anything about barnacles and if they are bad for fish or inverts in a reef setup?

 

[crazyelece]

here are a couple pics I got tonight

barnacle

no flash

close up

 

[Aquascaper]

If by Carnation Coral you mean a Dendronepthya sp. i'd personally be more worried about whats going to happen when that dies than the damage a barnacle could do

From what I know about Barnacles (depending on species) they are pretty harmless unless they climb onto an invert.

From what I know about Dendronepthya they are pretty much impossible to keep in an aquarium due to the constant requirement for food and when they die they are among the worst nuke'rs around

 

[crazyelece]

Not sure of the exact species name. Can't be too hard to keep though my brother has had its twin in his tank for o few months. The store never sold this one and they kept it thriving. I'll have to check into it but from my experiences so far its a pretty hardy species or at the least specimen.

 

[Opcn]

The barnicles can't hurt much of anything, they eat pods, you will however have to target feed the coral.

 

[Aquascaper]

If it deflates or droops remove it quickly is the only advice i'd give if you're keeping it. Dendronepthya are notorius for being fine one minute and disasters the next - sounds like you may be lucky but try and find out exactly what type it is asap