Help Identify

[TBLightningFan]

My Live Rock is coming more and more to life nicely... but I just dont know what all of this stuff is!!!

This first one is interesting... anenome maybe???

This is another one but looks the same as the first.

Any ideas here???

This looks kinda like a mushroom with a top that is like a snail shell. It will move on occasion but will remain in its spot.

I have no clue on this one... there are several clusters about the tank like this. Some are this color others are pure white.

On the back side of the tank I noticed this in my sand. It looks like a worm of sorts.

 

[Navarre]

1st photo is definately an Aptaisia, get rid of it as it is not considered friendly.

2nd photo.. Not sure.. its definately the same family as the aptiasia but whether its wanted or not i really could not say )

3rd photo... not overly sure what it is but i just got a freebee just like this. Its a form of carpet growing xenia i think. I will try and take a decent photo of mine and post it up for you.

4th looks like a limpet or similar molusc. A goody for your tank

5th photo.. fascinating. not sure what it is.. is it soft or hard? looks like the shape of a trumpet coral but has lots of tenticles.

6th photo.. definately a Bristleworm

 

[TBLightningFan]

1st photo is definately an Aptaisia, get rid of it as it is not considered friendly.

2nd photo.. Not sure.. its definately the same family as the aptiasia but whether its wanted or not i really could not say )

4th looks like a limpet or similar molusc. A goody for your tank

5th photo.. fascinating. not sure what it is.. is it soft or hard? looks like the shape of a trumpet coral but has lots of tenticles.

6th photo.. definately a Bristleworm

1st photo is definately an Aptaisia, get rid of it as it is not considered friendly. Do I just pluck it out???

2nd photo.. Not sure.. its definately the same family as the aptiasia but whether its wanted or not i really could not say ) I will keep an eye... If it begins to pigment brown I will pull it out too.

4th looks like a limpet or similar molusc. A goody for your tank

5th photo.. fascinating. not sure what it is.. is it soft or hard? looks like the shape of a trumpet coral but has lots of tenticles. Its hard with clear like tenticle coming out of the spikes... I will try to take more pictures.

6th photo.. definately a Bristleworm I have heard bad things about bristleworms.. What are the positives and negatives?

 

[Navarre]

Hmmm...
OK bristleworms get a bad press IMO. Bristleworms perform a vital cleanup process of the tank. They are superb detrius scavengers and will polish off any uneaten food or dead fish etc that cant be rached.

The reasons they are given a bad press is that they are often seen eating dead fish etc. May people blame them for their deaths but i have never seen a post yet of anyone actually seeing this happen. What is more likely to happen is tha tthe fish died during hte night and the bristleworms found it and have started to clean it up. They dont have teeth as such, they are equiped with rasping mouths so to catch a fish is difficult let alone it it when its trying to swim away.

This doesnt mean they are totally harmles of course...

Bristleworms can grow large... very large! The largest bristleworm i have seen documented is 7.5ft long THis was in a tank only 3ft in length and it was not dicsovered until the tank was stripped down! When a worm gets this large its possible that its appetite is simply too much and it has been known to attack corals etc. However, its very rare for a bristleworm to get this large so i really would not be overly concerned.

How do you control bristleworms?

To be honest its practically impossible if you use liverock as a means of filtration. If you can see a single bristleworm then you will more than likely have 20 others hidden away in the rock and sand.

You can try catching them by placing an inverted plastic bottle in the tank with some food inside. the bristleworms will crawl into it and then cannot get out (or they are supposed not to get out ) ).

Natural methods...
6 Lined wrasse will eat the smallerones (though i have never seen either of mine do this) My silty wrasse will rip em apart no matter what size they are My fish will never wipe out the population of worms but they are managed and i have not sen a single worm since starting the tank up in may (although i am sure there is worms in there)

 

[Navarre]

Oh and i forogt!

DONT pluck the aptasia out! If you do this then within a few weeks you will have them at plague proportions!

A true peppermint shrimp will eat them and copperband butterfly fish will too (although copperbands are hard to aclimatise).

If the natural hunters arent working for you then purchase a product called "Joes Juice" its really works! keills em in seconds.. absolutely true... they will fall apart right in front of your eyes

 

[TBLightningFan]

Thanks Navarre for all the help... your advice has been priceless.

Now that you mentoned worms... I have notice a lot of long clear ones on the rocks. Plus some other small "prickly ones". But I havent noticed any of the big flat ones some sites say is bad.

Here is a picture of my huge crab, he is doing a good job cleaning the rock of some of the small die off that happened.