Id These Umm... Things.

[n3ont3tra]

Okay so I need a few things identified. Sorry, the pics are really bad.

First up:

This stuff is brown, very difficult to remove, and ugly. Is there anything that will eat it? I have turbo snails, astreas, cerith, nerite, nassarius, white tip hermits, scarlet hermits, and a fighting conch. Nothing will touch it.

Next:

There's three or four of these in the tank that I could see. They look like an little worm, except one end is anchored to the spot (I think). I've only seen it in a few places, and I've seen them all at the same time, so I don't think they can really move. It seems like they are trying to eat something... i don't know what. They're gray with sort of a camouflage pattern.

Third:

Yellowish brown, kinda pretty. Altogether they are about the size of a dime, and they haven't spread at all.

Last:

I obviously took this video at night. I was looking at the tank with a flashlight (not red) and they all came out. About a dozen. They followed the light, but I've never seen them out in the day before. Are they good or bad?

 

[Musho3210]

the last few pics look like colonial hydroids, a pain to remove, with many resulting blow torching the hydroids off (which isnt that uncommon....) Better just chisel off and throw away them, chisel off a few cm past the base, you dont want these coming back.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Are they bad to /have/? Or just to remove.

 

[Musho3210]

they can be pretty bad to have, imagine them as shelled aiptasia.

Ive had these before, i was lucky enough to be able to chisel them off, i did not resort to blow torching

 

[Lynden]

They apparently pack a mighty sting, but I have them too and so far they haven't spread or injured anything. They have been on contact with corals before.

 

[n3ont3tra]

I think I'll leave them, but if they start to spread I'll get them out.

Any ideas on the other stuff?

 

[SkiFletch]

IMO those are too small to be colonial hydroids and they appear to have a white tube skeleton... I'd guess a small type of tubeworm.

The first stuff is NASTY. I mean NASTY!

It's a photosynthetic coraline algae... But its brown. It's exceptionally pervasive and can/will out-compete more desireable purple coraline algae species. One of the members of my local reef club had to break down his entire 120g system because this algae covered every rock surface in disgusting brown nonsense. He was forced to "cook" his rock and try and re-seed his tank with new LR.

I'd reccomend removing and if possible returning this piece of LR immediately.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Crap. That's the biggest rock I have. It's also where the blenny lives. I'm getting some more LR soon, I guess I'll get a little extra and toss this rock in the garden.

 

[SkiFletch]

Crap. That's the biggest rock I have. It's also where the blenny lives. I'm getting some more LR soon, I guess I'll get a little extra and toss this rock in the garden.

Don't toss it, either return it or "cook" it.

 

[n3ont3tra]

What do you mean by 'cooking' it?

 

[SkiFletch]

Put it in a no-light situation with flow and heat for at least a month. You'll kill all the photosynthetic organisms on it (including the nasty brown algae) but keep all the non-photosynthetic ones. Usually a plastic bin with a top in a basement that has a powerhead and a heater works well for cooking rock.

 

[n3ont3tra]

How would I move those two little corals off of it?

Those things.

 

[SkiFletch]

Hammer + Chisel + Superglue Gel

 

[n3ont3tra]

Thanks SkiFletch. Any idea on that last one?

 

[SkiFletch]

Last ones look like some type of pod life. They probably get lost in the usual debris of the tank during daylight hours