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Chaeto hitchhikers


holy carp

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A week ago I added a clump of chaeto to my sump on my newly cycled tank. I tried looking closely at it last night to see if there were many pods or little weird stars in the macro. I noticed that it was dying back slightly, and a section had turned a light tan. I was figuring that may have been due to low nutrients in the tank (One clown and a small CUC is all that's in it so far - 12G tank with a 10G made into a sump).

 

So I took a closer look and one clump of brownish chaeto looked different.

post-87676-0-12657000-1435187257_thumb.jpg

 

Then I see it move and feed itself. Came to this forum and searched. Looks like aiptasia. EFF!

 

The worse news is I tried to suction it out, and its legs broke off. 3 or 4 were floating around. I turned off the pump and drained most of the sump water into a bucket. I recovered 2 of the legs and the main aiptasia body. I don't know if the rest were sucked out with the water or not. The whole animal was pretty miniscule.

 

Q1- are those little leg bits going to grow into new aiptasia? I put a filter sock on to hopefully catch them, but if they make it to the DP, I'm sure they're not coming back down to the sump.

 

I put the cheato in the bucket and started searching through it all. Then I found this:

post-87676-0-43669200-1435187264_thumb.jpg

 

Q2- WTF is that? I couldn't find pictures that looked like it anywhere. I have it in a bowl for curiosity for the time being, but didn't want to throw it back in until I knew what it was.

 

Any other ideas/recommendations? This is my first aquarium, and I haven't even gotten so far as to add corals yet.

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What did you use to suck the aiptasia out? I have never once seen a tentacle detach, usually when anything touches it or bothers it, it will immediately retract. With aiptasia.

 

Number 2 could be corynactis, but it is still quite immature, hard to tell until it gets more size on him. It could be some bubble tipped sea anemone of some sort also, keep watching it as it grows and it will get some of its more distinguishing features with its maturing.

Maybe a mojano? Not sure! Amphipod would know!

sorry to disappoint amphipod don't know this time lol
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OMG whattt??? What is the world coming to?

I'm not the best at identifying polyps, I still need to do more studying. So much to learn about the worlds life.
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So I tried to suck it up the 'aiptasia' with one of those plastic eye droppers. Only thing was the hole was a little too small and some of the legs didn't fit and popped off. However, your comment made me look a little more into it. I think it may not be aiptasia after all...

 

I later saw these funny stringy things coming out of the chaeto, looking like this:

post-87676-0-82681500-1435289802_thumb.jpg

 

So researching that, sounds like it may be a digitate hydroid. More stuff I'd never heard of before... Good? Bad? I don't know, but a lot of posts seem to call them bad and potential infestations...

 

OK, so researching hydroids (and still not quite understanding what they are other than related to jellyfish) I came across this youtube video:

 

So what I thought was aiptasia looks a lot more like that. Unfortunately, the video doesn't help identify what it is. For comparison, here's a video I filmed of the hitchhikers I found.

 

Again... Good? Bad? At this point I'm leaning toward soaking my chaeto in RODI to avoid the chance of bad hitchhikers, though I don't really want to lose the pods, bristle worms, and mini stars that it came with. Unless they're bad, too... This page just makes me paranoid, I guess:

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm

 

Regarding the other one, I think corynactis may be right. It never moved, but when I touched it with the tip of a wooden skewer, it grabbed hold really tight. Then it retreated into a ball.

 

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Wow, that swimming thing is nuts! Are you putting the chaeto in a fuge? If so, I wouldn't worry as much about the hitchhikers. Where the heck did you get that stuff?

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That's no aiptasia.

I really would go the innocent until proven guilty route for this first animal, after all it is only in the sump, and it hasn't even reproduced yet. Keep an eye and see if the detached tentacles decide to make new individuals. I definitely will put more research effort for this animal.

 

You are correct with the digitate hydroids. Honestly there is a huge division of weather they are good or bad, polar opposites. Species are difficult to tell apart, and they are largely under studied. If you see fast reproduction, then I recommend for removal, find the bases of the colony on the cheato, then trim that segment off, it will take the entire colony away. I still think you should give them a chance to see how they grow.

 

Don't soak it in rodi, look at the cost to benifit. Benefit, no bad hitchhikers. Cost, free cuc members and good hitchhikers, diversity, some beneficial bacteria. You are loosing out on creatures that can help stabilize your aquarium, and even be free bio indicators of your tanks health.

 

One good thing to do is have a spare quarantine tank, this can prevent countless diseases on corals and fish, and if you quarantine rock and other hitchhiker holders, you can deal with any problems before they are problems. I seriously think everyone should be quarantining.

 

I'm glad I got you researching and looking deeper in this sort of this thing, knowledge is priceless in this hobby.

Also the hydrozoa is a huge group so it may take a while to pin down any specific orders that could be the first one, that is assuming it is known to science.

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@stellablue - yes, the chaeto had been in my sump/fuge. I've been quarantining the chaeto in an old fish bowl with a bubbler-circulator since I started seeing all this unexpected life. Amphipod, I appreciate your perspective and will add it back to the sump this evening. The whole system is pretty new - just started seeing the visible diatoms as of yesterday, so may be time to add certain snails. I'll try to put together a little build thread for system reference. Right now there are no mechanicals other than a pump and heater. Just a sock and bio filtration.

 

Regarding the first swimming guy - I don't think I'll be putting him back in, since he's been sitting in that bowl and I don't know if he'll even reattach to the chaeto. He is, however, seemingly alive and well after 2 days in a half inch of water, and still swims around if agitated. Seeing how it moves does look jellyfish-like with that pulse-pump motion.

 

For the digitate hydroids, I don't even know if I'll be able to see the base where they start. The inside of that chaeto ball is pretty tightly wound and full of those little stars and pods and worms. I'll keep my eye on them. I picked up the chaeto clump at a nearby store called Manhattan Aquariums. One thing I did notice is that the chaeto is full of white calcified clumps. I'm not sure if they're remainders from eggs of some sort, or calcifying worms. They look tiny like grains of coral sand, but are firmly affixed to the alga.

post-87676-0-74899200-1435325698_thumb.jpg

 

Who'dda thunk that my girlfriend saying she wanted a nemo would turn into such an engineering, construction, and amateur science experiment... ha ha.

 

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Put a tiny bit of food so it touches the swimmers tentacles and see if he pulls it in as food.

 

Those hitchhikers can make a world of exploration, I have researched 2+ hours already today and have not found any particular clues. What you obtained is unique to say the least. It could also be an immature Medusa stage, so keep an eye out for changes, and has it ever even attempted to reattach, or is the base changing from its original shape.

 

Your clumps could be several things, in addition to your guesses it also could be a calcareous sponge, or several other things.

 

Lol at least its fun, its a massive learning experience.

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Well, last night I dropped a little blackworm onto it. At first it totally retracted and I got bored watching the blackworm wiggle around. But when I came back that hydroid thing and the blackworm were all tangled up. Later, it appeared to have consumed a good portion of the worm, but not the entire thing. This morning, no sign of the worm. Now that hydroid thing looks pretty lifeless... Perhaps a food coma.

 

I placed a few frozen mysis in there as well, more on top of that corydactis, but they're so tiny it's not easy to aim them with my pipette. It also closed up for a while and now is open again, but I can't say whether or not it ate a shrimp. Everything is so small that it's not easy to see what's going on, and those little mysis are almost invisible in a white bowl...

 

Thanks for helping with the research. I too have spent hours looking that thing up, but I'm running out of adjectives to search...

 

Regardless, the chaeto is back in the sump and tumbling away. It wasn't tumbling before, so I'll be curious if I see the digitate hydroids poke out of it.

But unless that swimming hydroid thing and the corydactis get definitive 'good' labels, I don't think they'll be going back in... But who knows, if I put them back, it could just turn out like Snuffy the Seal's triumphant return to the sea.

 

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Lol he must be a hungry fella. Keep me posted what he does next, this kinda helps with research because lots of the free swimming cnidaria are planktonovores, but since it can assume a full predatory lifestyle it takes a few off the list for potential identifications.

 

Has swimmer had any changes with his bases appearance? Has it ever attached again?

 

I started with the cnidaria, then realized I could only actually filter out fully sessile organisms, and fully Medusa organisms. Still thousands of known species, I decided it could also definitely not be any myxoza, polypodium, siphonophorae, or cubozoa. So that helps a little.

 

Lol Snuffy the seal, hilarious ad XD

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Well, he has reattached to some loose strands of chaeto a few times, but doesn't sit still. I find him in different places, so I assume he seeks food or light. He seems to be shrinking a bit now. I'll try giving it some mysis tonight. I change the water in the bowl daily, but he may not be getting enough current. After eating the worm, his coloring was dark gray, but now has become a little more translucent. Given those living conditions, it sure is a survivor.

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Hard to say how long he'll last. Looking hungry now, but showed no interest in the mysis last night. It continues to relocate frequently, and I've even seen it floating at the top. Thinking it was dead, I blew against the surface of the water and it dove down to the bottom again. It's shrinking for sure, even though that blackworm it ate was twice as big as the little swimmer.

 

I'm planning a 5g water change tomorrow before the holiday weekend, so I'll move it into the waste water bucket with a bubbler while I'm away to see how it does.

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Thing must need a lot of food to sustain itself.

Have fun on your vacation, where you headed?

Maybe there will be a good population of copepods for him to eat, I know any waste water I have is crawling with the little bugs.

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I was thinking the same. Either it needs a lot of food, or a specific type. In spite of being a young tank and still full of diatoms (getting some extra CUC today from reef cleaners), I've noticed a lot of little white pods scurrying around on the glass, so the waste water should have plenty, and maybe they will help. In the chaeto where that swimmer was originally found, there was always a good pod population, so that could be its main sustenance.

I'm heading up to Cape Cod for the weekend - dreading the traffic, but will be fun to see all the crabs, snails, clams, etc. in their own habitat again.

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Who knows maybe with more food the creature could reveal a few more of his secrets, maybe it will even reproduce.

Sounds like fun, when I'm near the ocean I have a strong tendency to collect worms, pods, algaes and other goodies lol. Have fun on your vacation :)

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Well, in the bucket of waste water, the swimmer seems to be recovering and growing slightly. I can't figure out what it's eating, though. The water has consistent circular flow, but that doesn't seem to bother him. It doesn't seem to be moving that much on its own, just by the current, but it has definitely gotten larger than it had been in the bowl. It had been attached to some chaeto earlier before I left, but since I've gotten back from vacation, it's hanging out affixed to the bottom of the bucket. Unfortunately, I am having a hard time getting quality photos of it at the bottom of that 5 gallon pail. Any ideas for other 'experiments'?

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Now it's kind of a waiting game, if it changes further as it grows bigger it could give help on an identification, keep an eye out for a change like turning into a full Medusa stage, the starvation period has shrunk it but it will grow back to the old size and if further development is to happen it will show. Keep in mind though that there is a tiny chance this animal can't be identified because it may be unknown to science.

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Quick update:

That swimmer had been firmly attached to the same spot on the bottom of the bucket for a week. It still seems to be growing, and now has many more tentacles. Last night I was pruning my sump chaeto and threw a clump a little bigger than a golf ball into the bucket. I came back 10 minutes later, and the swimmer had attached itself to the chaeto. I wish I saw it make the move.

 

There had been some chaeto in the sump before, but mostly individual strands not more than 3" long. Even if they brushed against the swimmer in the current, they were completely ignored. Something about the fresh chaeto clump was much more appealing. Pods? A pineapple sponge? Some red algae mixed in? Just that it was bigger/fresher/healthier?

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lol sneaky little monster.

 

i'd agree, its preferred habitat is possibly the algae strands so possibly instinct told him " hey this is a great hunting spot". i don't think this animal is really that much a pest as a very unusual, potentially still maturing, animal.

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It's not easy to get a good clear photo in that bucket, so this is the best I could do...

 

If you look at the full image, you can see it in the middle. Definitely growing.

 

20150715_221642_zpssv19i7e0.jpg

 

I believe it's actually upsidedown in this photo and attached to the chaeto strand you can see right above it.

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