Need Help ID'ing these recent discoveries

[Rift-Reef]

I've noticed an explosion of "life" in my tank after my first water change last Sunday.

 

Pic #1 These little guys are tiny, first noticed them with a magnifying glass crawling on the sand. Notice it's size compared to the grains of sand.

 

Pic #2 This appears to be some sort of green hairy shell. Maybe some kind of mussel? It's often laying down flat on the rock when the lights are out and its standing upright when the lights are on just like it is in the picture.

 

Pic#3 I just saw this thing earlier today. It was small, less than .25" across. It had a very crab-like movement. It appeared to have a very small body with 8 spiky/sandy looking legs. Sorry for the poor picture.

 

Pic#4 I noticed these tiny tubes with tentacles growing on one of my rocks about a week and a half ago. It appears to be a small colony popping up. They are reddish brown in color and no more than .125" tall. Again, not the best of pics.

 

Thanks in advance for any help in identifying these interesting creatures!

[aqualaw]

#4 looks like aiptasia

 

Sorry, I can't ID the rest.

[andre]

I dont know bout the first 3, but yeah the 4th is aptasia. Try melevsreef.com/id

 

Oh I remmeber pic 3 now. All I remember is they eat softies and are bad. Get everyone you see out. They supposedly move slow. Ive had a fewn but most were found dead. Good Luck.

[Prunfarm]

#1 ?? #2 Looks like a harmless clam/mussel. #3 Sea spider. Kill it, or kiss you zoas goodbye. FW dip and tweeze any zoas, and softies you have. #4 Hydroids. Can sting corals, but often stay in small numbered clumps. I have them, they have never been a problem.

Again, search and destroy #3. Wait, I see that the tank is new, and you might not have any coral yet. Hmmm maybe a sacrificial zoa frag that it(and any others in the tank) can attach to.

[c est ma]

Wow, what tremendous pictures! And such a unique coterie of critters. Really enlivens the old ID forum.

 

The only one I can chime in on is #4, the hydroids. There are many different kinds of these--IME, these brown ones are not too problematic and are interesting little cnidarians in their own right. If I've had any growing in a place I want to put a coral, I've just been able to pull them out with forceps with no problems. I have to add, though, that other people have posted that they've had problems with them becoming invasive. Mine have always been very slow growing and localized, though. I'm sure you can find various opinions if you search for brown hydroids on this site.

 

I hope you're going to enter the macro photo contest!

 

--Diane

[SaltwaterGoldfish?]

1) an ostracod... a type of 'bivalved' crustacean

 

2) possibly a brachiopod... try to get a dorsal photo... otherwise, possibly a small bivalve

 

3) thats a hellifiknow... umm... possibly a very tiny decorator crab?... sand covered pycnogonid?... get it under a scope

 

4) small feather dusters... try poking them and see if they retract and the tubes remain... if its a hydroid, the whole organism will retract

[florida8]

#1 Sea Lice/Sea Flea... Not good but not 100% sure on the info for them. I will try to find my saved info and forward to you.

 

#3 Sea Spider... they love to munch on corals... remove any that you see.

[c est ma]

4) small feather dusters... try poking them and see if they retract and the tubes remain... if its a hydroid, the whole organism will retract

 

Actually, the brown hydroids behave very much like dusters--their stalk is a sort of stiffened, leathery tube, and only their oral disc with it's long tentacles retracts...

 

--Diane

[SaltwaterGoldfish?]

Actually, the brown hydroids behave very much like dusters--their stalk is a sort of stiffened, leathery tube, and only their oral disc with it's long tentacles retracts...

 

--Diane

 

I love learning new stuff on these forums... you wouldnt happen to know what group they would belong to (taxonomically speaking)?

[c est ma]

Well, you'd think that being as common as these guys are, it'd be easier to find out something about their classification! But after an incomplete but nevertheless time-consuming search, I haven't made much progress.

 

The picture on this page of "Colonial athecate hydroids" (scroll down) is the closest I could find to the type of brown hydroid that often shows up as a hitchhiker in our tanks:

 

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j...cnidarians.html

 

Here is a picture of my brown hydroids:

 

 

The top side of the oral disc eventually turns green, and I understand they are photosynthetic.

 

I'm almost positive that Shimek used to have some info on this hydroid in his online key, but that link has not been restored yet since he's been redoing his website. Here's a link to his online hydroid article, but again it's very general and probably doesn't tell you anything you don't already know:

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20020815020152/.../wb/default.asp

 

Here's a pic of a hydroid that appears to also have a stiffened stalk, Lafoeina maxima:

 

http://shop.uwphoto.no/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=esv102cd18

 

In fact, that site has 8 pgs of fantastic hydroid shots (see also the Tubularias):

http://shop.uwphoto.no/search_results_alle...ceEnd=&txtSale=

 

HTH,

 

--Diane

[aqualaw]

Here is a picture of my brown hydroids:

 

 

Cool pic.. looks like a scene from Armageddon.

 

 

"Guess what guys, it's time to embrace the horror! Look, we've got front row tickets to the end of the earth!"

[c est ma]

LOL!

 

Gee, you're right. It does look a little bleak!

 

--Diane

[brent-konieczny]

I spy a bristle worm.(Good thing )

[draethan]

#1 a varry large copepod. Does it have a single eye ? Otracoda are usually microsopic and plantonic. They also only have 2-4 appendages.

#2 most likely a bivalve but it could be an articulated brachiopod

#3 if you are luck it is a pycnogonida the sea spider. If it is it will have a random number of legs and a proboscus. A true gem to have as they are rare, but possable hazard to the reef. or a common decorator crab if it has 10 appendages including claws

#4 is probably what everyone else said.