Mother Lode of Hitchhikers :(

[Sadial]

Think I hit the mother lode of unwanted hitchhikers this time around. I think I'm screwed.

Set up a 90G tank. Went to the LFS for some interesting pieces of live rock to round out what I had. The cured rock was completely picked over. Feeling adventurous, I selected a few pieces of uncured rock. I regret it.

Below are pics of what cropped up a month later. Some I think I have ID'd but would like confirmation. Other things, I have NO CLUE.

Thoughts?

Picture 1.
Bryopsis? I'm feeling like this stuff has already kicked my butt and I only discovered it this week. It's spreading like wildfire over the glass, sand, rocks, everywhere. If this IS bryopsis, looks like the best course of treatment is spiking magnesium for a few weeks?



Picture 2. Flatworm?

If so, I have no acropora. The only coral I have is mushroom, a brain coral and a chalice coral. Will these things die away or do I need to treat them?



Picture 3. No clue. It's hard, structured and not coralline as far as I know. I haven't noticed any movement. This one is sort of pretty, IMO.



Picture 4. WTH? Small semi transparent worm. It stands on the end with the tentacles and searches around the glass.



Picture 5. Colonial Hydroids?



Picture 6. No clue. Top hitchhiker is the same color as hitchhiker 3. Formation is different - circular. Lower hitchhiker came in as a slimy strip on the rock. It's orange and seems to be healing.



Picture 7. FTS for the heck of it. I believe it's going to be green soup shortly if this macro algae takes off like I fear it will.

 

[mr_X]

First let me say that I would love to see a bunch of life instantly as you do. Secondly, the white flatworm is nothing to be concerned about./ It's population will come and go very quickly without any harm to anything in the tank.
The transparent worm looks like it could be a juvenile eunicid worm. I have no evidence to back that up but I think it resembles one in body, and it's probably searching around for those smaller things on the glass, and is obviously predatory.
Pull the mushroom rock and hit those hydroids with a cigarette lighter.

I believe picture 3 to be a type of foraminiferan.
Foraminiferans by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

Finally, yes, the first pic is bryopsis. Bryopsis is a broad term used to label many types of hair-like algae, as you can see here-
Bryopsis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've had it appear like that on the glass and things and it never amounted to much after the tank settled in.

 

[coralbandit]

Many use Kent tech Magnesium to control kill the bryopsis.
Kent Tech M vs Bryopsis - Reef Central Online Community


Could pic 2 be stomanella? Hard to say from bottom for me .Any shell?
I can't really say on other issues.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Many use Kent tech Magnesium to control kill the bryopsis.
Kent Tech M vs Bryopsis - Reef Central Online Community


Could pic 2 be stomanella? Hard to say from bottom for me .Any shell?
I can't really say on other issues.

Agreed^^

 

[Sadial]

First let me say that I would love to see a bunch of life instantly as you do. Secondly, the white flatworm is nothing to be concerned about./ It's population will come and go very quickly without any harm to anything in the tank.
The transparent worm looks like it could be a juvenile eunicid worm. I have no evidence to back that up but I think it resembles one in body, and it's probably searching around for those smaller things on the glass, and is obviously predatory.
Pull the mushroom rock and hit those hydroids with a cigarette lighter.

I believe picture 3 to be a type of foraminiferan.
Foraminiferans by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

Finally, yes, the first pic is bryopsis. Bryopsis is a broad term used to label many types of hair-like algae, as you can see here-
Bryopsis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've had it appear like that on the glass and things and it never amounted to much after the tank settled in.

I agree it's cool to see life instantly but I'm running scared on the bryopsis prospect. I can easily see this overtaking the tank is short order. I've skimmed through other people's ordeals with this stuff and it sounds rotten. I don't have a large clean up crew and what I have ignores it.

I've had other hitchhikers in this batch, too. I found my first aiptasia and it seemed big and mobile. I didn't have any treatments on hand to kill it - first time I dealt with it. I boiled water, spritzed in lemon and blasted it with a turkey baster. This method costs nothing but a lemon and was absolutely lethal. It was horrible watching it fight back. I hope I never have to do that again. Afterward, I sucked it into the turkey baster - I felt like I murdered something but knew better than to leave it in there.

I found what I think was a black isopod. It was too quick to catch on camera. I guess they can be parasitic.

No bristle worms. No starfish. One feather duster. There was some sort of macro algae I found on several rocks with green oval shaped leaves. I think it was some sort of calurpa. I pulled those rocks and put them in the nanocube to see what develops. Some sort of worms that hang off rocks and coat their bodies in sand.

I was forced to move the contents of my nanocube into this tank when I had a hardware failure this week in the small tank. Came home from work to no water circulation and corals in distress. Fortunately, this one had cycled but I wanted to take my time and wait another month or two before transferring. I've fixed the problem in the cube so I have that on hand if needed.

I think you're right on with the foraminiferan. These are nickel sized. I had a tiny one in my other tank. I was under the impression they were small and conical shaped. Cool to find out they don't have to be. Now I need to find out if these are alive or not.

Will read further on the eunicid worm. Thanks for giving me some hope with your bryopsis experience. Its wall to wall doom and gloom out there when you google that stuff.

 

[Sadial]

Many use Kent tech Magnesium to control kill the bryopsis.
Kent Tech M vs Bryopsis - Reef Central Online Community


Could pic 2 be stomanella? Hard to say from bottom for me .Any shell?
I can't really say on other issues.

I book marked that link and am interested in trying the same thing. Thanks so much. I'm going to order the magnesium. If it doesn't blow over, I think it's going to get ugly.

Pic 2 - I found 2 in the sump and one in the display. No shell that I can see. They are surprisingly fast.