Need I.D. Please

[CrossRamZ11]

Sorry I don't have a picture handy yet, I will get one tonight. I think this is pretty common, but not to me. I just purchased 20# of Fiji Live rock, and another 2# of Carribean live sand to seed my DSB. My question is, that I am seeing several little anenome looking things, coming out of the rock. They are small, have a trunk like body, with a bunch of tenticles on the top, one is in the sand, and about 4-5 are on a large piece of live rock. They are brownish in color. They appear to be in the recesses of the rock, with the "arms" extended out in the current. Any thought....I did see a couple of these stuck to the glass in the live rock tank at the LFS. He said if I get any, to watch them, "because they will take over the tank"...I never thought to ask the name though..Duh!


Thanks in advance!..

 

[alrmc4]

hi sounds like aiptasia check this link and see...
www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_pages/faq_rock1.htm

 

[alrmc4]

p.s. peppermint shrimp love to eat this stuff.

 

[CrossRamZ11]

Thanks....

Yes, that is it, I have counted about 6 of them total....Once the cycle is complete, I will procure a peppermint and take care of them...Thanks for the prompt response..and for the great reading link....

One other thing, because I am new to the live rock, anything that move is really interesting, since last night, I have seen 2, what look like millipede looking things, red in color, on one of the rocks, and I have also seen what looks to be a snail, white in color, but it had a small "shell" or hump on it's back..looked nothing like a hermit or anything, it was cruising pretty fast along the glass just off of the DSB....Maybe a slug? Not sure, any ideas?

 

[hbright]

The millipede sounds like a bristleworm. They can be bad news, Sounds like the live rock had lots of bad guys come with it. You might oughta try another store for rock next time.

Good Luck!

 

[CrossRamZ11]

Hmm....

Well, in reading the resource referenced in the above link, why are Bristleworms bad exactly, because according to that link above, they are beneficial, except for only 1 type which sounds like it is very uncommon..It says:

This is probably your average, run of the mill "bristleworm". That's right a "bristleworm". All "bristleworms" are members of the Phylum Annelida, Class Polychaeta. Should you take it out? No way, most errant polychaetes (errant meaning that they move about freely searching for food) are beneficial scavengers and crucial members of the live sand community. Probably ninety-nine percent of the "bristleworms" are harmless and are reef-safe. These animals are active scavengers and predators, but most are strictly opportunistic. The predatory ones usually only consume other worms, detritus, bacteria, algae, micro-crustaceans and other things. This is a very positive and desirable activity. There are only a few notable exceptions to this rule that aquarists should be aware of, and even these exceptions are somewhat rare in aquaria. The primary exceptions are a few species of the Family Amphinomidae. One species in particular has become the stereotypical bad "bristleworm", the Caribbean Hermodice carunculata, but is rare in aquaria (probably due to the small amount of Caribbean rock used in our tanks) and it's diet is primarily gorgonians.

Now I am a little confused, and if the aiptasia can provide food for the Peppermint, and the bristle is beneficial, then why would they be considered "Bad Guys" (the aiptasia if not kept in check, I can understand)

Thanks. [/quote]

 

[alrmc4]

towards bottom of page

hi some reading on the worm
www.rshimek.com/Invertebrate Key to Major Taxa.htm
look toward the bottom.

 

[CrossRamZ11]

Thanks...

Thank you for the link, it was interesting, and will be a good resource in the future....

I read what it said about the worms, but even that said (unless I missed something) that they are a normal component of a healthy DSB, and beneficial to the overall system. It did make reference to the bristles being able to possible sting, but not likely.

So are these bad? or good? I am still confused...
Thanks again.

 

[reefrunner69]

Most consider bristle worms beneficial these days but there is still a debate going on. Bristle worms have a bad rep cause people believe they will attack sessile inverts, however, this is antecdotal (hermodice carnaculatus being the exception) because people will find bristle worms scouring the remains of a dead clam or coral. They automatically link the deaths with the worms when, in all likelyhood, the worms were cleaning up, rather than killing.

 

[CrossRamZ11]

Thanks Kevin, I appreciate it...They will stay..

As usual, I have another simple question...I have read that in order to kill the aiptasia, I should inject them (hot water, vinigar water etc...) I was curious why people don;t just grab them with tongs and pull them out of the tank and chuck them? Seems easier, but I am sure there is a good explanation for injecting them...

Thanks as always....

 

[reefrunner69]

I was curious why people don;t just grab them with tongs and pull them out of the tank and chuck them?

Because the anemone is going to leave little parts of it's foot all over the rock, then each little piece left will grow into a new anemone. They also tend to suck themselves down into holes in the rock and are a bugger to try and remove like that.

 

[azsooner]

Injecting them with boiling water seems awfully complicated to me. I had a couple of these appear. One day after I added a peppermint shrimp they where gone. Has anyone heard of an issue related to using a shrimp to control aiptasia? From what I have read, as long as you stay with the caribbean shrimp, they are pretty non-aggressive. Mine hasn't bothered my corals or seahorses.

 

[alrmc4]

yep peppermint shrimp are one very recommended way of aiptasia control it is my personal favorite consider getting another one i think they do better in groups.

 

[EMS503]

Aptasia's are quick and if you don't get the entire anenome it will spread in your tank. I use an insulin syringe loaded with liquid calcium and inject the anenome with it. Being your tank is just being setup you can take the rock out and get a better angle for what ever method you choose to use.

 

[Hara]

There is one downside to the shrimp, alot of us have fish that will eat them.
Those suckers are too expensive to become hor'douvres.

I prefer the injection method.

 

[azsooner]

That makes sense. I'll have to think of that when I start a new tank with more aggressive fish.