Please ID Hitchhikers - Aquarium Advice

Ducaroo · 01-13-2009, 03:29 AM

I have a 70gal tank and cycling LR for 3 weeks on one rock. First photo is some kind of anemone? about the size of a half dollar, pink base, likes low light, flattens w/ bright lights and tentacles become inflated. The second photo is some growth about 1/4 inch wide on side of same LR. Third photo is from bottom of LR. It looks like a yellow ball with spikes on it, and attached to the side is a white tubular thing with maybe an opening on the large end of the opening(not sure). Any help would be appreciated. Do any of these have to be ejected?

Kurt_Nelson · 01-14-2009, 01:12 AM

Not sure, but I'll take a stab to get the ball rolling!

Upper left looks kind of like a really unhappy, bleached bubble tip anemone? Or at least an unhappy anemone of some type. Not sure on that one...

Upper right is a collection of sponges and tunicates. All good things to have.

Lower shot... really hard to tell if that's living tissue or just a dead coral skeleton. Can you see any tissue, or does it inflate/expand at all during the day? How big across is the largest circle?

**roka64** · 01-14-2009, 01:15 PM

I agree with Kurt and his no sig!

**Ziggy953** · 01-14-2009, 04:17 PM

I believe the 1st pic is a rock anemone, not a happy one either. I agree with the 2nd pic and the 3rd I can't tell what it is. Can you get a pic of it with your flash so we can see it better?

Ducaroo · 01-15-2009, 01:44 AM

Holy Tuna Cakes! I had no idea there was such an animal as a tunicate. You guys are great! Attached is hopefully a better picture of the coral(?). It's about 3/8 inch in diameter. I cannot tell if it's been huffing and puffing during the day, but it seems to be getting bigger, slowly. Thanks again for your diagnosis

Kurt_Nelson · 01-15-2009, 01:56 AM

Hmm... just can't tell from that small of a picture. Kinda looks like it could be a type of button polyp... a palythoa of some type? Maybe????

Does it have a tiny little slit in the middle that looks like a mouth?

**Ziggy953** · 01-15-2009, 12:50 PM

Kurt you may be on to something there.

Are each of the "circles" individual polyps? The pic is so small it's really hard to tell what it is. When you upload your image try and keep it at 800x600.

Kurt_Nelson · 01-15-2009, 04:20 PM

I just can't tell if the "stripes" I'm seeing is the coloration of the tissue (like a lot of palythoas) or is actually skeleton. That first picture looks like skeleton, but this last picture looks more like living tissue.

Ducaroo... if you GENTLY poke it with a stick or something (NOT your hands... palythoas are very toxic) does it close up at all?

Ducaroo · 01-18-2009, 01:31 PM

Ok, here's another shot of object #3. I tapped it gently. It was hard to the touch. It responded by changing color from brownish-yellow to white and posting a "This coral not in foreclosure. Trespassers will be stung" sign. Each circle from the picture does appear to be an individual whatever. The stripes look like it's part of the skeleton(?). Thanks for your input!

Kurt_Nelson · 01-19-2009, 01:24 AM

Okay... scratch palythoa. Sounds like a hard coral of some sort, but I haven't got the foggiest. Kind of looks like a little colony of baby fungias, but that thing they're growing out of is kind of throwing me for a loop. Interesting hitchiker!