help identify these things please...

[misskeeter2766]

my lfs gave me some live rock today when I went to purchase my saltwater (they sell theirs for way cheaper than it would cost to make my own. ... ) ... anyway... I went ahead and bought a few more members of my cuc.. (1 scarlet reef hermit, 2 more nassa snails, and 1 more cerith) ... well they went ahead and gave me a small piece of live rock with some stuff on it... I took it, cause who am I to turn down free stuff...

I get it home... and I think I lucked out on something... and then I look again... yuck...

Okay... pretty sure the creatures circled in orange are aiptasia.. .frick... correct me if Im wrong... if I am correct, and I think I am... will my new scarlet reef hermit eat these since they are SO tiny (pencil eraser end sized) ... or do I need to catch them now with boiling water or something??

also... the green area is a mushroom yes? or no? ...

and I have no idea about the other two... one looks like a fern.. lol... the other looks very strange and is lavender colored..

 

[Etunes]

The red looks like a sponge. The blue is a kind of micro algae. The yellow is some sort of shroom. the orange is apastia unfortantly. it makes me laugh that they gave you live rock for free covered in apastia. But the other three are cool and a nice find.

 

[eyring2210]

The red looks like a sponge. The blue is a kind of micro algae. The yellow is some sort of shroom. the orange is apastia unfortantly. it makes me laugh that they gave you live rock for free covered in apastia. But the other three are cool and a nice find.

Maybe the apastia is WHY they gave it to you for free?!?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Well done Etunes, nice identifying. Yes, aiptasia is not good. Search Aiptasia removal on Google. If you get all of them off, you've got a nice rock.

 

[misskeeter2766]

yeah.. .I thought the aiptasia is why I got it for free.. LOL.. hope the others are worth it. LOL...

so will the scarlet crab eat it? ... is it too soon to get my emerald crab?
has anyone ever tried the whole "injecting with boiling water" thing?

 

[misskeeter2766]

The red looks like a sponge. The blue is a kind of micro algae. The yellow is some sort of shroom. the orange is apastia unfortantly. it makes me laugh that they gave you live rock for free covered in apastia. But the other three are cool and a nice find.

I might not have accepted it if I had seen the aiptasia... lol... but then again.. the other three might be worth it if I can get rid of the crummy stuff

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Actually... I'd rather have the aiptasia than the bubble algae that is on the top of that rock. I was able to rid myself of aiptasia!

Personally... I'd take the rock out of the tank, chip off the portion of rock that has the mushroom attached, put the mushroom back in the tank, and either throw away or boil the rest of the rock. Aiptasia = bad. Bubble Algae = worse.

 

[misskeeter2766]

crap.. bubble algae....?? I didn't even see that...

 

[Etunes]

wow, nice spot kurt. didnt even see that. Personally i think that the rest are the nice adition. I think i agree with the break it in half and just throw the bad half away. But act fast before it spreads. Bubble alage is a quick sucker if not jumped on.

 

[misskeeter2766]

okay... done.. chipped the piece off the rock... however.. I found a BUNCH of stuff inside that I dont know what the heck..
standby while I upload pics... some of it has escaped into the tank already, and a couple of things are still in the bucket with the hacked up rock.

 

[misskeeter2766]

 

[misskeeter2766]

and this thing...

 

[misskeeter2766]

also got several tiny brittle starfish... saw them creeping away when I picked up the rock..

 

[Etunes]

Were they creatues or just readue? You should have done it outside the tank and rinsed it with RO/DI saltwater, or maybe even just RO/DI water. ALso could have used water form the tank.

EDIT: if the snails are live then they were hitchhikers. But if they werent they were probably fossilized. Or maybe even just snail shells. The green thing i cannot see clear enough but it kinda looks like bubble alage. Is it hard (check outside the tank so if it is it dosent pop). You got some hitchhikers too, cool.

 

[misskeeter2766]

oh I did it outside the tank.. rinsed it with saltwater before.. that's how I found some of the critters... but when I say "escaped into the tank..." I mean the rock was in the tank for 30 min from the time I finished acclimating and took it out to hack the mushroom off...

what about the two snail things on the rock and the one on the table... good or bad??

I found about 6 or 7 tiny brittle stars in that rock... they are in the tank now... the others are in the bucket.. lol..
should I try to save that lavender colored stuff??

 

[Etunes]

If your talking about the sponge from the first photo on this thread that is up too you whether to try to save or not, sponges are not bad for a tank help but its not needed. I would probably keep the snail but the other thing on the table i would not trust. I would probably toss it. The brittle stars are nice for the tank. Good scavengers.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Yeah keep the sponge. It's a good little filter feeder.

 

[misskeeter2766]

hmm... well theres a little of the sponge on the tiny piece of rock with the shroom... lol... dont know if it will survive though, cause I had that rock out of the water for a bit a couple of times. I tossed the curly shelled snail thing... along with the bristle worms I found... ... I did find a few more stars ... I think that brought my total to 10... lol.. imo worth the trouble for the shroom and the stars.

 

[Etunes]

are you joking. Between the shrooms, bristle stars, micro alage, and the possibility of a living sponge. All that for free, defiantly worth it.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Yeah definately worth it!