New Hitchhikers found (pics)

[Phyl]

Here's a little guy that's been wandering around my tank (?!). I found him on the glass the other day and thought it would be fun to snap a pic of him while he was on display




And this guy climbed out of my rock and through my brain. He made the brain very unhappy so out he went!





I had put him into my QT with my brisle worm and my crab but I guess the crab decided to make a snack of him. Oops.

[got bait?]

Stomatella or small abalone.

Nice worm, looks more like a centipede. 8O

[Fluff]

The top one looks like it could be a limpet. I can just barely see a skirt sticking out. The second pic looks like an eunicidae worm. Good call on removing this one.

[Phyl]

The top one is actually a bivalve of some sort, hard to tell by the picture but the side you're looking at is actually up against the glass. I have a limpet somewhere roaming the place but he's more flat (one sided like a snail) with a peak in the middle. We had been told at one point that the worm was probably a eunicidae worm but he wasn't bothering anything... until now! We ended up having to re-scape the entire left half of the tank after I removed that rock. He's never come all the way out of the hole before so when I pulled and pulled and pulled I was *shocked* at how long he was. ICK!

[Fluff]

LOL Ick. I was gonna say it looked like an oyster but, I've never seen one tread glass before. When I saw the skirting, I had to take a guess. LOL

FWIW, a bivalve has two shells. ie.. mussels, clams, oysters, scallops and the like. A snail is a univalve.

From what I can see I agree with got bait? on the snail ID, (I see only one side of a shell). Without a better pic of the entire shell surface and the actual inhabitant, it's not easy to tell for sure.

Cheers
Steve

[Phyl]

He wanders all over the tank. I've never seen a bivalve actually move around (but based on what I've read about Flame Scallops I knew it was possible). He's gone from one side of the tank to the other, been on the sand, the glass and now a rock. Not sure what he's looking for but I hope he finds it! I've never seen him on the move though, he just appears in different spots in the tank. Oyster would be cool.

[Phyl]

a bivalve has two shells. ie.. mussels, clams, oysters, scallops and the like. A snail is a univalve.

It is hard to tell from this picture, but this guy does have 2 shells. The picture was taken head on through the front glass (which is where he was attached at the time) and you're looking at the half of his shell that was pressed up against the glass. I couldn't get a good look at his foot or I would have snapped a picture from that angle as well.

[WhiteCloud]

I pulled out your eunicidae worm's brother a few weeks ago. Mine looked just like that! Good job getting in one shot. I tried to get mine..and he split in half. I had thought I had him all. I saw the second half moving over my rock in my peripheral vision while examining the worm half I had....and got him!

I have heard of these thing growing several feet long...snacking on fish..and lining the burrows with their bones....CREEPY!

[Phyl]

Good job getting in one shot.

I had taken the rock out of the tank and dipped it in fresh water. He got really lethargic when I did that (we actually thought it was dead but SW revived him pretty quickly). I was able to get a skewer into a loop of his and pull him out all in one shot. Good thing you got the second half out. What's with these critters continuing on after broken in half?! EEeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

snacking on fish..and lining the burrows with their bones....CREEPY!

Creepy is right. That's just downright GROSS! *shudder*

Originally Posted by Phyl

It is hard to tell from this picture, but this guy does have 2 shells. The picture was taken head on through the front glass (which is where he was attached at the time) and you're looking at the half of his shell that was pressed up against the glass. I couldn't get a good look at his foot or I would have snapped a picture from that angle as well.

Not doubting you and I am sorry for not replying earlier, I did not have access to Photoshop at the time. The reason it looks like a Stomatella or abalone is there appears to be distictive holes to the left side of the pic.

Is that a result of the pic or are the holes actually there?

Cheers
Steve

[Phyl]

Ya know... I don't know! LOL! There appear to be those "holes" in a couple of other places on that shell as well (via that picture), but I wasn't looking for holes on him when I saw him. I can't tell if that is something creative that the camera did or if there's really a hole there. Right now he's attached to a rock at the right hand side of my tank, facing the left hand side so the only picture I can get of him is from almost 4' away (I hope that made sense!). It's a pretty good picture of him opened up though . Unfortunately I think that picture is still in the camera. Hmm. I'll post it tonight if I have a chance.

[Phyl]

Here's the pic from the other end of the tank. Pretty hard to get a good look at him, but it was the best I could get.

Your right, not the greatest image. Have a look <<here>> and see if that helps any.

Cheers
Steve

[Brad]

I can't say for sure what type of bivalve you've got there...but I'm pretty sure that he'll move around until he finds a spot that he likes, then he'll never move again.

I also think you need to feed live phytoplankton in order to keep him alive long term.

[Brad]

You know...Eunicid worms get as bad a reputation as mantis shrimps. One guy pulls a seven footer out of his scaffold plumbing and suddenly EVERY eunicid worm is "bad and must be removed". That's oversimplification/generalization.

I think you removed and killed a beneficial scavenger. That's my opinion, but it is based on the personal experience of keeping many, many of that exact species in my reef tank without incident.

I don't yet know how large that particular species (red/brown - with the white neck ring) gets. My largest is not quite 2 feet, but doesn't seem to be getting any bigger in nearly a year.

The largest one that have is a different species again. (photo in my gallery). This one has recently moved and now lives directly under a large leather coral. It has shown no interest in feeding on the coral, and is much more interested in macroalgae.

Like many critters, if they get hungry enough, I would bet that they attempt to eat anything they can. Make sure there is something there for them to eat and they don't go out of their way to eat things you would prefer to be left alone.

Now..if you just don't like them because they make you go "Eeeewww", it's your garden to decorate as you please. But if you want a balanced ecosystem, you need to have a healthy balance of the critters that aren't necessarily pretty.

I think we need to be careful answering the "good/bad" question. Of course, there is almost never a clear cut answer to that question. I think it should always be answered with "I have personal experience with that critter and it behaves as follows..."[/quote]

[Phyl]

Thanks Brad. Yeah, I would have kept him alive (I have one red crab and 2 bristle worms in my QT who are waiting for my fuge setup) but unbeknownst to me, my crab decided to make lunch of him! One of my bristles took a huge bite out of a shroom and the crab ate a colony of yellow star polyps. This worm was irritating the coral over him that I'd just spent 50$ on. We knew about the worm 3mo ago and it was ok with me that he hang out in there until he decide to poke at my coral. I'm certainly of the mindset to leave them all in there, until proven guilty. Once proven guilty though I don't give them a second chance. Into the fuge they'll go!

I have to say though... it DID make me go Eeeewwwwwwwwwww! Big time!

Thanks for the alternate perpsective. That's what makes this place so great!

[Fluff]

Well, I believe in live and let live but, for me there isn't enough good info on these worms to give me a warm fuzzy feeling about them. What little info I could find on them says they are scavengers as well as predators. I have a couple thousand dollars in my reef tank and to me, it's not worth the risk for one worm. And my opinion is not based on one mans story. But, yes, it is only my opinion. Either way, it's irrelevant. The worm was gone at the time of this post. I'm sure there are more than one species of this worm and some are probably harmless. Here is the link to the worm incident Brad is referring to if you interested.

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm