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Critter Ids – 10/09/08
Good Afternoon,
<Good morning.>
I have just a few questions that I cant seem to find an answer to. First all the pertinent info, the tank is 90 gal with 2-250w 14k HQI bulbs and 4 65w actinic CF. with a 30 gal sump. The water parameters are as follows. Salinity-1.024, Ammonia-0, Nitrate-0, Nitrite-0, Phosphate-0, Alk-8, Cal-480, Temp 77 day 75 night. Okay here are the questions I recently re-arranged some rock to provide better water circulation and I found this weird spiky egg looking thing. It is approx. 2'' in a egg shape. Its kind of hard to see the little spikes in the pic but they are there.
<A sponge. See here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spongeidfaq2.htm and the other FAQs.>
The other "thing" in question is this little tube like worm growing on the side of my hammer coral. It appears to be a pinkish tube with a black worm inside. It sends out a long string of mucus which traps stuff then sucks it back in. I read the other post on this but there were no pics. The pic that I have is not the best as I would have to disassemble quite a bit to get a great pic of it but if you look in between the two heads you will see the little black creature with the two "pincher's?" and the mucus trail.
<A Vermetid snail (worm snail, a sessile gastropod). Another harmless animal, only in few cases with thousands of individuals they apparently somewhat irritated corals with their mucus nets See http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snailidfaq7.htm and do a WWM/Net search on Vermetid.>
Just curious if either of these little creatures are anything to be worried about?
<Absolutely harmless. Enjoy them.>
Thxs, Kris.
<Welcome. Marco.> <<Spot on, as usual Marco. RMF>>

If I could bother you or one of the other crew members with a snail and parasite, ID,  9/27/08
Thanks, Bob!!!
<Welcome>
If I could bother you or one of the other crew members with a snail and parasite, ID, I'd appreciate it. I have gone through all the snail ID pictures and descriptions on all the 17 plus pages and of course, like most people, no one has a snail "just like mine". I had it narrowed down to the three most common ones people ask to have ID'd, Nerite, Collonista and baby Turbo, but I went through that site you have linked that shows all of the shells of those and I could find a few that were similar, but, of course, none "just like mine". They are primarily nocturnal but do appear during the day. I find them every where. On the glass. On the rocks. And on the corals, especially Zoas and leathers. I've even found some under the microscope in water samples that I couldn't see with the naked eye. It does have a pattern similar to a sundial but it has a smooth shell and doesn't have the pagoda shaped operculum. They also appear to have calcareous egg shells on the rocks but they are not round or sesame seed shaped, they are more like a pentagon.
<I don't see these in my ref. works either. Am sending your query to friend and "shell nut" Marty Beals of Tideline for his input>
The parasites I got off of a small piece of Acropora and Kenya Tree that I was given by a friend that I had in quarantine.
<Mmm, don't consider these parasites... other than "space"... perhaps predators... Am pretty sure these are Ostracods>
They were both fine for about 3 weeks and then the Acropora went in less than 3 days. It started losing tissue at the base and went right up to the tip. The Kenya Tree started throwing off it's own branches but is still doing okay in quarantine. Since the Acropora was already lost, I did a dip in Iodine and all that came off were these little critters. I dipped one of the branches of Kenya Tree and found the same thing. One picture is magnified at 40 times, the other is at 100 times. You can barely see the critter with the naked eye. It looks like a flea with shorter legs. Iodine dip doesn't seem to kill the critters. They were even alive after a day in RO/DI water. You know microscopes are addictive when you have a reef tank.
<Ah yes>
Once you think you've seen everything in your reef tank, you are sadly mistaken until you've seen it under a microscope.
Thanks Everybody!!!!!
<I don't think these small crustaceans were/are the root of the Cnidarians health issues. Bob Fenner>

Question about hermit crab growths 9/26/08
Hey there Crew, Grant speaking.
<Howdy Grant>
I've got some hermit crabs in my tank and just recently I noticed one of them with some type of growths all across the back of the shell.
<I see them>
They are very tiny, they look like little anemones. They are pink hued, but I think they might just be clear and since the shell has coralline algae, they look pink?
<Yes>
Any idea what they might be?
<A few guesses, yes>
I've included a picture but it is really hard to get a good shot, they are so tiny. They act like a little anemone,
but they don't move around at all, I was thinking maybe some type of Xenia or the pulsing hand corals?
<Mmm, not my first guess... Likely either a red algae or some sort of Hydrozoan>
I don't know much about them, but if I had to guess they look like miniature versions of the ones I've seen in pet stores.
Small stalk with a white center and some frilly finger type appendages all around the white center. The only thing that makes me thing they aren't Xenia is they have what looks to be a lot of "fingers" whereas all the Xenia I've seen only have 5 or so. But again, it is so tiny I cant really tell.
Thanks for any help you can give!
<If you can make a higher resolved image... maybe look for a "macro" mode on your camera... and/or larger file size... if a digital SLR a "macro" lens... I'd like to see this a bit more clear, close-up. Oh, at any length, this is not likely a problem for the Hermit, your other livestock, system. Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Re: Question about hermit crab growths  10/6/08
Thanks for the reply. I got a somewhat better picture of it, still not GREAT but hopefully helps you out a little more than the last one.
Grant
<Ahh, thank you for this pic... do look "Polypoid"... am more sure these are indeed Hydroids/Hydropolyps... There are many "kinds" as you will see... as long as these don't spread to your hardscape, I would count your Hermit lucky to have such a built in defense. Cheers, BobF>