Hitchhiker Identifications

shawnts106

shawnts106

Member
I think I just figured out why those stinkin' pyramid snails are so hard to eradicate
That looks like a Micro-Turbo to me, they are in the new Marine Invert book, it says they are goot, Now Ive heard of Pyramid Snails being bad, but are these the same? I have hundreds of these tiny snails in my tank, never seen any bad problems, what should I look for, what are the difference?
 
farmboy

farmboy

Active Member
The "host" is an Astrea snail. The worm sorta looks like a little feather duster. Maybe?
Here is another pic. Is this a sponge?
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
The worm on the shell may be a vermitid snail from what I can tell...but if you see feathers out of it then it is a feather duster :D The vermetid would have two tiny "antennae" and would secrete some mucous when the tank is fed to catch stuff...but the feather duster would of course have a little feather crown.
The spongy stuff is a hard call...could be old dead sponge, or could be something else. Pic is a bit too fuzzy to quite tell. The next one is interesting. Any chance for a clearer or closer pic...can you descripe any polyps/tentacles you see?
Third is something like a turkey wing - a bivalve (clam). It may or may not be alive. Hard to tell sometimes, except if you see it open a bit and close tightly.
 
farmboy

farmboy

Active Member
Thanks for the reply!
The snail hitchhiker has only 1 or 2 small white "antennae". Is this vermetid beneficial? This is not the only snail that is "packin".
The spongy thing has coraline starting to grow on the very top of it so this may be a sign of it croaking. ? .
The coral-looking thing is only the diameter of a sharpie (3/8") so it is hard to get a good pic. I'll try later. I have not seen any tentacles. I've only seen the small black spots. There are other places on this type of rock where they are but none as distinct. THe rock is "lalo" --from the south pacific I think.
The "turkey wing" is cool looking but I haven't noticed it moving. I will be watching. . .
Is it just me or is a SW tank more interesting than TV?
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
I just had guests in from out of town and one, at least, was nearly glued to the tank. It is the first thing I look at when I get home. And I have a cat who parks on the couch in front of it too. Clearly all of us can't be wrong.
A vermetid is basically harmless, IMO. The can be issues it they are growing very close to corals, but it doesn't seem to bother mine.
Yeah, coraline growing on something is usually an indication it is not live, as most living organisms have mechanisms to prevent other organisms from settling on them. Quite a fascinating subject at times.
I'll be pondering the coral looking thing. So far I'm thinking colonial tunicate, bryozoan, or some sort of coral thing. But still thinking :thinking:
Turkey wings may just stay wedged in like that, so it is hard sometimes to figure out if they are alive or not.
 
ssweet1

ssweet1

Member
Ohiorn67 Those are extremely poisonous! Zoo eating nudibranches. They are in a zoo colony and lay white spiral shaped eggs at the base of the zoo colony. You definately want to get rid of them, but safely wear gloves while picking them off!!!! I would find a dip probably kent Tech D may work. They gather the fringe of the zoo plant on their back for camoflage and it contains the toxins that are in the zoo. I personally know a guy who had a small cut and he was cleaning his tank, brushed up on the tiny bug and almost lost his arm because of the toxin. There are many similar incidents just do a search on zoo eating nudis. :scared: Carrie
 
ags

ags

Member
I don't think that is a gorilla crab. Half my rock came from TB and for a year I dealt with those damn things. The gorillas I had were much hairier than that. However, you are right wicked predators that will kill and eat anything.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
This, I learned from Bang Guy is a "carribean mushroom", but thanks to my search engine the only info I could find were all about mushrooms that go into cooking recipes...unless... :thinking:...naaaah, couldn't be...

 
stessman

stessman

Member
Hey ive had this hitchiker in my tank for awhile now and i havnt been able to figure out what it was till i read this post. It was mantis shrimp but now how do i get rid of it? i cant get a good pic of it cause it hides so much under my LR.
thanks
 
farmboy

farmboy

Active Member
There is a trap made for catching mantis shrimp. Or I've read you can catch him in a given rock and just take that rock out. Or if he isn't too big, there are fish that prey on them.
Good luck and watch those fingers around the mantis!!
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Here's cyanobacteria for the algae section. (seems the most appropriate place for it).
 
tliss

tliss

Member
Sorry for the blurry photo...can't seem ot get a clear pic. It's a light green ball or bubble attached to my LR in the center of the pic. It has gotten bigger since I got the LR and it has started to show lines under the surface of the bubble. I'm curious to see what it is and what will happen when it "hatches".
Thanks
Tom
 
scarr105

scarr105

Member
tliss - sounds like bubble algae. You don't want to see it hatch or it will be everywhere. Try to remove it, you may have to remove the rock first and then remove the bubble, this way it doesn't break in the tank.
 
nanoreefdx

nanoreefdx

New Member
:help: Everytime i flip off the main light and put on the moonlight on my tank, i see this worm lookin thing shoot between two pieces of my LR...i cant get a picture because i only see it for a few seconds when i flip on the main light....its pink by the front (im assuming its the front) and bluish blackish on the other end with lots of little spikes along its body...its about 1.5 inches long, give or take....i have no CLUE as to what it is but since it showed up when i bought my star-polyp attached to some LR, i figured id post it in the hitch-hiker section...any ideas? i also have a small mantis shrimp (i think) and a MILLION of these little bug lookin things...my gf thinks the "bugs" are actually plankton but i dunno bout that either :help:
 
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