Went to ocean and got some goodies

[janastasio]

Hi, Went to the ocean today (Atlantic) Brought a bucket along and collected some goodies, but now realizing maybe not all of the goodies should have come home with me. Trying to figure out what I got and if it is compatible with my tank. Collected about 20 snails. It was low tide when I got to the beach so I found lots of snails on the rocks. Also go copepods. As pieces of seaweed came into shore, if you pulled it out of the water, you would have copepods all over your hands, so I gathered a bunch of those guys. I imagine that should all be fine, but I did snag a starfish and 2urchins. Those I'm concerned with. I just tried to look up what species they are and cannot find anything. Dont know if they are reef safe, ect. I will be starting a refugium very soon, just need to hook it up, so I can put these guys into a QT tank until this is ready, but does anyone know anything about these common starfish and urchins? Thanks in advance.

 

[ninjamini]

I would not put anything I dont know into my tank. Pictures would help.

 

[reefer545]

Pics. Also, anything you find along the shore, really may not have the best water quality on them, or may not have the best ATTITUDE in your tank, if you will. As well, are you sure it is legal to take animals home to live in your tank? I personally would not take anything home from any shore to put in my tank. You should really go out to the more open parts of the ocean where the water is cleaner, and you may find more suitable specimens, and I really don't care of the legalities of it all, but use your head and dont damage any natural environments, but take a very small piece of this or that, and then move to a new area if you must. I may get blasted for saying that, but i live in Chicago, and I will probably never have the opportunity to do anything of the sort. I do not condone any behavior that might entail you benefiting by taking apart any part of a reef or even the open seabed, but I am sure if you get caught collecting without a permit, youll wish you hadnt.

 

[renogaw]

problem with taking animals from our oceans up here and putting them into reef tanks is different water qualities.
our water up here is more cold (higher oxygen content) and more nutrient rich, causing the darker colored water. the animals take the oxygen out of our water different ways than tropical fish/animals do so they most likely won't make it.
the snails were probably periwinkles. if they are, they are a tidal snail that can withstand high temp water, but they are not good for our tanks either. As the water goes out, they lock up their shells to the rocks, keeping moisture in until the tide comes back. in our tanks, they will crawl up the glass looking for algae and then go out of the water and just stay there, waiting for the tide to come back. they also reproduce like mad WITH their natural predators in the water, imagine how they will do in our tanks?

 

[murph]

I have experimented a few times with a spare tank and various items found on the south west coast of Florida. Bottom line is I never felt comortable adding any of these thing to my reef tanks after seeing how things went in the experimental tanks.

 

[tang4me]

Originally Posted by REEFER545
Pics. Also, anything you find along the shore, really may not have the best water quality on them, or may not have the best ATTITUDE in your tank, if you will. As well, are you sure it is legal to take animals home to live in your tank? I personally would not take anything home from any shore to put in my tank. You should really go out to the more open parts of the ocean where the water is cleaner, and you may find more suitable specimens, and I really don't care of the legalities of it all, but use your head and dont damage any natural environments, but take a very small piece of this or that, and then move to a new area if you must. I may get blasted for saying that, but i live in Chicago, and I will probably never have the opportunity to do anything of the sort. I do not condone any behavior that might entail you benefiting by taking apart any part of a reef or even the open seabed, but I am sure if you get caught collecting without a permit, youll wish you hadnt.
Sounds hypocritical. "Don't damage any natural environment for your benefit" Do you have live rock in your tank? Where do you think that comes from? The dirtly little secret is taking live rock from the ocean is destroying the reefs that the fish/inverts/corals we love depend on. You should use man made rock versus natural ocean rock if you don't want to be hypocritical. Of course, it doesn't look as good. It comes at a high price however. If you have live rock from the ocean you shouldn't judge anybody. I have rock from the ocean, and I know it has come at a price for the ocean. This is something we should all think about.
The only issue here would be how reef safe are they.

 

[stanlalee]

I would worry about everything until I got them identified. Could the copepods be parasitic, could the snails be predatory and same goes for the star and urchin. I would house them all in a seperate tank and try some reef compatable experimenting first (and then I probably still wouldn't put them in my display tank. there's enough potential for things to go wrong already).

 

[janastasio]

yeah, after observing these little buggers that last 24 hours, I'm going to house them in to QT they are in now, and take them back in a couple weeks and release them back. Too much worry, not worth it. Thanks for all of the advice.

 

[janastasio]

BTW, renogaw you were completely right. These little snails keep going up to the top, I keep having to drop them back in. One of the reasons I'm not going to keep them!

 

[nereef]

Originally Posted by janastasio
yeah, after observing these little buggers that last 24 hours, I'm going to house them in to QT they are in now, and take them back in a couple weeks and release them back. Too much worry, not worth it. Thanks for all of the advice.
please don't release them back into the ocean. this could be a huge mistake.

 

[renogaw]

omg no do not release them into the wild. they have been introduced to bacteria in your tanks that is not in the wild, and the bacteria can spread and if the fish/inverts in the wild don't have an immunity built up already you can do more harm than saving a couple invert's lives.
unfortunately, the only thing you really should do is dry them out now if you do not want to keep them.

 

[stanlalee]

I thought it was safe to put back in the ocean if they werent exposed to other livestock. I know researchers keep fish for several days and release them back in the ocean. read books from scott micheal talking about finding fish he'd never seen taking it home or wherever and releasing them back in the same spot he caught it.

 

[ophiura]

It is only appropriate to release them if they have never come in contact with animals from other oceans - fish, inverts or live rock.
If they have been kept in complete isolation, then there are no issues. Otherwise, one reason to never collect without knowing is that yes, you are obligated to kill them rather than releasing them.

 

[renogaw]

i'd think putting them into a used QT is the same though. it's not direct contact, but the bacteria and other stuff is still there.

 

[ophiura]

If you have a QT that is brand new...
You put in a dead shrimp to cycle and develop a biological filter...
Is that bacteria from the Atlantic or Pacific or your hand? If you go to the ocean and go for a swim, is that bacteria....

OK, I think you see I am playing devil's advocate again.

The bacteria is not a concern for me personally. However this is again assuming t his is a QT with no live sand, no live rock, etc. if there is any doubt, I would not release them.

 

[kirkaz]

Originally Posted by TANG4me
Sounds hypocritical. "Don't damage any natural environment for your benefit" Do you have live rock in your tank? Where do you think that comes from? The dirtly little secret is taking live rock from the ocean is destroying the reefs that the fish/inverts/corals we love depend on. You should use man made rock versus natural ocean rock if you don't want to be hypocritical. Of course, it doesn't look as good. It comes at a high price however. If you have live rock from the ocean you shouldn't judge anybody. I have rock from the ocean, and I know it has come at a price for the ocean. This is something we should all think about.
The only issue here would be how reef safe are they.
You took the words out of my mouth...well said

 

[janastasio]

I'm putting them back tomorrow. When I said QT before, that was very loosely. They are in the water they came in, I added unused water that I had to allow it to be deep enough to be ciculated with a power head. They are in a rubber maid bucket in my bathroom. This seems like it should be ok to return. They have had no contact with any tanks. I will likely not use the power head any longer either, as to not put anything into a future tank. I have quite a few old power heads given to me by friends no longer in the hobby. This one has been out of a tank for several years. I had to clean it to get it going again!