Strange creatures

eva

eva

Large Fish
#1
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#1
Hey everyone. I found this little buddy on the side of my tank a few days ago. He moves pretty fast when he wants to (he moved as far as four feet in one hour!) and he is bewildering me! I have a couple of pictures but you really can't see any specific's so I will name them instead. It moves like a slug or snail would but you can see, it does not have a shell. It is pretty flat, about 1mm, and it has a line running through it that it uses to propel itself across the glass! It appears to be a really simple creature. Is he harmful and should I get rid of it?




The pictures are horrible I know, I need to take my camera in because it's been really fuzzy lately.

Also on a piece of live rock I've noticed a weird thing growing on it over the past two months. It has only gotten bigger but it is stationary and can't move. It is about a 1cm across when it is open and it never closes unless I touch it with something and then it closes up completely for a few minutes. I also have really bad pictures of it. It has a green center with a white ring around the outside and it has dozens of tiny purple tentacles extending from the center of it to about 2-3mm out from it. Is it aptasia? It doesn't have a hard tube, it is just growing on the live rock.





Any help is appreciated! Thanks.
 

Grumpy_Marine

Grumpy_Marine

Large Fish
#2
Oct 18, 2006
741
2
0
Oceanside California
#2
eeek it is a ghould from stargate command run for your lives... j/k.

If you didn't put the slug worm thing wouldn't you want to take it out? don't know live rock stuff but would like to see your tank as a whole. perhaps your taking pics to close to the tank for them to focus right.
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#4
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#4
It's not that I'm too close, my camera is a bit wonky because it spent a few weeks sitting in a hot car last summer. It gets blurry at times and especially when I zoom into something.

I am also thinking that it is aptasia so I will have to remove it soon I guess. Any good methods?

And yeah, good point about removing the slug thing if I didn't put it in there. But it seems so fascinating that I want to find out what it is before I remove it. It doesn't seem to be doing any harm right now.
 

Lorna

Lorna

Elite Fish
#5
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
0
NE Indiana
#5
I think that may be a flatworm......not sure though hard to tell by that picture.

The other looks more like a majano than aiptasia....both are equally bad....
 

SALTY WATERS

SALTY WATERS

Large Fish
#7
Feb 6, 2005
893
2
0
47
Waterloo, ON Canada
#7
The first just sounds like a harmless Sea Slug of some type... if it is not bothering anything I would just leave it be. I have many little slugs in my tank they basically just seem to help clean algea.

The second sounds more like a Majano anemone rather than Aiptasia. They are both considered pest anemone's, as stated above Joe's Juice will take care of it. A clearer picture would help to get a posative ID on it though.
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#8
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#8
Lorna, I believe you are correct. I found this picture of a flatworm which closely resembles mine.



So I should get rid of it eh? I guess there isn't a way to find out if it is predatory or not...it seems pretty docile so far and I think (hope) that it is the only one in the tank right now. I am thinking of just manual removal, followed by a water change.

The second one does sound like it could be majano but doesn't look exactly like the pictures that I have been able to find online. I will try to get a better camera to get a clearer picture. I've had it for two months now and it doesn't seem to be spreading, nor is it in an area where it can harm any corals or anemones. My understanding is that I could keep it if I wanted, without it doing any harm? I got this from Fenner's wetwebmedia site.
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#10
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#10
thanks yahoofishkeeper. well, i trust MFT staff so I'll leave it in there for now.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the majano/aiptasia...it seems like its growing bigger by the day!
 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#12
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#12
I found a picture on WWM. This most resembles the thing I have in my tank, except I only have the one...thank god. No other pictures of majano or aiptasia matches the one that I currently have:

 

eva

eva

Large Fish
#14
Oct 18, 2006
168
0
0
burnaby, bc
#14
you know what, annoyingly enough, no i don't know what it is. They give advice on how to get rid of it and how to keep it from spreading but all it says is that it is in the pest anemone family.

So therefore, any help in identifying this creature would be great!! It really does seem to be growing larger by the hour now (lol) and I want to know what it is so I know the best way to get rid of it. I'm figuring Joe's Juice should work on it since it is similar to majano and aiptasia so I will try to pick some up this week.
 

Dadstank

Dadstank

Large Fish
#15
Nov 4, 2006
162
2
0
Minnesota
#15
Picture a majano/aptasia like a dandelion in your yard.... it can just pop up everywhere if left unchecked...they divide at an exponential rate... that sux
Joe's juice or a thick mixture of kalkweiser (sp?)
 

FWSWBW

FWSWBW

Medium Fish
#17
Nov 19, 2006
55
1
0
tennessee
#17
dbacksrat said:
Does your snail/slug thing have a long shell on its back? My guess from looking at the picture is that you have a stomatella snail--perfectly harmless.
Click to expand...
Absolutely correct..nothing to worry about..those things you posted are zoos. If they have short fat tents and a ring in center with a brightly colored mouth like a flower, they are zoanthids. aiptasia have long flowing tents and are usually clear, white or tan colored, they are anemones and can be dangerous if not kept to min. Both of these things that you pictured are very good and your lucky to have them as hitchikers..zoos

http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/155/0000172zb7.jpg
aiptasia, Aiptasia FAQ's


stomatella snail
 

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SALTY WATERS

SALTY WATERS

Large Fish
#19
Feb 6, 2005
893
2
0
47
Waterloo, ON Canada
#19
eva said:
I found a picture on WWM. This most resembles the thing I have in my tank, except I only have the one...thank god. No other pictures of majano or aiptasia matches the one that I currently have:

Click to expand...
Those look like they could be rock anemone's to me, if that is what you have they are a cool little hitchhiker... but they do get to be about the size of a CD. I had one in my tank not to long ago and just traded it in at the LFS for $15 as it got to big for my tank.
 

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FWSWBW

FWSWBW

Medium Fish
#20
Nov 19, 2006
55
1
0
tennessee
#20
SALTY WATERS said:
Those look like they could be rock anemone's to me, if that is what you have they are a cool little hitchhiker... but they do get to be about the size of a CD. I had one in my tank not to long ago and just traded it in at the LFS for $15 as it got to big for my tank.
Click to expand...
Yea I have one that size..but he stays to himself and he was my first so I have to keep him..kinda sentimental. He was so sickly and bleached out when I got him..he spent 6 weeks in a Qt to get stronger and he has proved to be the most hardy animal I have. I wish I had a before and after picture..no one would have ever belived it was the same anemone.
 

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