Ok, need some seasoned help here. I recently set up a 12 Gallon Nano Cube. I have heard that dozens of life forms hitchhike on the live rock and you never know what may make itself known. I have seen 3 different little creepy crawlies as of now. I was hoping someone could help identify them and let me know whether to give them the bum rush by my descriptions. The first was 2 little red worm creatures. They had legs or some sort of bristles on them. They were about half an inch long. The second was almost the same as the the first, except it was almost clear and about an inch long. The 3rd and most interesting seemed like some sort of slug or snail without a shell. It was about an inch long and was white with light pink highlights. Any input or help would be greatly appreciated.
Live Rock Creepy Crawlies
- Thread starter NanoNano
- Start date
djconn
New Member
Hi Jason, let me say first off that things would much easier with pictures. Sometimes that is not possible but I just wanted get that out there.
As for your little red worms with bristles - they are called bristleworms and will be fine in your tank. All of my tanks have them and most people would agree that they are harmless detrivores. They will be okay unless you start to see them everywhere. Other than that, I'd leave them.
Second might be a peanuts worm. Good to have in your tank as well.
Third is what I'm concerned with. From your description, it sounds like a nudibranch - especially if those pink highlights you talked about were fluorescent. Did it look like a baby dragon? In my experience, most nudis are bad in your tank. They are toxic and some even eat your corals like zoanthids. I've found a few in my tanks feeding on my zoos. I would prob. need a nice macro photo of it to positively ID it but that is my guess. I would take it out if you see it again and place it in a cup of water until we can ID it. Take care and hope that helps.
As for your little red worms with bristles - they are called bristleworms and will be fine in your tank. All of my tanks have them and most people would agree that they are harmless detrivores. They will be okay unless you start to see them everywhere. Other than that, I'd leave them.
Second might be a peanuts worm. Good to have in your tank as well.
Third is what I'm concerned with. From your description, it sounds like a nudibranch - especially if those pink highlights you talked about were fluorescent. Did it look like a baby dragon? In my experience, most nudis are bad in your tank. They are toxic and some even eat your corals like zoanthids. I've found a few in my tanks feeding on my zoos. I would prob. need a nice macro photo of it to positively ID it but that is my guess. I would take it out if you see it again and place it in a cup of water until we can ID it. Take care and hope that helps.
Nothing so wild as that. Less plumage for lack of a better term. Mostly white. I saw pink, but my wife swears that there was no pink. I am fairly certain, I need to have her committed though. Just kidding. Or am I? We can't find the darn thing now. My wife is out there with camera as we speak...errrr type. If we can get a decent picture, I will post. I appreciate both of your guy's input.djconn said:Does it resemble this:
If it has a small shell that the body of the creature sticks out of all the way around I was thinking that maybe it is a stomatella snail which is good. If it is a seaslug or nudibranch then there is a good chance it needs to come out. Keep trying to get a pic and post it then maybe we can come up with a positive ID. Skip
aww i remember that pic
That is the pic i posted when i needed help IDing a nudibranch....turned out he was bad and hitch hiked from the zoo's I picked up I imagine. There were two, they were tossed in hot water and flushed. That picture look like the biggest thing you'd ever see, but in fact it was the quarter of the size of a sexy shrimp
. Anyway as for your snail with no shell and mainly white (not sure about the pink part) , I had one of those too. Mine was white, not shell, flat against the wall. I wouldn't know his ass from his mouth, but I didn't take any chances. I took it out and tossed it as well. I think incysor said it the best.....if you can't ID it, and nobody else can, it's not good to take a chance with them as it could harm your tank, and worse yet multiply all over the tank like weeds!
That is the pic i posted when i needed help IDing a nudibranch....turned out he was bad and hitch hiked from the zoo's I picked up I imagine. There were two, they were tossed in hot water and flushed. That picture look like the biggest thing you'd ever see, but in fact it was the quarter of the size of a sexy shrimp
. Anyway as for your snail with no shell and mainly white (not sure about the pink part) , I had one of those too. Mine was white, not shell, flat against the wall. I wouldn't know his ass from his mouth, but I didn't take any chances. I took it out and tossed it as well. I think incysor said it the best.....if you can't ID it, and nobody else can, it's not good to take a chance with them as it could harm your tank, and worse yet multiply all over the tank like weeds!