Critter ID - friend or foe?

[Nu2Reef]

Can anyone tell me what these might be?

I noticed these little guys growing on a polyp colony rock I got a while back. There is about four of them clustered together, brown with some interesting green markings and I can see some smaller ones around the edges. I've found that they like to eat brine shrimp.

Are they some sort of evil anemone that I should remove now? I hope not, I like the little guys.

[figuerres]

looks like a coral, kinda hard to say for sure but looks a lot like some that came on my rocks....

check www.figuerres.com links for some photos I have.

can you get a photo showing the coralite

the center and the mouth.


that will help in id'ing them....


post that in the coral fourum if you want the best info....

[Nagel]

Can't tell for sure, but I would be careful with that. It looks like anemonia majono. These little anemones can grow to plague proportions, kinda like aiptasia do.

Search the board for anemone majono pics, and you may find some pics that will definately ID him....

[Nu2Reef]

Thanks for the reply. I was concerned that it may be anemone majono, but couldn't think of the name. I did a search and I'm not certain that it is anemone majono, all of the pics I've seen of them show much thicker tentacles.

I did find a link that looks more like it/them Beadlet anemone ( Actinia equina ) although I haven't seen any the same color as mine.

[figuerres]

look at how it is attached -- is it a soft foot or a coralite?

I have had at least 3 times that someone said my coral was an anemonie.... but it's not.

the key is finding the coralite base ..... this one kind of coral can look a lot like the bad guys....

[Pomacanthus1]

Wow, what a coincidence! After 2 years of being in my tank, i just noticed one of my live rocks with something growing on it that looks almost exactly like that. The only difference is that mine's centers are more of a silver/blue color.

I'm definitely interested in finding out what these are.

[Nu2Reef]

Unfortunately I can’t see the base; they’re just to short and wide. I think I’ll submit a post in the “Ask Dr. Ron� forum.

[Nu2Reef]

Unfortunately I can’t see the base; they’re just to short and wide. I think I’ll submit a post in the “Ask Dr. Ron� forum. (if I can get the picture to attach)

[figuerres]

get a photo of the whole disk from the front..... need to see the mouth and how the tenticles are arranged and connected

that will help

also how the base is attached to the rock.

if you look stratit at the mouth you may see a pattern
of lines that are radial and may be the coralite underneath.

also feed it a small brine and watch the shape when it closes the tenticles -- you may be able to see the outer edge of any coralite then

or take the rock out of the water for a just a minute and take close ups... that may capture the coralite in a photo as the polyop will close.

folks remmeber that corals and anmonies are *very closely related* in a way calling a coral an anemonie is not that far off...

[musicsmaker]

Toutch it to see if it has a hard skeleton. My guess is one of the "cup corals". I have some that are similar and when I posted pix of them for ID like 20 people said "Aiptasia!! Kill it!". But it wasn't an anemone at all. Try to look for pictures of phyllangia americana. Eric, in the coral forum, told me that there are many corals that look similar, and that positive ID was not possible without close inspection. I was happy just having a close idea. Good luck.

[figuerres]

Originally posted by musicsmaker
Toutch it to see if it has a hard skeleton. My guess is one of the "cup corals". I have some that are similar and when I posted pix of them for ID like 20 people said "Aiptasia!! Kill it!". But it wasn't an anemone at all. Try to look for pictures of phyllangia americana. Eric, in the coral forum, told me that there are many corals that look similar, and that positive ID was not possible without close inspection. I was happy just having a close idea. Good luck.

Lately I have wondered how many folks have been killing some of theses small corals due to this kind of mis-identification?

I wonder if some of the times when I have read posts about getting rock that had "Tons of astipia" etc.... was rock that had nice colonys of coral?

I bet many times ..... :mad:

[Nagel]

Do notice I didnt say KILL IT.

I said it looks like an anemone majono, but cant tell for sure. And to look for additional pictures to ID for sure.

I know anemone majono all to well. I've removed dozens of these critters from rock / coral at the LFS I part time in, and even found a few on corals I bought prior to working there.

Unless I can categorically see what it is, I suggest further research (as I did). The only thing I did was warn him to be careful, cause it appears to be one. Without a better photo, its impossible to tell from the one photo alone.

Not a single reply to this thread said Kill It.

The ones I have dealt with seem to have mini bubbletips, but some also have had no bubble tips. I just cautioned him to be wary of it.

[figuerres]

Originally posted by Nagel
Do notice I didnt say KILL IT.

I said it looks like an anemone majono, but cant tell for sure. And to look for additional pictures to ID for sure.

I know anemone majono all to well. I've removed dozens of these critters from rock / coral at the LFS I part time in, and even found a few on corals I bought prior to working there.

Unless I can categorically see what it is, I suggest further research (as I did). The only thing I did was warn him to be careful, cause it appears to be one. Without a better photo, its impossible to tell from the one photo alone.

Not a single reply to this thread said Kill It.

The ones I have dealt with seem to have mini bubbletips, but some also have had no bubble tips. I just cautioned him to be wary of it.

I did not mean that you or anyone was guilty or whatever....

I was just "Wondering out loud" to all of us.... how many times it does happen thru mistaken Id's .....

so just kind of take that as a question in general....

not an accustaion at anyone.... no "Tang Police" here ;)

[Im Lon 2]

Okay what about this to help ID mine. I have something similar in my tank when I had move the rock to see what it was for sure one of them fell off. Now I have 6 or 7 of these things in different spots of the tank. If these were corals would they move to different locations in the tank with out being fraged?

[Nagel]

Imlon.

Coral's dont move by themselves (well, xenia can pseudo-walk). Anemones do. If you had one, and now there's 7, that sounds like the rate at which majono's reproduce / split. Do a search for Majono Pictures on the board, you'll see some pretty good shots of them, then you gotta decide if your look enough like them to be them.

I have one mini anemone I got on my first batch of live rock, looked *kinda* like a majono, but not exactly (it was a little larger) and I left it alone. 2 years later its still in the same place, and not multiplying. Its definately a small anemone, but not an anemone majono.

HTH

[Im Lon 2]

I thought thats what it was. I asked the person I got it from and he said that he thought he had gotten rid of them but he then relized that he still had them. Any way how do you get rid of these. I have tried E.S.V. B-Ionic the second part. I was told that would work but it has not worked yet.

I also have astipia I only had a coulple then when I went in with the tooth brush to remove hair algae the muliplied by 6 I think. Now they are all over the rock.

I have heard Kalk. kills them two but have not tried it yet. What do you guys think.

[Nu2Reef]

I've been looking at them more closely when the polyps are contracted and I can see that there are three larger ones and about four smaller ones. They seem to be connected by a mat.

I took the rock out of the water and have discovered that is some sort of coral!!!!
Those green specks I saw around the edges are actually calcareous!!!

Glad I didn’t try to kill it.

I've got a picture clearly showing the calcareous ridges but can't get the picture to attach to the post but I'll try again later.

I'm so excited!!

[figuerres]

Originally posted by Imlon2
Okay what about this to help ID mine. I have something similar in my tank when I had move the rock to see what it was for sure one of them fell off. Now I have 6 or 7 of these things in different spots of the tank. If these were corals would they move to different locations in the tank with out being fraged?

now that does sound like a pest anemonie ..... bummer, get some kalk and an injecting tool.... :(

[figuerres]

Originally posted by Nu2Reef
I've been looking at them more closely when the polyps are contracted and I can see that there are three larger ones and about four smaller ones. They seem to be connected by a mat.

I took the rock out of the water and have discovered that is some sort of coral!!!!
Those green specks I saw around the edges are actually calcareous!!!

Glad I didn’t try to kill it.

I've got a picture clearly showing the calcareous ridges but can't get the picture to attach to the post but I'll try again later.

I'm so excited!!

cool... :)

[Nu2Reef]

So now that I've identified this as a coral can anyone tell me what sort it might be?

[figuerres]

Originally posted by Nu2Reef
So now that I've identified this as a coral can anyone tell me what sort it might be?

Cladacora sp.,

is what I *THINK* it is.... based on what I have and some messages I posted on the coral forum....

I have book that shows one form, if it's not then its a near cousin :)

they seem to be very hungry guys, the ones I have realy grow more if you hit them with finely shopped shrimp or squid bits each week.... they can eat a fairly large pice if they can get it....

[Nu2Reef]

Thanks and yes they are hungry little guys. I've been giving them brine or small peices of mysis shrimp. I just have to keep the cleaner shrimp bandits feed while they eat.

[figuerres]

BTW: where is your rock from?

my rock is from florida....

[Nu2Reef]

I purchased it as a colony rock for the yellow and orange polyps from my local LFS

[figuerres]

Hmm..... any chance you can post the other stuff?

I am just wondering if any of it will look familiar...


and I wonder if the small guys we have are from all over or more florida / carib / keys area forms.

[Nu2Reef]

Here's the whole rock, the corals are close to the bottom on the right.

The picture looks a bit out of proportion because it's two pictures pasted together. I kinda like the way it came out.

[Nu2Reef]

Here's the whole rock, the corals are close to the bottom on the right.

[Nu2Reef]

sorry for the double post

I just looked in one of my books NATURAL REEF AQUARIUMS by John H. Tullock he has the identified as Astrangia solitaria Dwarf Cup Coral

[figuerres]

Originally posted by Nu2Reef
sorry for the double post

I just looked in one of my books NATURAL REEF AQUARIUMS by John H. Tullock he has the identified as Astrangia solitaria Dwarf Cup Coral

Well I'll be D*** yep!


I have two corals that have some simmilar details so I figured they were both from the same group....

one of myine is the name I gave before some others are what you just found....

And to think I have that book and just never found that photo and caption and put them to gether :(

I have a lot of the critters in his book..... the photo next to the coral... the tunicates, I've got them all over the place, they seem to like a quiet spot wher the water flow is good but not much light.
many of them are so small it's hard to get a photo.

thanks! BTW: most of the other guys on your rock are zoanthids right?

[Nu2Reef]

yes they are. I hope the yellow ones do well, I have some others on another rock but they're being crouded out by a larger type.

Here's a pick of the other zoanthids

[Nu2Reef]

yes they are. I hope the yellow ones do well, I have some others on another rock but they're being crowded out by a larger type.

Here's a pick of the other zoanthids

[Reefer1]

I have 100lbs of www.tbsaltwater.com live rock and it has that all over some rocks....if its the same...it looks identicle. They are called Starlet Coral, or Sun Coral. They are a stony coral and grow in patches. They come from the Gulf of Mexico, Keys Area. I havent purposely fed mine but I have seen them snatch up some brine shimp I use to feed my fish. They are pretty hardy, mine were collected at 20 feet below. I have an 80 gallon with 220 watts of PC Flourescents blue\white, and they have been doing well for 3 1\2 months

Reef on!

[figuerres]

Originally posted by Reefer1
I have 100lbs of www.tbsaltwater.com live rock and it has that all over some rocks....if its the same...it looks identicle. They are called Starlet Coral, or Sun Coral. They are a stony coral and grow in patches. They come from the Gulf of Mexico, Keys Area. I havent purposely fed mine but I have seen them snatch up some brine shimp I use to feed my fish. They are pretty hardy, mine were collected at 20 feet below. I have an 80 gallon with 220 watts of PC Flourescents blue\white, and they have been doing well for 3 1\2 months

Reef on!

yea my rock is tbs rock also.....

and yea they love to get food.... seems like they eat a lof or the size they are .... but thats life.

PS: do feed them, make sure they get some bits of meat and stuff....
I have learned thru my own error... they will grow realy well if fed
if not they will slowly die back.... there seems to be 3 kinds of these small corals ( cup, sun and the other one I named) that seem to have long tenticles and do not get enough food unless you do make it a point to shoot some at them.
I use a turkey baster and a long clear pastic tube to make sure some falls on the colony, I shut off my pumps for 5-10 minutes while I feed and give them a chance to grab food.

I have seen REALY SEEN much better size, growth and some color coming back to some that had lost color.

just my $0.02 worth.

[Nu2Reef]

Thought I'd just post a recent picture of my hitchhiker coral. It's doubled it's size since i first posted back January.

Glad I didn't kill it

[Im Lon 2]

I seen one in my tank last night and thought about this tread it is over the size of a Quarter now and was woundering if they get that back.

[Nu2Reef]

The largest polyps of mine are about the size of a pencil eraser. Doesn't seem to get any larger, just growing more polyps. I'll post new pics in a couple months

[musicsmaker]

Soon as they get big enough, are ya gonna frag them? *hint*