Critter ID?

Charlie G · Apr 14, 2023

Hi all,

Received a shipment of coral frags from WWC. Had these 2 critters come off. I did not dip. I only acclimated and used a Turkey baster to gently blow off the coral as they recommended. I have a coral QT I put the frags in and will dip in a few days. Just curious if someone can tell me what they are. Anything to worry about? They were discarded.

Thank you.

ISpeakForTheSeas · Apr 14, 2023

The one looks like a micro brittle starfish (keeper), and the other one seems to be an isopod of some kind - I can’t tell if that one is a keeper or not from the pics (but I struggle a bit with “pod” ID), so hopefully someone who can will chime in for you here.

kevgib67 · Apr 14, 2023

The one is a micro brittle starfish, good member of your cuc. The other, a type of flat worms? If know one chimes in just toss.

Cell · Apr 14, 2023

Micro brittle star and the other honestly looks like a terrestrial bug of some sort.

DaJMasta · Apr 14, 2023

As said, Micro Brittle Star and Isopod, unsure what kind of isopod but some are safe and some are not. A dip would have chased off any other isopods that could still have been on them, and if they are bad that would be good, but it wouldn't do much for eggs in place and would be bad for the starfish (which is safe and beneficial).

My rule is that everything that comes in gets dipped unless the dip is known to hurt the organism itself. WWC could be considered a trusted source, but I would like to know the logic behind recommending not dipping - that seems unhelpful and misleading when it comes to pest management - are you sure they even recommended that?

Charlie G · Apr 14, 2023

DaJMasta said:
As said, Micro Brittle Star and Isopod, unsure what kind of isopod but some are safe and some are not. A dip would have chased off any other isopods that could still have been on them, and if they are bad that would be good, but it wouldn't do much for eggs in place and would be bad for the starfish (which is safe and beneficial).

My rule is that everything that comes in gets dipped unless the dip is known to hurt the organism itself. WWC could be considered a trusted source, but I would like to know the logic behind recommending not dipping - that seems unhelpful and misleading when it comes to pest management - are you sure they even recommended that?

Well I usually dip but this is the first time I’m doing a coral QT. I did see a video Vic from WWC has on R2R where he says not to dip when you first receive due to the stress of shipping. Even the instructions he provided state (I believe-I don’t have it in front of me now) to dip (if needed) after a day or so. I did discard the brittle star and isopod.