How in trouble am i?

[Patty McDanger]

Picked this rock up a couple days ago and checked it with bad eyesight and poor lighting. Now under light this is what i see... I'm a noob at this so state anything and everything. No holding back.

Part 2 ... This rock was out of water for about 35/40 mins and it came with another hitchhiker that somehow survived. Can we get a positive ID on what i am assuming is a yellow tail cleaner wrasse?

Thanks y'all.

 

[Eric1493]

Welcome to Reef2reef!

The hitchhiker in the first photo seems to be an aiptasia, a common pest. I would try to eradicate it quickly, as it will multiply quickly and be impossible to kill. Here are some resources you could consult to get rid of it.

https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/294/?aid=294

Trick to kill the aiptasia?

I have these dang aiptasia that keep popping up. I think i get them, and then a couple weeks pass and bam. Right back in the same spot!! Ive been using Aiptasia-X. I watch them kinda do that pop twitch thing and then i move on to the next one. Are there better methods to get rid of them...

www.reef2reef.com

How to kill Aiptasia (preferably under water)?

Peppermint shrimp doesn't seem to work (I put in 3 small one yesterday and I don't see them anymore LOL .... let alone them fixing my Aiptasia). I had a bigger Peppermint shrimp earlier this year and it seems to work on those Aiptasia but shame, I think it gets eaten by the BTA; perhaps what I...

www.reef2reef.com

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I believe that that is a yellowtail cleaner wrasse.

 

[Patty McDanger]

Thanks for the response. I figured it was aiptasia, but what about all of the little red ones behind it?

 

[Eric1493]

Ah, I did not see those at first. I think they are small tube worms. You can see their tube "homes" on the rock, the thin white tubes. They're harmless filter-feeding inverts. They are good for your tank and will eat particles in the water column.

 

[Krully]

Pretty incredible you got a wrasse as a hitchiker and it survived 30 minutes out of the water. And yes behind the aiptasia they are some kind of feather duster worms, got them in my tank too they're really pretty.

 

[Eric1493]

I agree. First time I've ever heard of a fish being a hitchhiker lol.

 

[Patty McDanger]

Yeah it actually scared me when I saw it flop out of there when I was putting the rock in the tank. I thought “dang there was a dead fish in that rock...crazy.” Then I decided I’d scoop him out in a couple mins when I was done deciding where to put the new rock. When I came back to scoop him and send him down the pipes, I found him swimming around like it was completely normal to have just made it 20 miles from the LFS out of water and resurrect himself. Pretty bonkers. And that, kids, is how the new tank got its first fish...