Looking for ID help

[CollinsLL2]

Hello, I'm pretty new to saltwater aquariums, and very new to keeping anything beyond fish with fake decor in my tank. So I've decided to start a reef tank, starting small with only a 20 gallon. The tank has been up and running for about 6 months now, and about 2 months ago I started having my first algae troubles, after research online I decided that I needed to get a clean up crew, so ordered online, after it arrived I sat for probably hours watching all the crabs and snails get to work, and started to notice a lot of them had different things growing on the shells. I've looked and looked and looked again online to try to ID these hitchhikers, I've found out that one is most likely a feather duster, very small and hard to get a picture of tho, could this be right? on the back of a ~2" scarlet hermit crab shell? If so this should be harmless and left alone right?

Its hard to see, but the thing in question is the extension at the top of the shell. clear/white

Number 2, I cant seem to find anything that looks like this. But the closest I've come up with would be maybe Goniopora? Its on the back of a Turbo Snail shell, the snail inside was DoA but I kept the shell in to see how this thing did, and it seems like its growing. Now I'm just wondering if it should be or not, and if so, how to best care for it?

This is how it was when it arrived, out of water for the picture

Again as it arrived (within the first 3 days) in tank, you can see its polyps(?) slightly extended here.

This is current with the polyps(?) what I would call fully extended, or at least as much as I've seen them, and you can see its growing a bit, not much but some.

There are 2 more that I cannot get a picture worth posting of, 1 is on another of the scarlet hermit crab shells, it is like 2 worms (yellowish in color) that stick out of the end point of the shell, and visibly eat detritus. When I tried to move the crab to get a better angle for picture the "worm" retracted into the shell where I can see a very small hole. Does this sound like a spaghetti worm? Should it be removed?
Number 2 that I cannot get a picture of is clear, on the underside of a turbo snail shell, the snail was evicted by crabs, and it only extends at night, it looks like several (maybe 6 or 8) clear tenticals drifting or extending upwards. they are pretty short, about as long as the shell they are attached to (at least I think they are attached), and they branch off, with the branches also branching. So far I have found nothing to compare them too, sorry for giving so little to go on with this one.


And if you've made it this far I thank you very much for your time. Hopefully somebody here can shed some light on some of these mysteries for me.

Here is one last item if anybody happens to know the name of these zoas. I picked up the colony from my LFS but they had no name for them.

 

[MicroPico]

I will try to help but because I can't see the pics clearly, I cannot give a definitive answer. My guesses are basic guides to help you look up photos and compare what you see to them. #1 does look to be a filter feeder feather worm of a sort (good) but could also be a hydroid (bad)- depending on how he moves and how his whole body looks. Does his whole tube jerk around when disturbed ( hydroid sign), or does he disappear into the tube? Pic #2 looks like a teeny coral frag but again, I cannot see clearly but congrats on the freebie hitchhiker. The next item with no pic is a total guess--spionid worm with 2 long creamy tentacles (palps) that wave around & collect detritus which stick to them & he retracts them into his mouth in a tiny tube. Good scavenger if he's a spionid worm. The other no-pic, sounds like a polyp of a sort...good, bad...I couldn't even begin to guess without a pic. Lastly, your zoa pic, I don't know what it's name is so I will leave it to others on here more knowledgeable about zoas. Wish I could be of more help but I will alert @Lionfish Lair who is a whiz at this and she can lend you her expertise. Good luck.

 

[CollinsLL2]

#1 Does his whole tube jerk around when disturbed ( hydroid sign), or does he disappear into the tube?

I see no "tube" just a small hole in the crab shell, the rest of the shell looks healthy, good purple algae growth and no spots that look "bad" or anything. but the critter does retract fully into the hole if It gets disturbed

The next item with no pic is a total guess--spionid worm with 2 long creamy tentacles (palps) that wave around & collect detritus which stick to them & he retracts them into his mouth in a tiny tube. Good scavenger if he's a spionid worm.

Thank you! after a quick google search on spionid worm, Id say yes that's what this looks like, only again because it comes directly out of a small hole in the crab shell, I see no "tube" only the extended part. But the extension that I can see looks like the split ends of the pix of spionid worms.

The other no-pic, sounds like a polyp of a sort...good, bad...I couldn't even begin to guess without a pic.

Thank you, I will try to get a pic worth posting tonight after lights out. Its pretty hard because of how clear it is and there is no sign of it at all when the lights are on, only after dark.

Thank you for the speedy reply, 1 less worry for me of "is this gonna kill my tank or cost me loads later" lol.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

@MicroPico, I believe you were the whiz here, not me. I agree with what you said. I think #1 is definitely a fanworm and not a hydroid. I'm not a good one for guessing corals, whether it be zoas or whatever that is growing on the shell. I agree it's some sort of coral though, and nothing bad.

#Reefsquad do you have coral suggestions?

 

[Sabellafella]

Hello, I'm pretty new to saltwater aquariums, and very new to keeping anything beyond fish with fake decor in my tank. So I've decided to start a reef tank, starting small with only a 20 gallon. The tank has been up and running for about 6 months now, and about 2 months ago I started having my first algae troubles, after research online I decided that I needed to get a clean up crew, so ordered online, after it arrived I sat for probably hours watching all the crabs and snails get to work, and started to notice a lot of them had different things growing on the shells. I've looked and looked and looked again online to try to ID these hitchhikers, I've found out that one is most likely a feather duster, very small and hard to get a picture of tho, could this be right? on the back of a ~2" scarlet hermit crab shell? If so this should be harmless and left alone right?

Its hard to see, but the thing in question is the extension at the top of the shell. clear/white

Number 2, I cant seem to find anything that looks like this. But the closest I've come up with would be maybe Goniopora? Its on the back of a Turbo Snail shell, the snail inside was DoA but I kept the shell in to see how this thing did, and it seems like its growing. Now I'm just wondering if it should be or not, and if so, how to best care for it?

This is how it was when it arrived, out of water for the picture

Again as it arrived (within the first 3 days) in tank, you can see its polyps(?) slightly extended here.

This is current with the polyps(?) what I would call fully extended, or at least as much as I've seen them, and you can see its growing a bit, not much but some.

There are 2 more that I cannot get a picture worth posting of, 1 is on another of the scarlet hermit crab shells, it is like 2 worms (yellowish in color) that stick out of the end point of the shell, and visibly eat detritus. When I tried to move the crab to get a better angle for picture the "worm" retracted into the shell where I can see a very small hole. Does this sound like a spaghetti worm? Should it be removed?
Number 2 that I cannot get a picture of is clear, on the underside of a turbo snail shell, the snail was evicted by crabs, and it only extends at night, it looks like several (maybe 6 or 8) clear tenticals drifting or extending upwards. they are pretty short, about as long as the shell they are attached to (at least I think they are attached), and they branch off, with the branches also branching. So far I have found nothing to compare them too, sorry for giving so little to go on with this one.


And if you've made it this far I thank you very much for your time. Hopefully somebody here can shed some light on some of these mysteries for me.

Here is one last item if anybody happens to know the name of these zoas. I picked up the colony from my LFS but they had no name for them.

Tryed to get a photo for you but its retracted. Have 4 hermits with these feather dusters on them for over 3 years now. Their harmless so no worrys

 

[CollinsLL2]

I was able to get some OK pix of the clear possible polyp that I described on the bottom of the snail shell, hopefully this helps

Here I'm not sure if the crab is eating the mystery critter/polyp or just cleaning off the shell, but you can see in front of the crab, the clear branching things, are whats in question here

these you can see better. sorry i think this is about as good of a pic as my camera will allow me to take.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

They are hydroids.

 

[CollinsLL2]

Thank you for your speedy reply. Should they be removed from the tank or are they ok to leave alone?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Where they are on the shells, I would remove the shells. If anyone else has it on them, take them out and scrape them off.

 

[DaltoniousMax]

Hydroids are bad

 

[MicroPico]

Yup. Definitely hydroids. They sting & multiply everywhere. I would def remove the shell, scrub it as Lionfish Lair mentioned and then I would actually keep it out of the tank for a day or two til it totally dried out, just in case a bit of tissue remained on the shell and it would regenerate into a new colony. Thanks for the clear pics. They make a world of difference for a positive ID. Check your other shells for more of them now and for a few months down the line because they have a way of not showing themselves until the right conditions are met.