Need help identifying life on live rock.

[Kristina99586]

We bought some live rock when we started our tank a few months ago. Nothing was visibly living on it. But now I have a few new things that I'm unable to identify what they are. Any ideas. Both white in color. But definitely not the same thing. One is like a cluster or maybe it's just one thing. The second picture there's about 5 or 6 of these clear tube like things with a white tip.

 

[ahiggins]

first pic is definitely aiptasia. Youll want to take care of that before they spread. Outside the tank if you can, they release spores when messed with.
second pic looks like a ball nem or a cup coral-im not familiar with whether they are good or bad though.

 

[Kristina99586]

Awesome. Thanks. I was looking closer and this crazy looking thing was creeping out of the rock. Was pretty long. Never seen it before. Snapped a pic before it hid back inside.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Awesome. Thanks. I was looking closer and this crazy looking thing was creeping out of the rock. Was pretty long. Never seen it before. Snapped a pic before it hid back inside.

Bristle worm... reef safe and a good addition to a cleanup crew [emoji4] be cautious as their spines are very sharp, and can puncture your hand if you bump into it

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Any better pics of the 2nd one? What kind of texture does it have?

 

[Kristina99586]

Bristle worm... reef safe and a good addition to a cleanup crew [emoji4] be cautious as their spines are very sharp, and can puncture your hand if you bump into it

Thanks. So many new things popping up. Wonder how this little guy has been hidding and we never seen him before. I was showing my husband the other things I found and he seen the worm half out of the rock

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Thanks. So many new things popping up. Wonder how this little guy has been hidding and we never seen him before. I was showing my husband the other things I found and he seen the worm half out of the rock

They are nocturnal, which is why they often go so long without being noticed. Some bristle worms get large if it does get to a concernable size, you should be able to sneak up on him at night/ shortly after your lights turn on and tweezer him out

 

[brandon429]

your thread shows why we do not dose live rock with ammonia when we buy it out of the live bin at the pet store. We want those animals alive that it carried in. nice setup.

 

[Kristina99586]

your thread shows why we do not dose live rock with ammonia when we buy it out of the live bin at the pet store. We want those animals alive that it carried in. nice setup.

We actually got most of our stuff from a tiny salt water shop. High quality and amazing prices. He buys things from other hobbies and trades them for things and he had got these rocks from another person and had them siting for a while. Sold them to us for only $5 a lbs.i guess it was some good live rock. Has really helped our tank.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

your thread shows why we do not dose live rock with ammonia when we buy it out of the live bin at the pet store. We want those animals alive that it carried in. nice setup.

Whenever im setting up a tank with LR and live sand, I just pick up a bottle of bacteria and grab a few fish (depending on tank size) and toss em right in then monitor the nitrogen levels. After a couple weeks, you're set!

 

[brandon429]

agreed bac is good, dose anytime



some choose to continually dose bac like MB 7 on purpose as basic maintenance/sludge digesters etc. while I don't do that, its fair experimentation to do so in my opinion as another way of reefing. adding ammonia to live rock is totally unacceptable in a decent society, however lol

we like to use bac in a bottle to choose our own cycling completion dates, in our big cycling threads. bbac is quite handy

 

[Kristina99586]

Whenever im setting up a tank with LR and live sand, I just pick up a bottle of bacteria and grab a few fish (depending on tank size) and toss em right in then monitor the nitrogen levels. After a couple weeks, you're set!

We let ours cycle for a few weeks. After adding a bottle of the bacteria. We had about 65lbs of rock. But only about 16lbs was live rock. We have a 60gallon tank. Then added a few damsels to start.
Right now we have a blue damsel. 2 green chromies . 2 ocellaris clownfish. And a sand sifter star. Along with some cleaner crabs.

 

[smh254]

We bought some live rock when we started our tank a few months ago. Nothing was visibly living on it. But now I have a few new things that I'm unable to identify what they are. Any ideas. Both white in color. But definitely not the same thing. One is like a cluster or maybe it's just one thing. The second picture there's about 5 or 6 of these clear tube like things with a white tip.

Here's a site from a member here that helped me a lot when I first started.http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/

 

[nwayne567]

1st pic is aiptasia, 2nd pic looks like a spong or tunicates, 3rd is a bristle worm.