Newby with a few critters I need help with....

pinkfloyd1312 · Jul 30, 2019

First, this is my first post on the forums so hello to everyone. I set up a 32 gallon biocude about two weeks ago (first salt water tank). I used live rock from LFS and live sand along with some of the Fritz Zyme 9 and I've just let the tank do it's thing since then with only filter floss running as filtration. I am still cycling but I've had a few things pop up that I wasn't sure what to do with. First, I have a bit of aiptasia which I have found on two of the live rocks. I've used aiptasia-x on those as they've popped up (maybe 10 tiny ones so far but I'm sure there will be more) and I plan to add a peppermint in there with the CUC before adding any fish or feeding the tank. Hopefully that will help with that situation. I have recently had what I believe are copepods start showing up on the glass like tiny white bugs crawling all over. Those do not concern me and I gather that they are helpful for the most part but also on the glass, I've had a couple of these white/clear/blue looking things (first photo). They start out really small but this one is now maybe a 1/4 of an inch in total. In addition to that, I have another similar looking creature on one of my rocks (2nd and 3rd photo). It doesn't look like the aiptasia and doesn't have a stalk. Are these anything I need to address or just let them make themselves at home? Just trying to get out ahead of anything that could cause me problems down the road since the tank is still empty.

Thanks guys and I look forward to interacting more on the forums as I progress.

Eagle_Steve · Jul 30, 2019

Welcome and it looks like some type of nudi and a ball anemone.

Dig through this link and compare what you have to the examples shown.

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pinkfloyd1312 · Jul 30, 2019

Thanks, I have actually looked over that site and the best I was able to determine was that the second one is likely as you have suggested, some sort of small anemone which is hopefully harmless. The other one I thought was probably a hydroid of some kind which was a little more worrisome.

muzikalmatt · Jul 30, 2019

Welcome to R2R! It's hard to say what either of those are definitively, but you're taking the right approach of trying to identify them. I tend to ere on the side of caution and remove anything I can't identify just in case. Be careful with the peppermint shrimp by the way. I got one for the same reason (aiptasia control) and he ended up eating my frogspawn coral and I had to remove him.

pinkfloyd1312 · Jul 30, 2019

I was only planning to have the peppermint for a few weeks before I move on to fish. The LFS said I could buy one and return it for store credit after it hopefully takes care of the aiptasia. We will see how that works out.

muzikalmatt · Jul 30, 2019

pinkfloyd1312 said:
I was only planning to have the peppermint for a few weeks before I move on to fish. The LFS said I could buy one and return it for store credit after it hopefully takes care of the aiptasia. We will see how that works out.

Nice! That's a great option as my pepp did an awesome job dealing with the aiptasia. He was surprisingly easy to catch too. Honestly, it's a shame he had a taste for coral because I really liked his personality.