Can anyone ID? Multiple different critters!

SaltyShel

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Hey y’all, I need some help. I’ve got a more detailed background of my tank on my build thread, I’m going to post a few pics and if anyone can help me ID I would be so thankful. I’m going to have to restart my tank & rip clean, especially with all these issues, but I would still like to know what all this is, for knowledge.
The small white worms look like sand. Like a literal rope made from sand. They don’t move much, mostly just half their body (?) either up/down or left/right. i circled them in red but it’s so hard to see them with only a picture. The videos are much better. Also, hard to see in pic, videos better, but i was told I have a mantis shrimp, which someone from the forums said they don’t know but it’s definitely not a mantis, it’s also circled in red. It looks kinda long and will use it’s from arms to dig at the sand from underneath and when the sand falls or it gets startled, it’ll quickly retreat back into that slit in the sand. i also have these microscopic brown things that move all over my glass. I was told flat worms by LFS (same one that said kill my livestock, bleach the tank, and get new livestock since, as he put it, no life matters and can just be replaced) but they’re way too small. It’s like a brown haze over the glass in certain areas but when I zoom in very close with my phone camera I can see them moving. In this pic, they’re just tiny brown dots. But they do move and it’s clear there is a lot of them. lastly, I have some weird black stuff on my rock and two possible sponges. Both in blue. One is white and one is like a dull but bright lime green. The black stuff on my rock is in a few patches, pretty small area, and it looks kind of fuzzy but not super thick of a patch. There is some white specks all over the black spots, not sure what it is. There is another pic of this bubble that is literally suspended by something, like a balloon. its in blue also, including these bubbles all over the rock next to it, which I circled. And in another pic, in red, there is some weird white-ish silky slimy stuff on the rock and idk what that is either. Thank you all in advance I’m sorry this is so long I’m just stressed out beyond words over all this.

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KrisReef

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I didn't see anything to stress over. I can stress too but I'm going to bed now to avoid stress and too lazy to go into details on your bugs and critters. I think they are all safe and part of a good ecosystem. Gl (& welcome, I missed your intro thread but I see your score ) :)
 
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SaltyShel

SaltyShel

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I didn't see anything to stress over. I can stress too but I'm going to bed now to avoid stress and too lazy to go into details on your bugs and critters. I think they are all safe and part of a good ecosystem. Gl (& welcome, I missed your intro thread but I see your score ) :)
That’s okay, thank you. I’ve gotten such bad info from that LFS that I started to panic and haven’t been able to go to a different Store yet since they’re either 30+ mins away and closed by the time I’m off work, or the closest one to me is only open 3 days of the week. Thank you for your help and goodnight :)
 
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SaltyShel

SaltyShel

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#3 looks like a black nudibranch last pic is some type of
Biofilm sorry for just two. I’m curious to see the outcome
Hey, thank you so much, I appreciate you! I definitely will continue to keep updates coming through on my build thread, but currently I’m all kinds of stressed about the weird critters lol. Just wondering but is it possible the biofilm is due to the vermited snails? They’re in just about the same area of rock, only about a couple inches from each other
 

dvgyfresh

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Nothing to stress about , I see tube worms , sponges , and maybe some type of barnacle / does the biofilm move in the flow? If it’s stagnant it’s probly a sponge
 
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SaltyShel

SaltyShel

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Nothing to stress about , I see tube worms , sponges , and maybe some type of barnacle / does the biofilm move in the flow? If it’s stagnant it’s probly a sponge
Yes the film does move a little bit. I have a lot of stuff that moves on the rock, some of it kind of looks like dust, almost. The one thing that I know definitely can’t be identified is the thing that digs at the sand and then crawls back into the little slit. It’s just not visible in the picture, especially if no one knows what they’re looking for :/ but are those sand worms bad? Do they hurt the coral? I don’t have but 4-5 mushroom coral so it’s not like I have a bunch, but still. Also that black stuff, is it some kind of black algae? It kind of looks like a beard a little bit, the texture does at least. Someone said it’s a Nudibranch but I don’t know what that is
 

dvgyfresh

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The only thing that might need correction is if those dots on the glass are flat worms , flat worms can rapidly multiply and stop corals from getting light due to blocking it , wrasses will eat them or they may naturally go away
 

dvgyfresh

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Yes the film does move a little bit. I have a lot of stuff that moves on the rock, some of it kind of looks like dust, almost. The one thing that I know definitely can’t be identified is the thing that digs at the sand and then crawls back into the little slit. It’s just not visible in the picture, especially if no one knows what they’re looking for :/ but are those sand worms bad? Do they hurt the coral? I don’t have but 4-5 mushroom coral so it’s not like I have a bunch, but still. Also that black stuff, is it some kind of black algae? It kind of looks like a beard a little bit, the texture does at least. Someone said it’s a Nudibranch but I don’t know what that is
No the tube worms are harmless just filter feeders will grab leftover food, it looks like octopus under my rocks with how many there are, do the black thing move?
 
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SaltyShel

SaltyShel

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The only thing that might need correction is if those dots on the glass are flat worms , flat worms can rapidly multiply and stop corals from getting light due to blocking it , wrasses will eat them or they may naturally go away
Yes the stuff on the glass is horrible. They make a brown hazy film on the glass, but all the videos I’ve seen of flat worms don’t look like those do. I read/saw flat worms are big, about 1/4” and the stuff I have is tiny. Without my phones camera being zoomed in on them, you can’t even see them and definitely can’t see them moving. They’re that small.
 
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SaltyShel

SaltyShel

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No the tube worms are harmless just filter feeders will grab leftover food, it looks like octopus under my rocks with how many there are, do the black thing move?
What do you mean about the octopus? And no the black thing doesn’t move. Only movement is the white spots on the black thing, but the white things move with the flow. The black thing itself doesn’t move though
 

dvgyfresh

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Yes the stuff on the glass is horrible. They make a brown hazy film on the glass, but all the videos I’ve seen of flat worms don’t look like those do. I read/saw flat worms are big, about 1/4” and the stuff I have is tiny. Without my phones camera being zoomed in on them, you can’t even see them and definitely can’t see them moving. They’re that small.
They are so many types , some are very small but the small ones are usually harmless - just like pods the red ones are bad
 

TnFishwater98

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Yes the stuff on the glass is horrible. They make a brown hazy film on the glass, but all the videos I’ve seen of flat worms don’t look like those do. I read/saw flat worms are big, about 1/4” and the stuff I have is tiny. Without my phones camera being zoomed in on them, you can’t even see them and definitely can’t see them moving. They’re that small.
Might be pods
 

dvgyfresh

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What do you mean about the octopus? And no the black thing doesn’t move. Only movement is the white spots on the black thing, but the white things move with the flow. The black thing itself doesn’t move though
Lol the tube worms have tentacles , the build there tube out of sand I have so many it looks like 100 little tentacles moving about coming from the rock
 
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SaltyShel

SaltyShel

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Lol the tube worms have tentacles , the build there tube out of sand I have so many it looks like 100 little tentacles moving about coming from the rock
Oh wow that’s kinda cool, I thought they were bad. So that’s good news lol. The LFS said they’re spaghetti worms and he said I needed to nuke my tank because I have them and some other stuff. But the “pyramid snails” he said I have, turns out are limpets. He gave me some really bad info lol and told me to bleach my tank. I keep telling everyone this because I’m still shook at what he said. He literally wanted me to kill my livestock. like… what. lol
As far as the specks, if it’s pods, what is that and how do I know for sure? Should I not do a rip clean anymore? I haven’t yet but was going to. I have no idea what to do at this point. I have aiptasia for sure and some vermited snails, few other things.
 

TnFishwater98

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Yes the stuff on the glass is horrible. They make a brown hazy film on the glass, but all the videos I’ve seen of flat worms don’t look like those do. I read/saw flat worms are big, about 1/4” and the stuff I have is tiny. Without my phones camera being zoomed in on them, you can’t even see them and definitely can’t see them moving. They’re that small.
Nothing to worry about in these pics. Except maybe the bubble looking thing on a string, might be Hydroids. Notice lots of bubbles on LR. I don’t think it is but might be. Don’t worry about those tubes forming on the sand or anything else I see in your pics.
 

TnFishwater98

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Oh wow that’s kinda cool, I thought they were bad. So that’s good news lol. The LFS said they’re spaghetti worms and he said I needed to nuke my tank because I have them and some other stuff. But the “pyramid snails” he said I have, turns out are limpets. He gave me some really bad info lol and told me to bleach my tank. I keep telling everyone this because I’m still shook at what he said. He literally wanted me to kill my livestock. like… what. lol
As far as the specks, if it’s pods, what is that and how do I know for sure? Should I not do a rip clean anymore? I haven’t yet but was going to. I have no idea what to do at this point. I have aiptasia for sure and some vermited snails, few other things.
Best advice IMO is just -
Take a breath, don’t clean or add chemicals to the tank and just let it establish. Spaghetti Worms are a good CUC so I’d stop listening to your LFS.
 
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