First time purchasing frags. Would love some input on "value added" hitchhikers.

faceymcfaceface

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Hello everybody!

First post ever on this forum. Been keeping freshwater fish for a few years now and decided to start up a saltwater nano tank.

Today, Sunday the 11th, will mark 68 days since the initial setup. The initial cycle seems to be all complete as I have been reading 0 ammonia for the past 10 days. Current inhabitants are a blue leg hermit crab and an orchid dottyback.

Decided it is time to start looking to add corals and I picked up a mushroom, GSP, and a zoa frag. All of which I read and was led to believe are "hardy" and good starter corals.



I am doing a quarantine on the corals and upon inspection with a USB microscope I saw a tube next to one of the zoa frags. Sorry for the crudey resolution but it is all I have at the moment.

I am not sure if its a vermetid snail or some sort of feather duster. Without a better camera setup I can't tell if the brown blob that comes out of the tube is a mouth or feathers. I am not seeing a webbing being released. I circled it below in, of course, red. There is also black specs that move around in time lapse as if they are little buggers. I know there is no way to ID them at this resolution and scale but i am curious as to if I should do a Beyer dip and if my quarantine tank is now compromised and I need to start it over.

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I also found a couple of what I think is aiptasia but I wouldn't mind second opinions .
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Finally below is a camera shot showing the overview of the frag.
You can see the tube if you zoom in near the left most polyp and the aiptasia is near the bottom center.
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Thanks in advance for all your input!

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Goaway

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I would guess last picture is a majano anemone. Beautiful pest. My favorite of them all. up to you if you want to keep it.
 

Cell

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Could be a majano...could be a baby BTA as well. Either way, it will probably melt the zoa next to it over time so should be moved and isolated until you can get a firm ID. The first pics are too blurry, but the bottom tube looks more like feather duster than vermetid I think. If it's sticking out from the rock with a curled base, it's vermetid. If it's flat on the rock, then it's duster or something else.
 

CMMorgan

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I have old eyes but I cannot see any aiptasia. Do you dip your frags? That really helps remove pests. I have QT'd many of mine, even with dipping and found some interesting things. I once had a bristle worm crawl out of a zoa. Bye Bye zoa polyp. Others have had zoa spiders. You are doing the right thing, be vigilant and you'll keep a clean tank.
Welcome to the salty family!!
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faceymcfaceface

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Yes I did a dip using Reef Primer which was recommended by my LFS.

Was doing an inspection of the other frag I picked up same time as the zoa and saw a worm like creature moving around on it.

Thinking I might have to do a more aggressive style dip.
 

andiesreef

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i agree with majano, and i'd guess you've got a feather duster, potentially of the genus bispira. it looks like the ones i have in my hob filter. does it close up when you block out the light? and is the tube soft or hard?
 
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faceymcfaceface

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It is motion sensitive and will close up if I move near the glass. The tube is so tiny I can't tell if it is soft or hard. I can barely see it with mark one eyeball.

I went ahead and did a beyer dip. Little black dots have yet to make a reappearance. Fingers crossed.

Should I worry too much about the feather duster ?
 

andiesreef

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It is motion sensitive and will close up if I move near the glass. The tube is so tiny I can't tell if it is soft or hard. I can barely see it with mark one eyeball.

I went ahead and did a beyer dip. Little black dots have yet to make a reappearance. Fingers crossed.

Should I worry too much about the feather duster ?
sounds like a feather duster. no worries though, feather dusters are friends! they will filter particulate matter out of the water for you :)
 
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