Hitchhikers on Gulf Live Rock???
- Thread starter TheDentist
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sfin52
So many pedestrians so little time
They look pretty bleached but I had some corals come back from what I thought was dead and white. My blastos came back. It was all white and the polyps came off. About a month later they were back.
goodefx
Community Member
That looks creepy as hell, I would cut that out!I ordered from GLR and had a lot of the same stuff you have.
The bivalve there in #4 will be tough to keep alive, but if you want to make sure you keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite, etc.
The yellow sponge #6 is still alive 6 months later.
Looks like a fish skeleton fused with the rock in #3
The Dentist - looking for an update. I ordered 25 lbs of Gulfliverock - have a lot of sponges and one small mantis shrimp. I also have some macro algae - looks like caulerpa. My question to you is are there any issues now assuming the rock is in your tank. Any aiptasia? Any bad macro algae? Let me know.
TheDentist
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I have three oysters and a bright yellow sponge that are all still alive and seem to be doing surprisingly well! Also some red macro algaes that look very nice and are not at all out of control. And one of the corals that hitchhiked that I thought was bleached and dead has some polyps on it now! There was an aptasia issue but there were only three and i noticed them when the rocks were in the quarentine tank. Two peppermints took care of that issue. Oh and I have a good deal of tiny featherdusters as well as some white stocks which I believe are sponges or tunicates of some kind. Overall i could not be happier with this rock! I wish I got more! If there was any bad macro algae it either hasnt surfaced yet or my emerald crab may have gotten it. Good luck!
I also have lots of dusters. I have a large anemone that looks a bit like a aiptasia but was IDed as good here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/anemone-identification.356540/. And it moved one day which I haven't seen aiptasia do. I will probably add this rock to my dry rock in the next week or two so I have a bit more time to observe. I will add one or two pieces to display and the rest to the sump. Thanks for your feedback!
Pic five is Sideratea radians. I got gulf live rock a while ago and it came with one, which I assumed was dead. I thought the polyps were algae so I scrubbed it off daily for a while. Surprisingly it’s still going strong.
I had a couple bivalves too but they died a day or two after arrival.
I had a couple bivalves too but they died a day or two after arrival.
ThunderGoose
Well-Known Member
The bivalves in image 3 and 4 of the original post are turkey wing clams. Mine lasted at least 6 months (I haven't checked it since then - rock is 7 months old). I see lots of sponges, too.
7 months after receiving TBS live rock I still have several sponges, tunicates, two corals (a cup coral and an unidentified SPS), 2 mantis shrimp (I re-homed 1), 2 gorilla crabs (ie sump crabs), several other small crabs and I keep seeing more of these small crabs - around the size of a nickel. Not sure if they'll grow any more but at least 3 or 4 of them have been this small since arrival.
Live rock is so much fun!
7 months after receiving TBS live rock I still have several sponges, tunicates, two corals (a cup coral and an unidentified SPS), 2 mantis shrimp (I re-homed 1), 2 gorilla crabs (ie sump crabs), several other small crabs and I keep seeing more of these small crabs - around the size of a nickel. Not sure if they'll grow any more but at least 3 or 4 of them have been this small since arrival.
Live rock is so much fun!
clsanchez77
Active Member
How is your rock doing? I just crossed this thread looking for something else. I have 40 pounds of gulf rock in my tank from the same vendor and the rock has been great...about 2 years old.
I had all the clams alive and doing well, I was getting new smaller clams in random places so something was going well...and then 6 moths ago, all of them suddenly dies at the same time.
My cladocora corals have done well, grown, colored up a rich brown color and a new colony appeared on a frag plug. My solitary cup corals have also done very well and appeared to have spread. I had a small and bleached Siderastrea radians coral that has grown quite well, but has little color.
If you did not remove the coral skeletons, I would keep them. I have previously recovered LPS corals from their skeletons before and am pretty certain you could recover those.
I had no pests to speak of that required removal.
I do have three anemones, that everyone on all the boards has sworn they were aptasia and needed to be killed and removed right away. I did not. Today, I still have three. One is quite large. I do NOT believe yours I aptasia. In fact the one with the little orange balls is possibly a type of mushroom more than an anemone.
I tried to keep my sponge alive, including dosing silicates and phyto/oyster eggs. I have lost just about all of it with exception to a large white one on the underside.
My tank is full of the pink gulf coralline, which me and the wife like better than the fiji purple.
My biggest complaint, is not the Florida rock, but rather the Caribsea Life Rock I used for a base. I am curing some Haitian Rock now and will swap out all my rock. The Florida rock will become the base rock and the Haitian Rock on top. I am currently debating wether I re-use the existing Florida Rock or replace it with new. If I do, I will go 40 pounds of just the coralline rock and salvage the corals off the old rock.
I had all the clams alive and doing well, I was getting new smaller clams in random places so something was going well...and then 6 moths ago, all of them suddenly dies at the same time.
My cladocora corals have done well, grown, colored up a rich brown color and a new colony appeared on a frag plug. My solitary cup corals have also done very well and appeared to have spread. I had a small and bleached Siderastrea radians coral that has grown quite well, but has little color.
If you did not remove the coral skeletons, I would keep them. I have previously recovered LPS corals from their skeletons before and am pretty certain you could recover those.
I had no pests to speak of that required removal.
I do have three anemones, that everyone on all the boards has sworn they were aptasia and needed to be killed and removed right away. I did not. Today, I still have three. One is quite large. I do NOT believe yours I aptasia. In fact the one with the little orange balls is possibly a type of mushroom more than an anemone.
I tried to keep my sponge alive, including dosing silicates and phyto/oyster eggs. I have lost just about all of it with exception to a large white one on the underside.
My tank is full of the pink gulf coralline, which me and the wife like better than the fiji purple.
My biggest complaint, is not the Florida rock, but rather the Caribsea Life Rock I used for a base. I am curing some Haitian Rock now and will swap out all my rock. The Florida rock will become the base rock and the Haitian Rock on top. I am currently debating wether I re-use the existing Florida Rock or replace it with new. If I do, I will go 40 pounds of just the coralline rock and salvage the corals off the old rock.
gulf live rock is still one of the best decisions I've made to date...
I am very happy with my rock. I did receive a Mantis shrimp but I have kept him in a 10 gallon tank and I now view him as a bonus not pest. Its a small N Wennerae - nice green color and fun to watch. I also still have great coraline growing (no bad algae will settle on this rock) smaller sponges doing well (taller ones did not make it), feather dusters, small brain coral, and all kinds of nice worms,basket stars, and positive cleanup crew. My clams/oysters didn't make it because the mantis was hungry. I also have 2-3 anemones that appear like thicker versions of aiptasia but I am also convince they are not. They have not spread (I took out a few but have 2-3 left and am now simply letting them be). I used the rock (about 25 of the 40 lbs I ordered) to seed a new 96 gallon tank that has about 60 lbs of very large Pukani rock. You can see the tank in my build thread, but what I am amazed at is that, so far, I have not had any of the typical new tank "bad" algae show up which is usual for tanks started with only dry rock (especially Pukani). So right now I am 100% satisfied and happy with my decision and I wish I had more room in my display to add a few more pieces of this amazing rock.
clsanchez77
Active Member
Check out corkscrew anemone, I am pretty sure that is what mine are as well.
I have those anemones too. Not aiptasia. They have hardly spread at all no issue with them at all.
yes agreed - I had put an ID out to the R2R community and it was deemed a corkscrew or "good" hitch hiker. I can take a few pics of my rock tonight and post tomorrow. It really has held up well - great colors and life.
dcsorrell
Active Member
Not aptaisia, in my opinion (nor the other pic), but possibly ball anemone. Also, given time, some things that appear dead after shipping may turn out to be alive. Have fun finding out what's still hiding!Found something...Can aptasia have orange dots on it like this or is this something else?
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