Reef Pest ID

[MJ59HK]

My 400l tank (100G) has been going fishless for a month or so after velvet wiped out all of my fish. I only have two corals, a few snails and a star fish left. Lately I noticed in addition to the corals, snails and the star fish there are some little critters crawling around the tank on the sand and rocks. They may have hitchhiked through the NSW I used for my tank. At the moment, I don't have a RODI unit. Here are some photos I took. Can someone please help ID these and advise if I should leave them or eradicate them? If eradicate, please let me know how best to do this.

And also is this aiptasia - refer to last photo?

Many thanks.

 

[Isopod80]

Amphipods. Most are harmless cleaners. Just keep an eye on things for any signs of damage. Yes, that's Aiptasia in the last pic.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Amphibious. Copepods. Isopods. Most just say call them pods.
Aptasia.i see as well.
Hths
D

 

[ADAM]

First couple pics are pods like said previously. Right now you're probably seeing them more since the fishies are there to eat them. (Sorry to hear about the Velvet)

Aiptasia is correct also, most of the "Kill-Aiptasia" products work for the bigger ones but the issue seems to be if any piece of the flesh remains or floats away as its dying it will form new ones. the large ones are easy to spot but I bet if you start looking closely you can probably find a lot more baby ones growing around the tank. If you can find some berghia nudibranchs they'd be great to help eradicate them since there's no fish in the system right now that may pick at, or eat, the nudis. You may still need to try and kill the larger aiptasia if the nudis are on the smaller side for the species. The biggest issue with berghia nudis is they only eat aipatsia so once they are all gone the nudis would starve and die. Many times if there's other local reefers you can move them from tank to tank to help eliminate aiptasia from everyones tank. If you dont know many local reefers most fish stores would likely take them in on trade for other livestock. The old LFS that use to be near me loved getting them to help keep the live rock tanks as aiptasia free as they could.

 

[MJ59HK]

Amphipods. Most are harmless cleaners. Just keep an eye on things for any signs of damage. Yes, that's Aiptasia in the last

Amphibious. Copepods. Isopods. Most just say call them pods.
Aptasia.i see as well.
Hths
D

First couple pics are pods like said previously. Right now you're probably seeing them more since the fishies are there to eat them. (Sorry to hear about the Velvet)

Aiptasia is correct also, most of the "Kill-Aiptasia" products work for the bigger ones but the issue seems to be if any piece of the flesh remains or floats away as its dying it will form new ones. the large ones are easy to spot but I bet if you start looking closely you can probably find a lot more baby ones growing around the tank. If you can find some berghia nudibranchs they'd be great to help eradicate them since there's no fish in the system right now that may pick at, or eat, the nudis. You may still need to try and kill the larger aiptasia if the nudis are on the smaller side for the species. The biggest issue with berghia nudis is they only eat aipatsia so once they are all gone the nudis would starve and die. Many times if there's other local reefers you can move them from tank to tank to help eliminate aiptasia from everyones tank. If you dont know many local reefers most fish stores would likely take them in on trade for other livestock. The old LFS that use to be near me loved getting them to help keep the live rock tanks as aiptasia free as they could.

Thanks guys. That's a relieve RE: pods.

RE: aiptasia - I don't have any bergia nudibranchs in my tank but I noticed some aiptasia on some rocks I saw before which have since disappeared. Weird. Is there any anything else that will eat or kill aiptasia? I have four stromb snails (conches), half a dozen of zombie snails and about 15 trochus and turbo snails. Do they east aiptasia ? Anyway, I will see if my LFS has some bergia nudibranchs.

 

[Uzidaisies]

There’s an aiptasia eating filefish. Eats other anemones too I believe.

 

[Uzidaisies]

And Berghia nudibranch I guess. I do not have first hand experience with either.

 

[Uzidaisies]

And Berghia nudibranch I guess. I do not have first hand experience with either.

Oh you mentioned those already.

 

[MJ59HK]

There’s an aiptasia eating filefish. Eats other anemones too I believe.

Thanks. I was just wondering if any of my snails would eat aiptasia.

 

[MJ59HK]

Can I also get help with identifying these stuffs growing on the rocks? They are about the size of a rice grain may be wider (fatter) and looks like some soft issues. May be snail eggs attached to the rocks? There are several areas with these white stuffs growing on the rocks.

Also at the base of my elegance coral there are two largish patches. It looks like a thin layer of cotton. What are they?

 

[Uzidaisies]

Looks like maybe some pineapple sponges and some tunicates, I’m not sure.

 

[Isopod80]

A mixture of pineapple and clathrina sponges. Both are harmless. Your snails will not eat aiptasia. Some people have had luck with peppermint shrimp. Most on here, including myself, get berghia nudibranchs from Saltyunderground.com You could always try aiptasia x, Kalk paste etc.

 

[MJ59HK]

Thanks. I will leave them alone then.

 

[WheatToast]

Amphibious. Copepods. Isopods. Most just say call them pods.
Aptasia.i see as well.
Hths
D

OP specifically has Amphipods (note the curved back). Copepods are much smaller and Isopods tend to have flatter backs.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Pods are.pods.
D

 

[WheatToast]

Pods are.pods.
D

They all perform similar functions in captivity (consume detritus/algae and feed larger organisms), though Copepods enjoy congregating on glass walls and I have had some Amphipods prefer to live within the substrate bed when pods tend to reside within rockwork and macroalgae. Copepods also tend to be much more numerous than Isopods and Amphipods and I believe Amphipods are too large for Mandarinfish to consume (as opposed to what you might hear online).

 

[MJ59HK]

I discovered some more unidentified tenants in my tank. It looks like some sort of worm perhaps about 2-3cm long (about an inch) and white. I know I have bristle worms inside my tank but the bristle worms I saw before they are either crawling along the wall of the tank or on rocks or hide themselves in the substrate. But the ones I saw tonight they are swimming openly in the water column. When swimming in the water column it wiggles very quickly almost like it is vibrating. There is quite a few of them as well. Also, there is another one slight different to the worms like swimming in the water column. This one stick itself to the tank wall and is more rounded with what looks like legs sticking out around like a spider. Can someone please help me ID what these are? If they are unwelcome tenants how do I get rid of them? Thanks.

 

[Reefing102]

Hard telling but looks like a spaghetti worm. Usually in the sand bed but have seen them on the glass before

 

[MJ59HK]

Hard telling but looks like a spaghetti worm. Usually in the sand bed but have seen them on the glass before

Thanks. When I Googled spaghetti worm, the images returned look like the one I described sticking to the wall looks like it. But the ones swimming in the water column do not have the spaghetti tentacles.

 

[Isopod80]

Looks like worm epitokes. They are pelagic morphs of marine worms capable of sexual reproduction. It's a stage that polychaete worms often display. The tentacled one on the glass is a spaghetti worm. I've seen them on the glass several times.