Help ID... (3 pics)

[pthoma79]

Can you guys help ID these?

 

1.

 

 

I have counted 4 of these now. They look like a slug with a "tail".

 

2.

 

 

These are all over a chunk of LR I got from the LFS, and I've seen one on the LR that's been in the tank for a while.

 

3.

 

 

Not sure how well you'll be able to see these, but there are probably 100 or so on my LR. They are small (1/8 - 1/4 ") and white. Almost look like a small polyp.

 

Any help you guys can give me would be great. Hopefully the pics work.

 

-Phil

[stylaster]

First one im not sure, the second is a brittle star leg, i have a lot of these little guys in my tank too. Last is a type of sponge, i forget the name, but harmless filter feeder

[pthoma79]

I was thinking brittle star leg too, but they are all over the rock (about 15 "legs" or so, top and sides). The rock is slightly larger than a softball.

[stylaster]

im positive they are brittle stars they dont get much bigger then 1" or so across, during the night if you go look with a flash light they will usually be out of their holes and crawling around

[pthoma79]

OK, great. I'll have to check that out tonight! On another board, someone said the third pic was q-tip sponges. Does that sound right?

[jptrson]

Do yo have clove polyps? The first one looks like a clove polyp of soft coral eating nudibranch. Hard to tell for sure from the pic, but of the 4 it's one I would definitely remove.

[DChemist]

The third is also known as a pineapple sponge.

 

From Ron Shimek in Reefkeeping Online Magazine http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rs/index.php ...

"Probably the type of calcareous sponge most likely found in reef aquaria are the so-called "Pineapple" sponges. These small, white or gray sponges often appear in a reef aquarium a few weeks or months after it is set up, and may or may not persist for a long time. They tend to appear in areas of relatively high current flow, and big ones reach heights of an inch or so. Aquarists commonly say that they are in the genus Scypha. This may be true, but see the discussion and example in the next couple of paragraphs for the problem: calcareous sponges of essentially the same shape, size and color are described from different areas under the generic names of Scypha, Grantia, Sycon, Leucilla and Leucandra. Species from these species cannot be distinguished by cursory examination. Snap "off-the-wall" identification by aquarists is particularly problematic with the calcareous sponges, which tend to be smaller and more symmetrical than most other sponges."