Newb needs help with ID

[Shereth]

First of all, let me say I love the site. Lots of good information that I've been picking up by lurking and reading.

Got my hands on a 75G tank not long ago and decided to give a reef tank a go. Setup is pretty minimal at this point - I've got it running with some live rock and inert sand at the time being. The idea was to let it cycle for a while and make sure everything was established before I really dove into it (so to speak).

Got the live rock from a neighbor who was breaking down an established ~300 gallon tank. After I got the rock in my tank I noticed some hitchhikers and was mostly happy about it. A couple of hermit crabs, quite a few itty-bitty snails (I'm thinking Astraea). Various "bugs" that I suppose one would expect from cured rock, copepods and such. The rock also has a lot of nice purple coralline growth.

I've noticed a few other things since the water has settled and some of them have left me scratching my head, so I'm turning here for a little help from those in the know. Be forewarned, the linked pics are pretty big!

http://s697.photobucket.com/albums/v...t=IMG_0606.jpg

This first one is the little brownish fellow tucked against the rock, dead-center in the image. Kind of looks like a pair of tubes, shot mostly head-on in the photo. They're soft and definitely alive, they respond to touch by retracting. After reading horror stories about aiptasia and seeing the brown I kind of freaked out, but it doesn't look like the pictures I've seen. I'll refrain from panicking until someone advises me to panic Also, this is from an established tank and there was certainly no aiptasia infestation to be seen there.

http://s697.photobucket.com/albums/v...t=IMG_0610.jpg

This one is a bit of a double header. In the center you can see what appears to me to be a coral worm. There's several others on the rock not in the image, all the little red fuzzy fronds poking out of what look like delicate thin tubes. They do retract when disturbed. Also in this one you can see these red splotches. At first I thought they might be cyanobacteria blooms, but these have a leathery appearance and the blooms I read about were described as velvety. These all have very distinct edges and most have those little filamenty growths you can see. They're soft and squishy when poked.

http://s697.photobucket.com/albums/v...t=IMG_0613.jpg

Lastly is the light colored, butterfly-shaped guy in the center of this one. I actually took two pictures, the first was somewhat blurry but the critter is in a completely different position so he's obviously mobile. When I nudged at it it seemed attached to the rock, but when I go look now it is nowhere to be seen. I'm clueless what this one might be?

Thanks for any help, in advance!

[Twitterbait]

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you on board.

i am also glad to hear you have decided to take it slow. trust me, it will benefit you greatly in the long run.

as far as ID on the critters... here is my best guess.

1. looks like it could be a type of tubeworm, there are a million of them and many of them will stay small. nothing to worry about.
2. looks like... good question. it could be a type of algae, or a sponge, or any number of things. i would keep an eye on it and see what happens. if it really starts to gro and you get concerned then pull the rock out and scrub it off.
3. it is probably a slug. there are lots of different algae eating slugs with no shell that will stay small and just graze around the tank, nothing to worry about for now.

in the end if there is something you have on the rock and you want it gone then pull the rock and scrub it for a few minutes under some fresh water. everything besides algae will usually die after that. if it stays then pull the rock out, pat the growth dry with a paper towel and then use a blow torch to burn it off. cool the rock off in some cold freshwater and scrub the ash off, then return to your tank.

take some time to go to the tank specs section. we love to get the skinny on new tanks.

[jenglish]

#1 I think tubeworm
#2 no clue
#3 looks like a flatworm to me. Some are bad, some are OK... maybe not good but not a problem. There are some types of flatworms that eaty SPS

[Jadinop]

Pic 3 looks like an asterina star, they are often misshapen like that.

[Hop]

#2 is a spiro-something worm. A harmless filter feeder. I have thousands in my fuge and kind of like them