Quarantined my soft corals...now what??

[no_sushi_for_you]

I am new to the hobby and I am trying to not add anything to my tank that I don't recognize. I recently bought a small piece of live rock with button polyps all over it. After observing it in my quarantine tank, I have noticed there are many other organisms living on this piece of real-estate that I do not know. My fear is adding it to the main tank and paying the price later in trying to remove it.
Short of taking a picture of everything, since I can’t without a micro-lens, I would like a reference to a good book for identifying species of soft coral, crabs, sea cucumbers, and algae.

[ScruffyRubicon]

Welcome to TRT!

It is very hard to identify what you have without pics. Chances are you have some pods, possibly some worms and since you have polyps, maybe some not so welcome nudibranches. What you can do is a freshwater(FW) dip to kill off any hitch hikers. Match the temp and ph of the freshwater to your tank water. Dip the polyps in the FW for as long as 15 minutes. Swish the polyps good before placing them back in your tank.

There are some good sites for ID'ing hitch hikers, I don't have access to them right now but I am sure others will step up shortly.

[no_sushi_for_you]

Thanks for the response...

I have spent countless hours trying to go through pictures and searching on characteristics of what I am seeing in the Forum search, the few books I have, and on-line to try and come up with a hit. I have been successful for a lot of things but I have hit a few snags in the ID process with a crab, some Black Sea Cucumbers or Nudi's, and one other beastie that I am not sure of.
fficeffice" />>>
Where I am getting stuck now is with the individual variances I am seeing may not find a match in my search. For instance, I think I have a bunch of baby Black Sea Cucumbers, but they may be Nudibranches. Not being able to dissect them to determine their identification on whether or not their butt’s are in the front or in the back, I am stuck on trying to match the picture.
The problem with picture matching is I don’t know if the differences I am seeing can be attributed to an individual variance, stage in their life, or some other organism that looks like what I have.
>>
If there is a good book or technique on ID’ing species, that would be appreciated.
In the mean time I am trying to get a camera lens that will allow me to take their picture to post.

[zero186]

i have a good site for it here it is i have used it to id alot of things

http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm

[ScruffyRubicon]

Originally Posted by zero186

i have a good site for it here it is i have used it to id alot of things

http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm

That's the site I was going to point you to. I had the shortcut at home and couldn't locate it. Very good site for a lot of the more common hitch hikers.

[zero186]

lol its been used alot here for IDing and now keep it open just as much as trt

[no_sushi_for_you]

Thank you for the link, but it did not have a picture of what I was looking for.

I pryed off one of the ?? Black Sea Cucumbers ?? from the rock. There is about 3 or 4 of them on it and this one was under the rock. I have also seen them extend an antennae like aperature from one end which seemed to look like a filter of some sort and then retract it back into it's body.

I apologize for the bad pictures but I am having a tough time without the right lens.

Can anyone tell me if this is a Black Sea Cucumber??

[zero186]

looks like one but might be to small to really tell yet i would keep in a QT for a while and see what they do and if you dont have a QT you could keep them in the main tank just keep an eye on them. unless someone has a better idea on what they are?

[no_sushi_for_you]

I am thinking of not putting anything in my maintank before I have ID'ed it....but at this rate that may take a lifetime. I am still amazed as to how many critters and crudders can live on one small piece of rock.

Any thoughts on moving things to the maintank before they are ID'ed?

[zero186]

1st whats in the main tank right now

[ChrisPrusha]

Originally Posted by no_sushi_for_you

I am thinking of not putting anything in my maintank before I have ID'ed it....but at this rate that may take a lifetime. I am still amazed as to how many critters and crudders can live on one small piece of rock.

Any thoughts on moving things to the maintank before they are ID'ed?

As you know, it's awful hard getting them out of the main tank, if need be.

[zero186]

see if the LFS will know or maybe take them