Fun with a single rock

Ben · 06-19-2006, 09:57 PM

We purchased a single smallish (2-3 baseball sized) rock from Exotic World of Fish this evening. So far, we have found:

2-3 color morphs of zoanthids (which we bough the rock for)
Encrusting porites with Christmas tree worms
2 zoanthid-eating sundial snails (captured and sentenced to death row)
12+ micro green sea urchins
1 larger sea urchin, black with orange spines
3+ micro serpent stars
1 flatworm (the good kind that eat the red flatworms)
1 aipstasia anemone
1 majano anemone
6+ live bivalves (maybe in the scallop family?)
1 chiton
1 limpet
some random sponges
barnacles!?
pods, etc.

Price: $35

What did we go into the store to look for?
Peppermint shrimp. But they didn't have any...

And this is why I love reef tanks. All of the above appear to be alive.

oyam123 · 06-20-2006, 11:45 AM

Nice!

,did you QT the rock?

MedicineMan · 06-20-2006, 02:44 PM

Sounds like an awesome rock! Too bad the Christmas tree worms will likely die and the aiptasia will likely live on and multiply...

tara_karan · 06-20-2006, 04:01 PM

Can aptasia grow in sand too? I just set up my tank and saw some things that looked like aptasia in the sand. There are some onthe rocks that I injected joe's juice into.
Thanks,
tk

Scott 3560 · 06-20-2006, 07:30 PM

I think they can live anywhere and thrive or take over.

Reefer Dude · 06-20-2006, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tara_karan

Can aptasia grow in sand too? I just set up my tank and saw some things that looked like aptasia in the sand. There are some onthe rocks that I injected joe's juice into.
Thanks,
tk

Yes, get on top of the Aptasia as fast as you can. Kalk injecting has always worked well for me.

Ben · 06-20-2006, 10:49 PM

I did not QT the rock... Because my QT tank has an aipstasia outbreak... Which is why I wanted the peppermint shrimp... I kalked about two dozen of the little buggers and they just pop up elsewhere. Sigh.

I kalk-nuked both anenomes and plan to add peppermints to the display again soon, and they have always cleaned out my aipstasia in short order.

I found one other thing on the rock tonight. I have no idea what it is. It looks like just another part of the rock until it moved. The critter looks a bit like the tiny barnacles, but with a fine line between two horn-like extensions. It is in what I think is some more porites. Then it moved inside the rock, the line split into an opening, and a feather-duster-type limb shot out, swept through the water, and was gone again. Except for that movement and the slight shifting before (digesting?), it was completely indistinguisable from the rest of the rock. I'm currently wildly guessing some sort of boring bivalve. It did this after I fed Cyclopeze to the tank. I don't think I saw it move before that.

Reefer Dude · 06-21-2006, 08:00 AM

Rost a pic when you get a chance, I would like to see it!

hng · 06-21-2006, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reefer Dude

Rost a pic when you get a chance, I would like to see it!

Yeah, let's see some pics

Ben · 06-21-2006, 08:49 AM

I'll see if I can get a pic, but this is a crazy-busy week and it is only maybe one cm wide at the point that I can see. I'm not sure I'll be able to get a good close-up picture. Looking at it after I posted, I started wondering if the slightly mottled pattern of the rock by the opening is really a mantle or shell, because it took on more of a pattern and looked less like random coralline/rock growth under the actinics. It did not do the periodic filter feeding this morning with the lights off. I watched for a couple minutes to check, so I think that might have been a reaction to the Cyclopeez.

If I get a pic, maybe I'll post it in Ron Shimek's forum as well to see if he's got any clue as to what it is.

Reefer Dude · 06-21-2006, 08:47 PM

Dr. Ron is always a good source of information.

numan · 06-21-2006, 08:51 PM

I bought a peppermint to get rid of the aptasia and he has not done the trick yet. Any suggestions?

Reefer Dude · 06-21-2006, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by numan

I bought a peppermint to get rid of the aptasia and he has not done the trick yet. Any suggestions?

An injection of Kalk has always worked best for me. The only other animal I know of that eats them is the Copper Banded Butterfly. But Kalk works best!

jdbassin · 06-21-2006, 09:12 PM

the little moving part of the rock with the feather like appendages that shoot out are likly acorn barnacles, I had several of them for about a year and a half then they died off. After three years I found an animal I nidn't know I had just today, Some tiny bright red feather dusters, I love this hobby.

jd

F22mech · 06-21-2006, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben

I found one other thing on the rock tonight. I have no idea what it is. It looks like just another part of the rock until it moved. The critter looks a bit like the tiny barnacles, but with a fine line between two horn-like extensions. It is in what I think is some more porites. Then it moved inside the rock, the line split into an opening, and a feather-duster-type limb shot out, swept through the water, and was gone again. Except for that movement and the slight shifting before (digesting?), it was completely indistinguisable from the rest of the rock.

I Have the same thing in my tank. Its a (Vermetid Snail).
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...237#post729237