Identify?       5/21/18
Hi Bob
Can you tell me what the yellow Lacy looking area is?
<A boring sponge of some sort Tracy... drilling into the coral. BobF>
Thanks!

Some Help Identifying this    4/21/18
Thoughts on what these might be?
<Curious>
I had a bad feeling I had the dreaded black bugs. But I read those are arthropod of some sort.
<Yes>
But I think this is some kind of AEFW? They have the hallmarks of a flatworm.
<In some ways; yes. The "eyes" structures, flexible body; absence of appendages. Worm like>
They are blacker than the AEFW I’ve seen before and smaller. I saw them on one of my Acros so I dipped them and put these under the microscope.
<Ahh>
The AEFW I’ve seen are about the size of small rice, these are the size of fine black pepper.
I didn't have the software to measure them under my scope.
<This is close enough>
The second half of the video is more interesting.
<Yes... and that little tail... What dip, procedure did you employ? Bob Fenner>
Nathan

Re: Some Help Identifying this    4/21/18
Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer for Soil and Turf Concentrate. 2.5 gallons of water with 400 mL of Bayer. 15 min, then I perfuse tank water into the dip container letting the overflow go down the drain.
Then I dip in Revive for about 10 min - not sure why other than it seems to make the coral “slime up” and then more things come off when I do the final rinse.
<A common occurrence>
Final rinse off with tank water and put the coral back in the tank.
<Good>
So far not coral loss and the “bugs” drop off pretty darn fast.
<With the use of Bayer and ReVive most all should be eliminated. Am not sure what these are; or if they're predaceous pests or no. Bob Fenner>

Re: Some Help Identifying this     /Lynn's input      4/22/18
Hey Bob! It's good to hear from you. Things are going well here. We're now loving life in beautiful Colorado after being flooded out in hurricane Harvey. This was a case of being gifted with a beautiful rainbow after the storm! I hope all is going great for you as well. I just saw the attached query and will get on it right now. Take care, Lynn
<Ah; great to hear from you and realize you're doing well Lynn. Cheers, BobF>
<<Thanks, Bob. Life is good! As for the queried subject, I've looked everywhere and can't offer anything beyond what you've already stated and recommended. Hopefully, I'll be more help with the next ID! Take care, Lynn>>
>Thank you Lynn. A mystery for sure. BobF<

Flatworm or something else?       4/11/18
Hi WWM Crew,
<Adam>
Was hoping to get an ID on the mysterious creatures in the attached photos.
<Appear to be Acoel flatworms... Likely no big deal. See WWM re>
Thanks for your help!
Adam Clayton
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>

Hitchhiker ID      3/24/18
Hi again all! I have a few hitchhikers on some Caribbean live rock that I'm hoping to identify, if you'd be willing to lend an eye and an opinion. I think the anemone is an Anemonia melanaster and the sponge I believe to be
Mycale laxissima, but I know sponge identification is dodgy at best without a microscope.
<Even with at times>
The coral at its base looks to me like Eusmilia fastigiata, smooth flower coral. Do you feel I'm way off base on any of these? If so, what are they? I'd really appreciate your input. This is a brand new tank, still cycling so there are no fish or intentional inverts in there yet.
All the rock has been sourced from Caribbean suppliers.
Leah
<Leah, we ask/require that people send in files of no more than a few hundred Kbytes... you've sent 13 megs. And these pix are too washed out, poorly resolved to make out much. Please reshoot, re-size and re-send. Bob
Fenner>

Re: Hitchhiker ID      3/25/18
Sorry about that, all I have to take pictures is my phone and I didn't realize it saved pictures as such large files.
<Ahh! And we have quite limited email storage total; and when out in places w/ slow Net... Agonizing!>
I found an app to resize photos, please let me know if these work out better.
<Ah yes. The first... does it really have a stony base? To me it looks like a Glass Anemone/Aiptasiid; and the second; are you referring to the pinkish Sea Squirt or the stony coral under it? If the coral it may be a cup coral/Eusmilia, Caryophylliid of the trop. W. Atlantic Bob Fenner>  

Re: Hitchhiker ID      3/25/18
It is on a solid stony base, not in a crevasse or hole in the rock.
<But does the animal itself display a coral skeleton? Anemones do not>
I did not immediately think Aiptasiid for two reasons: first, when disturbed it pulls it's tentacles and oral disc down into it's rather fat column but does not pull into the rock at all (and indeed cannot because of its placement) and second, the tentacles keep bulbing up very similar to a BTA.
Are these behaviors Aiptasiids share?
<Can be; yes. They are quickly retractile, and do have bulging tentacles at times... Try using Google to see images, or WWM! >
I've never had them before so I only have "book learning" on them unfortunately.
<Are to be found looking about in the TWA. BobF>
Re: Hitchhiker ID      3/25/18
You're often a better resource than Google lol. I did look up quite a few images on Google image search and in various databases but i haven't made it through the WWM FAQs so I will keep looking! Thanks so much for your help!
<Glad to assist you Leah; hoping we can solve this mystery. Bob Fenner>

Can you Id this?      3/17/18
Hello Bob and WetWetMedia Friends,
<Hey Raul>
I took a picture of a Berghia Nudibranch and I noticed something else on the picture.
<Nice pix!>
Something I have seen over some mushrooms.
Can you identify the thing the arrow is pointing at, that you can see covering the mushrooms in the other 2 pictures?
<Oh yeah>
Is it a plague? A parasite? Or is something normal the mushrooms have?
<These are flatworms... some folks lose their minds launching attacks against such... best to be patient, perhaps add a biological control (predator). Let's have you read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/flatworms.htm
and the linked files above re>
Thank you.
Best regards,
Raul Labastida
<Welcome! Bob Fenner>

Re: Can you Id this?  Acoels   3/18/18
Thank you Bob,
<Welcome Raul>
I really appreciate your help.
<Glad to render it>
I read all the articles and even searched in 2 forums.
I think I will go with your recommendation and be patient (Patient is the second name of Reefkeeping) as all the possible solutions are very hard to implement in my tank.
<Ah yes; this is what I'd do as well. Have seen much more concentrated aggregations of these Acoels on Mushrooms et al Cnidarians in the wild>
I was able to find and Buy some Berghia Nudibranchs to eliminate all the Aiptasia I had.
If I can find a Velvet Sea Slug - Chelidonura varians I will try with it as it seems to be the best and safest option.
If you can recommend something else please let me know.
<Nothing more. Nada mas>
Thank you again
Best regards,
Raúl Labastida
<And you. BobF>

Red algae ID     2/11/18
Hello, I wrote in many months back and you were super helpful identifying some algae for me. I hope you can help again! I have attached a photo of the reddish pink tree-like algae that is spreading like wildfire through my tank. I didn’t see anything like it in your algae ID archives... can you tell me what it is?
<I wish I could... the regular branching... I don't think this is an algae/Thallophyte, but a very pink Hydrozoan of some sort>
Does anything eat it that I could use to help control the spread? Thank you!
-Sarah
<There are some notable Seaslugs that ingest various Hydropolyps, but I don't know anything re this particular one. I would remove it from the system, as it may be producing stinging elements that will bother your other livestock. Do you have a microscope with a USB connection? I'd like to see some 100-200, 400 time magnification shots. Bob Fenner>

Re: Red algae ID      2/12/18
Hi Bob, I don’t have a microscope unfortunately.
<Perhaps a local fish store does, someone from a marine aquarium club>
I have tried some manual removal but ripping it off leaves traces behind that I cannot remove, and it is widespread, including my tank overflow box and powerhead. It also grows very very fast.
<Yeeikes! I wish I could tell definitive what this is. I have never encountered something this shade of pink, nor with the array of branching it shows>
Is bleaching my tank and starting over my only option to eradicate this pest?
<It may well be>
Also, can it sting fish or just corals?
<Can't tell w/o testing or microscopic looking. BobF>
Thanks again.
Sarah

Help with jelly infestation on Coral system    1/9/18
Hi Bob,
<Raul>
I visited this weekend some friends that have a Fish and Coral store.
<Ahh>
They are having some kind of Jelly infestation in their coral Beds and need urgent help.
<No fun>
I've never seen something like this before.
I took some small videos that show the issue. Is there a way I can send them to you so maybe you and other WWM experts can help with this problem?
I could send pictures but the videos show much better the problem.
<Please post on YouTube (or such) and send along the link. We have limited file space from our ISP>
Please help me to give them a solution.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Raúl Labastida
<I can tell you in general what the choices are... finding where the jellies are strobilizing from (rock usually) and removing them "by the roots" (scraping and vacuuming); and for ones in suspension, VIGOROUS water movement, mechanical filtration that removes them readily from the system. No chemical treatment, predators... will work here. Bob Fenner>
Estado de Mexico
México
Re: Help with jelly infestation on Coral system... Hydroids?     1/9/18
Hi Bob,
I call it jelly for not having any other way to call it. I don't know what it is.
<Okay....>
As you can see on their first Triton Test (attached) from December 27 when this problem was starting their water parameters are not that bad.
<I agree>
Please find the links to YouTube for 2 short videos:
https://youtu.be/Jtbj_26mQQc
https://youtu.be/r795Z4yisg4
It's like gelatinous strings with bubbles that raise from the corals and all other surfaces.
<Mmm; this may be... a Hydrozoan... but need a much closer, better resolved image to tell. Preferably a few ten power microscope shot. Otherwise... there are MANY possibilities for what this might be. I don't see marks on the fishes... which leads me to think this isn't likely a very toxic thing at any length. But; do have your friends look up "Hydrozoan", "Hydropolyp", "Myrionema" for some input possibility>
Hope this helps to show you what I mean.
<Not really mate>
Thank you.
Best regards,
Raúl Labastida
<Welcome. BobF>
Re: Help with jelly infestation on Coral system    1/9/18
Hello Bob,
<Raul>
Thank you for the info.
<W>
I took the attached pictures of the gelatinous thing.
You can see how its on corals like a spider web and it is white when is inside the water. But if you take it out it turns reddish as you can see on the other picture.
<... five megs of gelatinous....>
I will try to get better 10X zoom pictures tomorrow.
<Good>
Let me know if the attached pictures help.
<They don't>
Thank you.
Best regards,
Raúl Labastida