Very Cool Critter!

[pvh]

Look what I found in my QT tank. It looks like a baby jellyfish. Should I keep it?

 

[smcnally]

Jellyfish are super fragile. I would just keep it in the QT and see how long it lasts. Very cool hitcher!

 

[chew*]

got about 10 of them in my frag/quarantine tank..........Just can't get a shot of the buggers........I was told however that they may not be jellyfish and they may be flatworms ( not the acro eating ones ) in an earlier stage of life..considering i have like 5 variations of FW in my fuge i'm inclined to agree.....

 

[GinaD]

If you find they're mostly upside-down, they may be Cassiopea jellyfish.

 

[pvh]

It swims through the water light a jellyfish so I'm guessing it's a jellyfish. Just curious if anyone have them in their main tank?

 

[chew*]

yes i have them in the main tank (12g atm) and yes they swim "like" jelly fish but like i said I do not think they are jellyfish..........Kiah (michelle) suggested that they were part of the lifecycle of a flatworm, since she runs more tanks with more diversity than any 8 of us combined I am inclined to go along with her ID.........

 

[TomD]

Thought they were hydroids?

 

[Jennifer]

I was thinking hydroids as well.
Are they under an 1/8 of an inch across or much larger.

 

[pvh]

It's under 1/8".

 

[smcnally]

Kiah (michelle) suggested that they were part of the lifecycle of a flatworm, since she runs more tanks with more diversity than any 8 of us combined I am inclined to go along with her ID.........

Nothing against Michelle, but I've never heard of a jellyfish like state of a flatworm in any part of its lifecycle. A simple google search shows many stages and none of which show them looking (nor swimming) like a jelly. It is much more believable that these are hydroid jellies that survived longer than normal.

 

[Kiah]

Without being able to see it in Brian's fuge, this is the flatworm that I was referring to. Sorry for the poor photo, it's the best my camera can do - Melev's Reef has a much better photo listed as a benign flatworm.

Top pictures 2nd from left.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html

 

[chew*]

It is much more believable that these are hydroid jellies that survived longer than normal.

surviving longer than normal? mine are multiplying........

 

[MarkO]

I had one of those critters in one of my tanks a few years ago. Lived for about a week or two then disappeared. I remember I had jsut set up the tank and wondered where the heck it came from? Never did figure it out.

 

[smcnally]

surviving longer than normal? mine are multiplying........

Notice Michelle's picture? What she is talking about is on the glass...and flat (like a flatworm). PVH's picture clearly shows his floating in the water column...like a jelly fish.

Hydroids do multiply in our tanks. In fact, they multiply in the thousands but usually die off when they are still just barely visible. To have 10-20 get larger than normal in a tank would be more believable to me that a jellyfish like flatworm stage.

 

[One Eye]

Cool little hydroid. The flatworm in the other pic looks nasty. Any acro's in the system? It looks alot like the acro eating flatworms.

Flatworms don't free swim at any point in their life cycle. They might get pushed out into the water column but they just get pushed by the current until they land on something.

 

[Aquaman_68]

hydroid in the top pics...That FW doesn't look like a nice one from the pic though!!!

 

[ReeferMedic]

That's a benign flat worm. AEFW don't have a "tail" like the one in the pic. Same color, but AEFW are rounded in the rear.

 

[Kiah]

Check the link you'll see a much clearer picture and as ReeferMedic said they are benign. I find them in the fuge. Their movements are incredible, they undulate as if using the top part as a parachute to draw food in towards their center. And they do move through the water column with the same undualting motion.

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html

 

[pvh]

Is hydroid reef safe? Not really sure what hydroid is.