QT Live Rock - What is this?

[ScubaFish802]

Noticed this guy after turning lights on. It free swims but also grabs onto rocks - seems too big/fast for pods? - second half of video has much clearer image

What is this?

youtube.com

EDIT: Answer seems to be that it is a bad isopod.

 

[ScubaFish802]

Bump

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I can’t tell for sure, so hopefully someone else can chime in, but it looks like (based partly off the body shape, but mostly off the eyes at the front) it might be a cirolanid isopod - bad guys for our tanks.

 

[REEFER-RICK]

cirolanid isopod I think bad dude trash it if unsure has the speed of one very fast swimmers

 

[JoJosReef]

Looks like a cirolanid. Close up shot, especially of the eyes would help differentiate a cirolanid (kill it with fire) from spheromatid (meh).

 

[ScubaFish802]

That was what my initial searches on google turned up as well.. but assuming I was being overly cautious I wanted more opinions.. this AM I also noticed some flat worms on the side of my rock QT bucket.. (not the good casper the ghost one’s either) the rock looks excellent, but not sure I am wanting the bad guys I am seeing as well I might scrap this round of live rock

 

[ScubaFish802]

Really tough to get a closer pic without loosing focus

 

[Karen00]

Oh ya, that definitely looks like the bad type. It's those angry looking eyes that give them away. Here's a good thread by one of the members.

How to tell the difference between "good" and "bad" Isopods (CIROLANID VERSES SPHAEROMATID ISOPODS)

CIROLANID VERSES SPHAEROMATID ISOPODS. When you know what your looking for, telling the difference between a Cirolanid (bad) versus a Sphaeromatid (good) becomes a lot easier. It's all in the eyes..... The eyes of the Cirolanid are generally closer together and towards the front of the head...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ScubaFish802]

Oh ya, that definitely looks like the bad type. It's those angry looking eyes that give them away. Here's a good thread by one of the members.

How to tell the difference between "good" and "bad" Isopods (CIROLANID VERSES SPHAEROMATID ISOPODS)

CIROLANID VERSES SPHAEROMATID ISOPODS. When you know what your looking for, telling the difference between a Cirolanid (bad) versus a Sphaeromatid (good) becomes a lot easier. It's all in the eyes..... The eyes of the Cirolanid are generally closer together and towards the front of the head...

www.reef2reef.com

Well, that answers that then..
I can confirm it will not roll up like a roly poly, it just starts swimming around really fast until it finds a place to perch, when in a fish net out of water it also did not roll up and stayed fully open

So next step I guess is to clean my net and bucket with a bleach mixture I suppose lol

 

[Karen00]

Well, that answers that then..
I can confirm it will not roll up like a roly poly, it just starts swimming around really fast until it finds a place to perch, when in a fish net out of water it also did not roll up and stayed fully open

So next step I guess is to clean my net and bucket with a bleach mixture I suppose lol

These creepies look like they hopped off an alien spaceship. When you focussed on it in the video I had one of those cringe moments. It's the eyes I tell you, the eyes! LOL

 

[Soren]

It looks like a cirolanid isopod to me and definitely not a keeper if you don't want it feeding on your fish. One came in on my ocean-direct live rock but did not survive the shipping.

 

[Mikey0909]

Noticed this guy after turning lights on. It free swims but also grabs onto rocks - seems too big/fast for pods? - second half of video has much clearer image

What is this?

youtube.com

EDIT: Answer seems to be that it is a bad isopod.

I would agree, that’s what it looks like

 

[ScubaFish802]

It looks like a cirolanid isopod to me and definitely not a keeper if you don't want it feeding on your fish. One came in on my ocean-direct live rock but did not survive the shipping.

It’s managed to live in the little pint mixer over night, going to dump it after work shortly here and clean everything that touched that water.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

It’s managed to live in the little pint mixer over night, going to dump it after work shortly here and clean everything that touched that water.

Where did this live rock come from?

 

[SaltyPotato]

My TB saltwater shipment came in with them a month ago. Been fighting since. It’s miserable - goodluck.

belows a good thread I found trying to figure out more about these guys. If the rock isn’t in your tank, I suggest skipping out and taking the loss as fighting isn’t worth it. You can also drop the rock in 1.035 saltwater for 5 minutes and throw the rock in a separate container to observe.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/bp/index.php

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

My TB saltwater shipment came in with them a month ago. Been fighting since. It’s miserable - goodluck.

belows a good thread I found trying to figure out more about these guys. If the rock isn’t in your tank, I suggest skipping out and taking the loss as fighting isn’t worth it. You can also drop the rock in 1.035 saltwater for 5 minutes and throw the rock in a separate container to observe.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/bp/index.php

From what I am gathering, some hitchhikers are seasonal ; there seem to be a lot more posts about these guys recently, all from live rock maricultured in the gulf.

 

[ScubaFish802]

My TB saltwater shipment came in with them a month ago. Been fighting since. It’s miserable - goodluck.

belows a good thread I found trying to figure out more about these guys. If the rock isn’t in your tank, I suggest skipping out and taking the loss as fighting isn’t worth it. You can also drop the rock in 1.035 saltwater for 5 minutes and throw the rock in a separate container to observe.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/bp/index.php

We must have both ordered around the same time!
I actually moved the 5Gal bucket all the rock is in out on the porch a couple of hours ago. I have been monitoring and have seen many more since making this post, some much larger than the original I pictured at the top. I haven't quite dumped it yet just because the rest of the rock looks so good for some reason I am hanging on lol
All my research says it is really hard to eradicate them, I have yet to find a method other than trapping or severely poisoning - accounts of starving them out are inconsistent, some people say 1-3 months, some 3-6 months, some say they can live for over a year without a host. They seem to survive even freshwater for over an hour and come back to life. Really under researched for sure!