little brown things

[frogman5]

i have these little brown things all over my live rock alot of them died but there is still quite a bit of them and there quite ugly so i was wondering wat they are there like little square brown things

[BIGgourami]

what do they look like other than little brown squares?

soft? hard? moving? sessile? plant? animal?

[frogman5]

got a decent few pics

http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp267/desmondsconnor/?action=view&current=DSC_0419.jpg

http://s418.photobucket.com/albums/pp267/desmondsconnor/?action=view&current=DSC_0419.jpg

[BIGgourami]

i take it you're talking about the little freckle looking things in the back center of the photo?


i cant really tell it looks like a kind of coralline algea but it's on the chaeto as well... :/

do they move around?

[frogman5]

those are prolly the best im going to be able to get even i amazed myself when i took those

[frogman5]

yeh they move around not that much but sometimes some of them get on the glass and move around

[BIGgourami]

hmmm...

they are probably either really small snails
or REALLY small starfish

hard to tell, they are friggen TINY!!

[frogman5]

yeh i know i squished one earlier lol

i posted this pic on other forums and hopefully someone knos thanks for the help tho

[Otto_VonBacon]

The more and more i look at it the more and more they begin to look like tiny starfish... But can starfish even get that small?

[frogman5]

lol they dont have the tentacles or anything so i dont think there starfish but who knows these things are annoying tho i wan them gone about ready to clean them all out tommorwo

[BIGgourami]

no harm done if you do.. just make sure all reminants of them are GONE if they are star fish.. this could quintuple their numbers if done improperly

[frogman5]

o great not sure how to kill them all tho got any suggestions

[BIGgourami]

if they move around this could be hard.. very hard.. unfortunately

[frogman5]

well they dont move much its just a few that will move a few centimeters every now and then for the most part they stay still

[BIGgourami]

if you think you can pick off all the ones from the glass

then soak the rocks you see them on in freshwater that should take care of them... whatever they are

[unannon]

If they don't look like a starfish as you stated, I am guessing flatworms. If they go on the glass when the lights are out, then I am really thinking such. Annoying, and you can research remedies to such, and then decide what route you want to go, as people seem to have mixed experiences with most. There is also some types of fish that supposedly sometimes eat them with mixed results on these as well such as 6 lines and mandarins, but I'd try other routes first, and if going the fish route, make sure they are compatible with what you have, as well as that you are able to support the fish (esp mandarins) in terms of feeding and tank size. Also read of accounts where they dissapear just as fast as they appeared and vice versa for no particular reason. Try to figure out what caused them to show up, so you can avoid it in the future. Also try not to break them when removing, they release toxins.

[Predator 1]

I am not sure what fish you have in your system. But I would seriously consider buying a "Copperband Butterfly fish" There mouths are ideally suited for the job of clearing small creatures like those, including Aptaisia. And as a bonus, they are a very colorful fish.