Recent content by tomshannon

Staurocladia hydromedusa

Here's a slightly more detailed shot of one I found in my tanks a few years back. You can see two smaller medusae budding asexually from the aboral surface. The little red dots along the umbrellar edge are eyespots.

What you have pictured is the medusa stage. They also have a polyp stage. The medusae do not swim. They do come and go... most likely through lifecycle stages. I doubt these are what appear to be disturbing your fish.

Jjarbo1, The first critter you describe is a spirorbid. Totally harmless, quick reproduction therefore great food supply for corals etc. The second critter, the one you photographed, is a hydromedusan of the Genus Staurocladia. These are predatory cnidarians and actually crawl around on the...

Whoooaa... deja vu :) Edited/added portion below: Dear posters, It would appear that I have upset the Karma Fairy with the "deja vu" comment above :( I thought it funny at the time that I could have sworn I had posted a reply to this thread, yet I couldn't find what I wrote anywhere in the...

As long as you're honoring the memory of Teak... just one step further: Tweak

Do they look anything like the guy in this picture? If so... amphipod :)

Hi Tori, In answer to your question(s), and given that you have Convolutriloba acoels (rust/red flatworms) they don't pose a threat to your tank despite conventional "wisdom". I answered a similar question on another forum site but will repost it here as well: Bear in mind that I am only...

"You see ive been researching and budding these guys for a month or so" Hey Carl, personal (fun) research, or institutional (I-need-a-grant) research?

Rick got it right... assuming your sand came from Florida, Gulf of Merxico, or the Caribbean, the species is Fasciolaria tulipa. As for the other guy... any pictures with more detail?

Thanks :) My life has pretty much revolved around these guys for the last decade. It's been a wee bit weird being one of only a handful of people in the world who actually like these critters and WANT them in their tanks.

For anyone who actually loves these guys (like I do), or for those merely wanting to get an accurate identification of their "Red Planaria"... (gotta love that moniker since they're neither red nor planaria)... a comprehensive identification guide to the Convolutriloba is now available here...