Help Unknown Growth - Good or Bad?

[Martin Cox]

Hi all,

New to marine and purchased a lot of live rock for my tank, I have had the tank running for about a week so far and I have started to get some nice growth on some of the rock.

Can you identify the growths I have taken pictures of, are they good? Bad? What are they? If they are bad how do I go about getting rid of them?

1st is a pinky colour that is a solid pink surface when the lights are off, when I come down in the morning and turn the tank lights on, all the growth in the pictures comes out.

2nd is what I can only describe as a transparent sun like growth, looks pretty enough but would like some advice,

Any advice, greatly appreciated thanks MC.

PS I forgot to add... Also on my live rock, I have a couple of things running around, that again I can only descibe as tiny white ant/catapillar like things, they are really hard to see and you have to stare at the rock to see they moving around? Again, Good or Bad?

[Original Fin]

Pics 2&3 are GSP, or Green Star Polyps...a type of fast growing, commom soft coral. (Good!)

Pic 1 is hard to tell, but I'd guess 1 of 2 things. Either a small feather duster (Good. If so, it would have a small hard tan/grey tube that it would retreat into when disturbed. OR, it could be an Aiptasia anemone, and those are bad. They mutlipy quickly, and spread all around your tank. They are bad becuase they irritate, and/or kill your other corals. If it is an Aiptasia, look up ways to kill it, and any others. There are lots of methods, but it can be a long never ending battle in well established tanks. It's much easier to get rid of them now and be done with it. Aiptasia have long transparent finger like appendages around the oral disk, whereas a feather duster has no appendages.

The little white bug critters are copepods and amphipods most likely. (Good) They are food for fish and corals, and an indicator of general tank health.

[zhenya]

Pics 2&3 are GSP, or Green Star Polyps...a type of fast growing, commom soft coral. (Good!)

Pic 1 is hard to tell, but I'd guess 1 of 2 things. Either a small feather duster (Good. If so, it would have a small hard tan/grey tube that it would retreat into when disturbed. OR, it could be an Aiptasia anemone, and those are bad. They mutlipy quickly, and spread all around your tank. They are bad becuase they irritate, and/or kill your other corals. If it is an Aiptasia, look up ways to kill it, and any others. There are lots of methods, but it can be a long never ending battle in well established tanks. It's much easier to get rid of them now and be done with it. Aiptasia have long transparent finger like appendages around the oral disk, whereas a feather duster has no appendages.

The little white bug critters are copepods and amphipods most likely. (Good) They are food for fish and corals, and an indicator of general tank health.

Concur with Original Fin on the GSP. In the first picture I see a small feather duster ( a polychaete that forms tube that it lives in and what you see is a crown of tenticles that it uses to filter feed.)

[trustinno1]

i agree in the first pic feather duster as for the other looks like coral maybe zena har to tell