How to ID these...

Yea super small... Can they grow large?

 

I dont think those ones do. Mine never have.

 

mine span out to close to the size of a quarter, but not quite yet

 

So if the first two pics are good "things" but the last two pics are bad.. The last two pics are on the same rock piece.. And oddly enough it's the newest rock I bought (only 1.5lbs) but it's covered in that green/brown/black stuff.. Is there anything I can do to clean up this rock alone or should I just grab some of them shrimp and let them get fat off it?

 

I just got a peppermint shrimp and it ate all of my aiptasia. it took a few days and it only happened in the night. They are great shimp too.

 

and i wouldnt say that the first two are good. Just IMO when they are small they are quite harmless. I have never seen mine any larger than a quarter as well (if that) but they can catch small inverts or very small fish. Mine have never grown to plauge proprtions either. But the aiptasia can grow large and become invasive. The peppermint shrimp usually only eats them while they are still small. I wouldnt worry about the first two though

 

is the green/brown/black stuff algae? How old is the tank? Tell us more about the tank

 

tanks about a month old, that rock was at my LFS and he got it in on trade from someone...

 

well probably just an algae bllom. Check you ammonia, nitrites, etc. If all is good then hopefully your tank cycled. If so then get a peppermint shrimp and some snails. Reefcleaners.org has some good packages. I ordered the 23 gal hex package with free shipping and he gave me like 100 snails! i paid 19 something cuz I had a coupon code from here I think. If the peppermint shrimp doesnt get the aiptasia then I would try to remove it manually. There are many ways such as the boiling water or lemon juice in a syringe. Or theres Kalk paste. Or even brand name stuff to buy to remove them but I have never used it.

 

I've had my water tested a few times, everything is good for my tank.. I'll get some shrimp and if that doesn't work, maybe I'll boil the whole damn rock...