What the heck is in my LR ?!?!?

[twintrades]

Begining

Bought a cool chunck a LR from foster/smith 10 buck. Little larger than soft ball size. Has some nice red shrooms on it. Its been in our tank for about a month now.

Last night i fed the tank. While im watching the fish corals eat i see somthing zipping in and outa my rock. About 2-2 1/2 inches long and it has a pincher on one end !! No body ever comes out. But there are about 3-4 little holes that you can stare at. And the arm will pop out and swing aropund in serch of food.

Its almost clear in color. And its damn quick. I have a kenya tree right by it and some times it reches out and grabs the trees polops.

What the heck is it ??

[thegrun]

Difficult to tell from your description alone. Try these web sites, they may help you to identify it.
http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchhikers.html

[resowner92]

The arm popping out sounds like a serpent star but I dont think they have pinchers

[sedor]

The fact that its grabbing your kenya tree and sounds to be "hunting" for food would concern me. A freshwater bath for a couple minutes can sometimes be a great option for flushing hitchhikers out of live rock.

[twintrades]

Nope not a serpent or brittel star. This is way to fast.

Its to small to be a thret to my critters. just want to know what it is.

[john90009]

mantis shrimp anyone?

[thebkramer]

do you hear any "popping" at night (or even during day)?
Pistol shrimp perhaps?

[john90009]

would have to be a shrimp or the worlds fastest crab that goes so fast you cant catch a glimpse of it. shrimp are fast(im putting money on a shrimp.)

[twintrades]

Arms are way to thin for a mantis. No poping at night. If it is a shrimp the arms are about 1/16 inch in dia. Its only in the rock. And like i said fast and long arms almost no time in between switching holes.

[john90009]

hmm idk fresh water would most likely get him out i have no idea what it could be

[DeepSeaHunter]

when i like to get things out of a rock, i usually just put a net around the rock and bring it to the surface and shake it around. whatever is in there usually comes out. i would wear some thick gloves, i have diving gloves so i use those. but that thing in your tank sounds viscious!

[twintrades]

To small to bite me.

Oh and the diamiter of the leg is more like a thick HAIR. Still dont know what it is......

[z@pp]

I had something similar and found it was sime kind of worm. In my case it was black with white dots and came out very quick and entered again when some food came by during feeding. I was never quick enough to snap it on a picture until at one point I found it in my sump where there are no rocks.