A new hitchhiker turned up while I was looking at the tank after a weekend water change!
As usual, I was just staring at the tank after the water change when I spotted something big moving near the top.
Whenever I change the water, I look for small bristle worms and brittle stars and remove them before they get too big. I'd already caught a few little ones that day.
This one looked like a worm. Had I missed one? I wasn't feeling too happy as I took a closer look, but thankfully, it wasn't a worm.
That was a relief, though I still wanted to know what it was. As soon as I spotted it, I took some photos and asked GPT, "Hey, what's this?!"
I Googled Stomatella and compared the photos. Convinced that was what I'd found, I looked back at the tank to enjoy watching it. In less than a minute, it had hidden somewhere. I couldn't find it at all.
After reading that it eats algae off the glass and live rock and leaves corals and fish alone, I wanted to watch the little guy without worrying for a bit.
It probably slipped between the rocks. It still amazes me that there could be creatures in that live rock I know nothing about.
I've come across all sorts of hitchhikers: crabs, bristle worms, Aiptasia anemones, brittle stars, sponges, and more.
I've tried hard to remove some of them and spent time looking things up. Whether I like finding them or not, these discoveries have become part of the fun.
I can't completely control everything living in the tank anyway. I've changed my approach a bit: relax, and just keep things from multiplying too much or getting too big.
What else could be living inside those rocks?