a worm?

• Apr 29, 2008

• #1

N

natan

Reefing newb

It looks like a worm (a feather duster) to me. They are tiny (2 mm across the circular mouth) and they populate one of my live rocks. Here is a pic (excuse the quality - they are really tiny):

 

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• Apr 30, 2008

• #2

Bifferwine

I am a girl

Hmm hard to tell. Does it have a hard tube? If so, then it's a feather duster. You'll find them hiding all over your live rock as time goes on.

 

• Apr 30, 2008

• #3

N

natan

Reefing newb

Basically it's white strings grouped in a circle sticking out of the rock.

 

• Apr 30, 2008

• #4

F

fatman

Reefing newb

Sound like a possible description for glass anemones. Are they like tentacles that are more clear than white and arranged in a circle? Do they completely contract back into hole in the rock? Typically feather dusters have rows of circles of feather like tentacles where as glass anemones have just one row of tentacles in a circle.

 

• Apr 30, 2008

• #5

Bifferwine

I am a girl

Yeah, it could be aiptasia or majano anemones. I'd google those and see if any of the pictures look familiar.

 

• May 11, 2008

• #6

N

natan

Reefing newb

Couldn't Google anything quite similar. They don't seem to grow in size. Here is another pic of 3 specimens.

 

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• May 31, 2008

• #7

M

mrviper

Reefing newb

It kind of looks like aptasia. A pest anemone. You will want to get rid of it as it could cause a lot of damage to your other corals.

 

• Jun 3, 2008

• #8

yote

In Memoriam

Looks more like small dusters to me.

 

• Jun 3, 2008

• #9

MamaJones

proud reefer!

I just saw something very small like this growing out of a dead snail's shell. If I don't have any coral should I worry about it. Could it be a feather duster?

mrviper said:

It kind of looks like aptasia. A pest anemone. You will want to get rid of it as it could cause a lot of damage to your other corals.

Click to expand...

 

• Jun 3, 2008

• #10

Bifferwine

I am a girl

Google aiptasia and feather dusters. They look very different.

If it is aiptasia, you should get rid of it whether you have corals or not. They spread very quickly and will take over your tank if you let them.

 

• Jun 3, 2008

• #11

N

natan

Reefing newb

These don't seem to spread noticeably and they have never grown bigger than what you see on the picture. I have one peppermint shrimp in the tank that enjoys exploring these rocks and may control the population of these hitchhikers.

 

• Jun 3, 2008

• #12

reeffreak

Reef pro

They don't look like aiptasia nor quite feather duster worms either.Looks like barnacles,reef safe and generally die off in time.

 

• Jun 5, 2008

• #13

charlesr1958

Village Idiot

I agree, most likely harmless tube worms. For more info and photos please see the worm section of my hitch hiker pages (link in signature). Hope it is of use.

Chuck

 

• Jun 13, 2008

• #14

N

natan

Reefing newb

It turns out they really are worms. They live in tiny rigid tubes and will retract to them when scared. A couple are big enough to observe this but I just couldn't take a good picture.