Does anybody know what these are?

stooge311

stooge311

New Member
If anybody knows, can they also tell me if they are good or bad to have in my tank.
I have a 90 G up for close to a year now. I checked all the levels a few days ago and everything but the phosphates (.03) were 0. SG is 1.023 and temp ranges from 78-81 on any given day. I have just put some stands on my lights (4x65) to get the light further away from the tank.
Currenlty I have
2 Striped Damsels
1 Bumblebee Goby (that's what my LFS calls it)
2 Sand sifting snails
20-25 Red Legged hermit crabs
15-20 Nassarius snails
2 Emerald crabs

 
stooge311

stooge311

New Member
The creature in the top picture is only in a few places on one side of the tank. The creature in the bottom picture is spread out over about a 12" area on the underside of a shelf. There are approx. 10-12 that I can see. Thanks for your help.
 
stooge311

stooge311

New Member
I was looking a little closer and I found a small white tube with what appeared to be a feather duster crown on the top. It's about the height of a pencil eraser and the tube is the thickness of a paper clip. When i placed a net near it, the crown retracted. Is that what they do? And is it possible that they can grow from live rock that has been in the tank for close to year now? I have never had feather dusters before.
The little red guys though in the first picture close almost like a clam and I can't quite tell how they are attached to the rock. Any thoughts?
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
Originally Posted by Threed240
How can you tell what the 2nd pic is?
I've been doing this awhile now, and ID threads are my favorite.
Can you get better pics? Back off the subject a bit. Q-tip sponges are a good thing, most all benthic organisms that hitch in on your rock are fine. Conditions must be getting good in your tank. Congrats! If you say the first one looks like a clam, it could be something like a barnacle. Have you bought any corals in the year? Larvae can come in with the rock from corals just the same as LR. Yes feather dusters retract when threatened, there are all different types, some make a soft tube from sand and bodily fluids, some make a hard tube out of calcium. Then there is a snail that casts a web out of a tube, they are called vermitid snails. They don't look anything like a snail,all you see is a tube and the web that comes out to catch food.
 
stooge311

stooge311

New Member
I posted a thread a while back about seeing long white tentacle about the thickness of hair. I can see them more now although not as long as they are when the lights are on. I will try to get better pics. I was trying to use the macro function but i can't get close enough. Full size, the pics look fine but i have to shrink them down in Paint to get them to fit on here.
Are barnacles a good thing?
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
Fine hair-like tentacles in the sand are called ciratulid or spaghetti worms. Coming from a tube are the snail I mentioned. Barnacles are fine, but most die off quickly after being in a tank, so it could be something else. As I said, most stuff that comes into our tanks are good detritus eaters and scavengers. If you are using a macro-mode you might want to back off, don't try to get so close to the subject. Let the camera adjust after you press the shutter button partway, then snap the pic. Maybe try some different distances, and see what works best.
 
stooge311

stooge311

New Member
They definately aren't coming from the sand. They are coming out of the rock itself. I can't see any tubes where the tentacles are based.
I located what appears appear to be a hard tube that has formed on the outside of the rock with the red tentacles sticking out of the top. I will get better pics of everything once my battery recharges.
A side note; after I bought the rock I noticed an intricate network of white tubes on the undersides of the rocks and they appear to be spreading.
 
stooge311

stooge311

New Member
That's what I wanted to hear. It just seemed odd to me that I started to see them in the past few weeks becasue my tank has been up for close to a year. I guess I'm a little over protective

Thanks everybody for your help!!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top