id hitchhikers

[r_ranney_jr]

I have had my live rock now for 3 months. Now i am finding all sort of little guys coming out. i have no pics so sorry before hand. i will describe best i can. One looks like a white slug, doesnt move anywhere just appeared overnight. it is curled up like a cashew nut and jut as big. Creamy white coloration and looks like it spits out a web like a spider on the rock it is on. it looks like a fungus more than a living creature. Next is a little guy that looks and acts like a feather duster, but isn't. I have little feather dusters all over the live rock. This thing is a mammoth compared to them. There is a tube it comes out of and goes into if disturbed. The tube is white in color and runs alongside the rock like it is connected to it. The tentacles are a light purple color and sort of stringy. it is about 2 inches long on the tube and the length of tentacles are about half that. It comes out of tube when lights come on.
I hope this is enough information. (Just learning to use camera yet.)
Dont want to kill them if i dont have to. So if anyone can help me Thank you ahead of time.

 

[r_ranney_jr]

So let me guess, no-one can help me without photos huh?

 

[sammystingray]

A picture's worth a thousand words.

 

[thomas712]

Your description is a little odd, especially the one that comes out when the lights go on, sounds sortof reverse there. At first description I thought copo's or ampho's, then when you said slug and they curl up I thought maybe chitons, but when you say they cast a web well.......I'm lost.
Sorry but could use a pic here.
Thomas

 

[r_ranney_jr]

here is the white slug thing, it looks like a tube in which something with two antanes live in (sorry pics are best i can do).
Can't figure out how everyone takes such good pics.

 

[r_ranney_jr]

this is the tube one i am thinking maybe some kind of feather duster i never seen before. there are actually two seperate sets of tentacles coming out of same tube. Also they are kind of feather looking.

 

[r_ranney_jr]

the white thing is (i believe) a vermetid gastropod "a snail that lives in a tube and sends out strands of mucus to catch food.
found that out on a website for hitch hikers.
The other one not sure yet but i will keep looking.

 

[ophiura]

If it has two tentacles, it may be a spionid worm...both spionids and vermetids are common...but spionids have two very clear tentacles whereas I find vermetids have a string of mucous that is extended to catch stuff (especially when the tank is fed). But just a guess...

 

[sammystingray]

I can't tell either from the pictures, but how lucky would you be if the second was a coco worm!! Description kind of fits...

 

[jarvis]

Originally posted by sammystingray
I can't tell either from the pictures, but how lucky would you be if the second was a coco worm!! Description kind of fits...
Wouldn't that be nice. darn all ll I got was apatisia, a polyp and a pistol shrimp.

 

[phoenixrising]

Heck, I got all sorts of hitch hikers from a predatory (but none the less cool looking) snail to mantis to porceline crabs and much more. But I had to PAY for the coco worm! Dang, some opeople have all the luck!
Why isn't it ever ME?

 

[nm reef]

It is really difficult to ID from a description only...and even with quality pics a positive ID can sometimes be extremely difficult. I'd suggest a search using the feature above and a search on your favorite search engine(I like google)...then sort thru all the info you find(there is tons!!)...thats the process I used to ID a tunicate about 2 years ago....godd luck in your search for ID info.
NMREEF website
Ka is the wheel that moves the world...and the man or woman that rages against it will be crushed under its rim.
NMREEF pics