RedKnightSpecial Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Sorry for the blurry pic, I am quite new at this photography thang. Working on it. So I set up my nano last night! Happily, this morning I found my first denizen, and it's a doozy! It looks something like a feather duster worm, but it has 2 "trees" for lack of a better word. Like it were two worms in one. The question I have is about the thing attached to it. It seems to be a little clam shell with some red antennae-looking algae growing off it. When the worm retracts (as he did a million times while i tried to take a pic), the clam shell thingy ends up capping the hole. Is this normal? Or is it sometype of parasite? Or perhaps just some odd bit that got stuck? [/url][/img] If you click on the pic, the worm is just above the reflection of my lights, with the mutant clam shell hanging from the bottom. Link to comment
formerly icyuodd/icyoud2 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 is it a xmas tree worm?(similar to a featherduster) they look like a mini xmas tree. http://www.seapix.com/xmas.htm Link to comment
RedKnightSpecial Posted July 2, 2005 Author Share Posted July 2, 2005 yup! That's it, except for the color. Apparently the bit hanging off it is part of the worm, because I just found another, bigger worm in my tank with the same growth! The smaller one in the pic is white; I have now found one about 2X as big in the back of the tank colored a mottled dark brown and white. He was hard to spot before because the rock had his opening pointed almost into the dirt. I flipped the rock and he is much happier now. Needless to say I am happy with this Live Rock! 1 day into my new tank and I already have 2 beautiful hitchhikers. Hopefully these guys will survive in my tank. Link to comment
formerly icyuodd/icyoud2 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 very expensive hitchikers. $50-$100 a rock up here in canada(xmas worms http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen21.html Link to comment
RedKnightSpecial Posted July 2, 2005 Author Share Posted July 2, 2005 yes! Hopefully I can feed them. I was planning on holding off feeding the tank until I was sure the cycle was completely over. Not sure now. The rock has been cycling for 2 weeks at the LFS. You can see the pink tentacle-y thing I was wondering about a bit more clearly on the bottom of the worm in this pic... http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/photos/co...als/chrtr1.html Link to comment
Caesar777 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Mouth of the tube (they live in a tube within the rock) and feeding apparatus. Lucky score. Link to comment
formerly icyuodd/icyoud2 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 wouldnt surprize me if you found some more in that rock. very nice score. my lfs has a rock the size/shape of a football. 2 xmas worms on it, thats it. $100 (its been there for some time) usually these rocks seem to find themselves in the coral display tanks at my lfs- not the lr bin at $8.99 a pound. did you buy it as a coral or just lr? Link to comment
Caesar777 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Sounds like it came in the live rock as a hitchhiker. Link to comment
formerly icyuodd/icyoud2 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 wasnt sure if there was coral on the otherside of the rock. cycled or not. ya never know here???? dont most xmas worms grow on specific corals? Link to comment
Caesar777 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Generally they only grow on Porites, but there are some Caribbean species that just grow wherever. And these ones too, apparently, heh. Link to comment
formerly icyuodd/icyoud2 Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 all right, when are you releasing your first publication? i'd buy one buddy. too much dam info not to.lol Link to comment
RedKnightSpecial Posted July 2, 2005 Author Share Posted July 2, 2005 No, I just got the tank yesterday. I headed to one of the LFS's for live rock. Their Marshal Island was 8.99 a pound and mostly white. So I rooted around in the 6.99 "bargain bin" and found some very excellent pieces. I got two chunky rocks covered in a lightish pink coralinne algae, and two flat plate sized peices without much growth, but that were excellent for aquascaping. (they look almost like huge, flat, grown over clamshells.) You can see the aquascaping here... http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=60735 Each of the chunky rocks had a Chistmas tree worm in it. the colored worm is about 1.5 inches accros the "tree" and the white worm is somewhat under an inch. They both have tunnels on them which appear very similar to the two inhabited tunnels, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for more. One of them also has what appears to be two little coral polyps on it. They look like small flowers with feathery petals. I will try to get a pic after the wife gets home with the camera. I am durned happy with the purchase! Link to comment
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