Pest or aptasia family?

[Billio]

I've noticed these brown stalked growths on several corals I picked up from one of the local LFS.

 

Here is a pic of my cauliflower leather:

 

 

and here is a closeup:

 

 

They are fairly small but seem to be growing quickly. They don't retract or appear to move. Is this a pest I should get rid of? If it's aptasia, I'll try Joe's Juice or a peppermint shrimp.

 

I've search for on the forums and saw one pic of larger aptasia that may be similiar but I'm not sure.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[xdannyx_]

the pic isnt too clear, could be, also looks a little like tube worms

[mikedege]

might be featherduster too.

 

-mike

[Caesar777]

Very hard to tell from the photos. Either Aiptasia or tubeworms. Poke them with something (your finger or a stick or whatever else)... Do they squish up into a little nub, or is the tube hard and calcareous, or maybe somewhat stiff like wet cardboard? Either of the latter would be hard- or soft-tubed featherdusters; the former, squishy one would be Aiptasia.

[Billio]

Yeah. I need to grab the camera with Macro. When I picked them off one of the corals, they squished. They're pretty small at the moment but they're multiplying at the base of several of the corals.

 

I haven't seen them retract, even when I'm picking them off the coral bases or plugs. Plus, a lot of the pics I've seen appear more anemone like where as these look more like tiny feather dusters, without the retracting head.

 

If I can find a small peppermint shrimp, I'll pick one up. Otherwise, I'll try a shot of Joe's Juice.

[Caesar777]

Touch them to see how they retract.

 

Aiptasia is one big squishy body. Tubeworms live in their tube, and if they retract, you see what looks like a tan or white paper straw. The tube won't retract, though it may crush (calcium) or flatten (soft) if touched.

 

I drew a ######ty diagram....

[Caesar777]

Left side shows the animal, right shows how it looks retracted. Physically TOUCH them to see how they retract. They can't hurt you.

 

[Caesar777]

I know, I don't have some fancy drawing pad and stylus...heh..

[Ihaveafish]

I have the same stuff growing. I'll take a pic real quick and try to put it on this post. It's not aipstasia, I have that too. It seems to be more like some kind of seaweed...

[ojyarumaru]

Those are featherdusters. AKA tubeworms.

[Ihaveafish]

Here is pic of what I have, I think it's the same...

[Caesar777]

ihaveafish - Cute! Indeed they're some type of "featherduster", tubeworm.

 

On the original pic, I dunno, the pic's so blurry. But if those are really tubes and not just the bodies of the Aiptasia, then yes, they're tubeworms.

 

Sophomore?

[Ihaveafish]

they seem to be attached by the stems. The stems are as small as a thread, and they don't pull back into them. It's like there is a string of stem with a bunch growing off it. Really, they don't do anything...

[Caesar777]

They'll do something if you poke them. They won't just sit there while you molest their heads.

[Caesar777]

It sounds silly, but it's the ideal thing to do in this situation...and many in life.... Just use a stick on things that could sting you.

[Billio]

Actually, I don't think they retract. When I was picking them off one of the corals, they just squished, almost like an algae.

 

I'll grab the canon with macro and pull out one of the pieces to get a closer shot but it's the same thing as Ihaveafish.

[Billio]

I checked with the LFS where I got the corals and found some examples on his existing stock. They are hydroids, just harmless algae that grows quickly.

 

His recommendation was to get a toothbrush if you don't like the looks and scrub them off.

 

Of course, I bought a nice zoo on my way out, got home and stuck it in my tank, came back an hour later and saw this big aptasia on the zoo rock. By the time I went upstairs and came back down, it had migrated to one of my base rocks.

 

Today, I decided to super glue gel the hole and took apart part of the tank to get to the base piece. Suprisingly, or not so, the stupid thing had moved again but made the mistake of attaching to a small frag with 11 green button polyps. Aptasia and gbps are out of the tank and I've taken a toothbrush to it and removed it from the frag.

 

Oh well, as about one pest, get the one you really don't want!

[jenniebutterfly]

hydroids are not algae, and are not harmless. hydroids are related to jellyfish, and some pack a pretty powerful sting. i have a few of the small ones posted above and they sting polyps, the only way i have been able to remove them is cutting them out with a razor.

here is an excerpt from reefs.org hitchhiker site

 

"These possibly could be hydroids (Class Hydrozoa). Some of the Hydroids are photosynthetic and can be very beautiful, a deceiving disguise as they are potentially dangerous to other inhabitants. Hydroid polyps are part of the life cycle of the animal. They are the asexual stage of life for many of the "jellyfish" and are related to such colonial hydrozoans such as the fire coral, Millepora and others such as Stylaster, Distichtophora, and Allopora. More information and some pictures about hydroids is in Dr. Ron Shimek's article at http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/19.../wb/default.asp."

[Kogut]

Agreed... Hydroids are animals that can sting things... Not nearly the threat of aptasia, but still a pain.