funny little arms everywhere

[silvernblue]

I have an amazing story. My 3 year old fed the fish last week.....Yes the
whole container of flakes. I came home that night to a murky tank of goo.
All 4 fish still alive. I change about a quarter of the water immediately,
siphoning up as much of the flakes as I can find in the murky water. Still
murky afterwards. In morning change another quarter. Large clown fish has
died. That afternoon the water starts clearing up. Next day water is
invisible, perfectly clear. Four days later notice movement around LR. I
see a mini brittle star 1/2 inch across at the most. Never seen one before.
Start looking closer there are little white arms sticking out of several
holes in my rocks. Also see two different? critters on one rock, 6-8 arms
6-8" long one has thick (1mm) pink translucent arms the other has very thin
thread-like red arms. Both are hunting for food with them.

Question #1
Are all those little white arms actually mini brittle stars???

#2
What are the things with the arms? Are they the same thing?

#3
Why am I seeing all this life after an obvious ammonia spike???

TIA

 

[Minotaur15]

1. Yes.

2. Sounds like spaghetti worms (Terrebellidae(sp) and maybe some spionid worms too).

3. Cause they finally got alot of food to eat?

 

[silvernblue]

I forgot to mention that the arms all come from the same source. Two clusters of arms like an anenome sort of????

 

[Anonymous]

Spaghetti worms have a bunch of long threadlike arms at one end. They put them out and catch things we can't see.

 

[silvernblue]

Thanks all.

I went back to the FAQ and saw the pic that is what I have. On to the next delima.