Unknown Hitchhikers

[Freya]

There are a few things on my Live rock that I have no idea idea about.
One of them is a white mesh/net structure that is growing on the rock. Another is dark green fleshy umbrella shaped structures. There are photos of these things and others at My Page
If you know what these are or recognise anything else on the rock please let me know. And if you see anything that might be dangerous to my slow moving seahorses please tell me!

Thankyou

 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, the one critter you seem most worried about (tne "unknown thing") is too blurry to make out. Is it aptasia? Check the FAQ's in the hitchhiker column for pics.

And those little fanworms or feather dusters are a good thing - an abundance of them is a sign of a healthy tank. They'll spring up like crazy!

But so will the aptasia if that's what it is, so check the pics and then do a search on the main boards if necessary.

 

[Freya]

I know those pictures stink, I'm working on better ones. I think it is too fine and small for aiptasia, I've been looking around and I think it may just be a bigger sort of fan worm. I found another one and it seems to come straight out of the rock with no visible tube. It looks alot like a flower if thats any help and it comes from the one point with lots of fine white and black fronds.
Thanks for your help!

 

[airbear77]

It looks like a feather duster from what I can see.

 

[tazdevil]

Freya, on the last pic- it sure looks like aiptasia. They start very small (just like the mini-fanworms). They also retract-acting like a fanworm.

 

[davelin315]

Hi Freya, did you post at seahorse.org too? The unknown thing doesn't look like an aiptasia to me (despite the picture quality). It looks like a large fan worm. That's also what your first hitchhikers are. After that, you have probably a dead gorgonian (maybe alive, time will tell), some sort of algae (the green mushroom things), and the last one could be a squirt of some sort, but I doubt it.

Set 2, same for the first, a gorgonian or a skeleton of one, maybe a plant. Picture 2 is most likely a dead algae of some sort (kind of like a cactus skeleton). Picture 3 is halimeda algae.

Set 3, it looks like you might have a tiny colony of stylaster coral on your live rock (the small red growth towards the left side). Also, of note is that some of your porites skeleton looks to be alive still, and if it has the right conditions, you might possibly see it come back to life and begin to grow again. Look for tiny polyps extending from the skeleton.

 

[danmhippo]

The unknown thing, can you see if you can find a tube behind it? (maybe picking up the rock and look behind?)