heavens to betsy what is this white thing?

[waterwerkz]

Dear patient ones with great marine knowledge,
I have these white bottle brush-like items growing on the surfaces of my rock - and multiplyin' at a fair speed.
They are 2-3mm in diameter at base, have a central hole(mouth?) and possibly 6-8 mm high (so far). Any and all guesses greatly appreciated. my time spent on the HH forum as well as many many many other sites other sites has been fruitless (ok so the frustration is breaking through!). Curiousity and the need to know whether to keep them are egging this usually silent lurker to 'gasp!' register and post all in one day. Beer with me...

Thanks in advance
Ann-Marie

System specs:
4 months old - 30 gal; prism skimmer; 20lbs rock, damsel, shrimp and yellow watchman (we had more fish but the damsel worried 'em to death),snails x 4.

 

[danmhippo]

Got a pic by chance?

BTW, Welcome to REEFS.ORG!!

 

[liquid]

My guess was going to be some sort of feather duster worm or maybe hydroids. Any of these look familiar? They're on page #3 of the HHFAQ

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_p ... _rock3.htm

Shane

 

[das75]

If they have tenticles probably a feather duster, if not a sponge or tunicate.

Suggest do a search here for tunicate.

 

[waterwerkz]

They're definately not feather dusters as I have many many of these gentle souls already. They also do not resemble the 'grains of rice' as mentioned in the hhfaq. As for pics, well its a close race to see where I am spending more time - watching the aquarium or trying to figure out the dig cam. Unfortunately resolution is poor so no pic is forthcoming yet.

They are definitely a white tube - thicker at the bottom, small bristly bits all round - and very short 2-3 mm fronds from the mouth. I lean toward sponge but cannot find any like it. May have to go the snail's pace and try the library.

While trying to get pics I was also going to post yet one more "is this an aiptasia' thread to go with all the others. Is there a definitive source for id'ing these pesty guys? Have read reams but am unwilling to kill pests unless necessary (just my nature). Specifically - are the tentacles segmented? can the body be green (lime green)? are they the only brown anenome that would easily appear in an aquarium?

Thanks in advance for the help
Ann-Marie

 

[danmhippo]

One of the unfortunate (or forfunate?) of IDing marine animals are that many if not most may not be able to properly identified unless you see them under microscope. Anemone for example, some are so alike it's close to impossible to tell them apart for sure unless detailed photograph is presented.

Sometimes, a single specimen could exhibit different coloration under different coloration.

I have aiptasia that appears to be dark tan in my main tank, becomes light traslucent tan with greenish streaks if I move it to a smaller tank.

 

[TZL]

a picture would help greatly, but i'm going to guess sponge, I have a bunch of white ones that grow in groups, with little holes and are about .5-1cm long

i will post a pic tonight

 

[saltnmyeye]

If i may say, what you are describing sounds alot like the very hardy pest, the triffid anemone which is a small species of Aiptasia. Just a thought.

 

[Anonymous]

THose are definetly feather dusters. No question about it

 

[John_Brandt]

Ann-Marie, I think you may have Syconid (Syconoid) sponges. To me they look like white puffed rice with a little circular hairy plume on top.

Supaboy, you made me laugh. Go back and carefully read each post in this thread to see why :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Whoops my bad I thought Liquids pictures were what we were trying to ID.

YOur welcome for the laughs