Echinoderm Larvae?

[pch90265]

Hi there,

Curious to know if anyone has ever encountered little critters like these in their tank:

I've recently moved two Fromia sp. from my QT to my display tank (in the last 3 weeks...) and have never seen these little critter previously.

Could these be Fromia larvae?

Thanks,
Sean

 

[pch90265]

Oh, forgot to mention...

These macro shots are pretty bad, but these little crittes are slightly smaller than the tip of a ball-point pen. They are sub 1mm in total width.

 

[The steven liu]

I have seen those things in my tank and refugium a few times, they disappear after awhile, don't know it they grew out of that phase or just got eaten!?

 

[pch90265]

UPDATE -- six months later it turns out these were, in fact, larvae of a brittle/serpent stars!!! I have several dozen (maybe > 100) white stars sifting through the sand in my tank for meals. Most are <1mm across at the disk, with 5-10mm arms. More than one are >2mm across at the disk with 25-35mm arms.

I'll try to get pics posted! They are incredible to watch.

--Sean--

 

[Ooulophilia]

I have seen similar things and assumed they were forams

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

They look like hydroids to me.

 

[Waxxiemann]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8215862#post8215862 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis L. Stevens
They look like hydroids to me.

I totally agree. I had TONS of these at one time but they all died off.

 

[Chad Vossen]

its just another kind of cycle most of our tanks find. hydroid bloom

 

[Galilean]

It does look like similar to a hydra or a foraminiferan, but sometimes it's hard to tell from pictures alone. What can you say about the movement of the "echinoderm larvae"? I've got reproducing brittle stars in my tanks, but I haven't noticed larvae like this on the glass. However my tiny brittle stars are brown with brown and yellow stripes on the arms and live in the liverock. Maybe fromia are different. Can you get a picture of these white stars now that they have transfered to the substrate?