leather sweepers

[joejoe1055]

i got a new fiji leather 2 days ago
its 2-3 inches long at max, when the lights came on today i noticed it had sweepers coming out of it about 6 inches long
i have had toadstools and cabbage leather before but never had sweepers like this, how dangerous are the fiji sweepers?
i'm working on a mixed reef mostly softies with lps

 

[garygonzales]

never heard of sweepers coming out of leathers before...but i could be wrong....maybe a pic would help identify this coral.....

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

Never seen any soft coral with whats considered sweepers and I have dealt with aquaculturing close to a hundred different types. Sounds like a photo is in order to confirm. Sounds like it could be something else like an LPS of some sort. Are you sure its a leather. I've got a yellow fiji sacrophyton. Polyps are the same day or night, no sweepers. It sounds interesting but implausible that if it is a sacrophyton that it has sweepers

 

[joejoe1055]

i will see if i can get a camera to take a pic

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

cool. can't wait to see

 

[Polyptician]

Did you look closely for hitch hikers like spaghetti worms or vermetid snails both have clearish feeding appendages that can resemble sweepers and can be quite long.

 

[NYCBOB]

would love to see a pic of a leather with sweeper tentacles.

 

[syrinx]

Yeah its pretty much got to be a hitchhiker.

 

[Hormigaquatica]

As some mentioned, leathers don't have sweepers. There is a jellyfish-like creature that comes in as a hitchhiker pretty regularly though. Its a sedentary ctenophore that will look like a long, thin, somewhat feathery strand that can stretch out into the water and reel back in. They seem to be fond of leathers (especially toadstools) for whatever reason, and having multiples on one coral isn't unusual. That would be my guess without a photo.

 

[gh0st]

I have seen what you are describing, long hairlike, feathery tentacles that zip in and out, especially when feeding.

Hormigaquatica has hit the nail on the head, tiny jellyfish like hitchhikers.

 

[joejoe1055]

what do i do?

 

[joejoe1055]

could not get a good pic yet, the "sweepers" look very comb like and start to retract as soon as light starts to come on

 

[Jack01]

Yah Ive had these they are clearish and kinda hurt when i get stung by it.

 

[joejoe1055]

how did you get rid of them?

 

[Hormigaquatica]

Eh, you really dont. They starve within a pretty short time in most home aquariums, so eventually theyll knock themselves off for you. Besides, they arent particularly dangerous, so I wouldnt worry about it.