Pix & ID: Critters that come in your rocks: the good and the bad.

Can anybody identify these ?
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White Strings

White Strings

Would appreciate help IDing these "white strings" that have started showing up on frags in my QT. Zoas were dipped in CoralRX upon arrival a couple weeks ago and have been thriving in QT since. Some amount of brown/green algae has started to appear in the QT which is fine and expected, but in last 2 days a few of these white strings started appearing on this frag and yesterday evening I noticed one on another. They are very small, approx 1/4" to maybe 1/2" in length, smaller in diameter than a hair on your head. There is no apparent tube they come from, although every one starts from a rock and/or plug the corals are attached to. It's very hard to say if there is a head at the end of each one or not even using a magnifying glass next to the acrylic. They don't seem to go in and out or move on their own other than swaying in the small current provides in the tank. They remain out and in the same locations when the tank is dark, even with some of the Zoas closed up as many do at night -- I just checked with a flashlight.

Have looked through threads, hitchhiker and Reefkeeping articles, and only thing I can guess is spaghetti or hair worms -- but those articles don't specify size and only show close-ups of what may be monsters, so I'm at a loss. I'm going to dip the corals again today sans any other recommendations.

Appreciate your help identifying if I have some baddies locked-up in QT before they head to my reef in a couple weeks -- and how to get rid of them if I should. (Sorry for photo quality -- best I could do without a DSLR and macro lens)
 

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White Strings Continued

White Strings Continued

Removed my frags, leaving only the two fire shrimp in my QT, and proceeded to dip them in a CoralRX bath for 15 mins using a turkey baster to mix things up. Zoas didn't like it (started opening up again after 20 mins or so in their QT), but I was able to take tweezers to a few of the "white threads"... They don't pull out or off, but instead break when pinched. None move on their own that I could tell with a lot of hard inspection over that time. Seems to be some sort of white growth (plant/algae?) vs animal of some sort. I'm still stumped.
 
Sounds like digitate hydroids.

Thanks for the pointer. I'll keep reading, but with just a 10-15 min read, I don't think that's them, unless these are really small... The things I have are not light sensitive -- and remain about as long as they are in the light and dark, just waving in the current; they don't retract or react when touched even with tweezers; they are all the same diameter with no apparent head and these are not "furry" even under a magnifying glass -- more like a crooked white hair. The few I tried to pluck off but instead "snapped off", still have the bottom part of themselves connected to the frag/rock with nothing thus far seeming to have happened with what's left as I would expect from something that is/was living. Very odd. ...back to my reading. Thx again for the response.
 
can anyone ID the type shrimp for me? found it inside sargassum weed. has claws if you look closely.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yycna19cvbsxjvt/IMG_3964.JPG
Probably a sargassum shrimp given where you found it.
What makes bristle stars so bad? i'm not sure if it is answered earlier, but please explain anyways or direct me to another forum/page.
The only brittle star that is considered bad is the green brittle star; ophiarachna incrassata. They are known fish eaters. The rest are harmless.
 
can you please identify or give pros and cons on these three pictures. first picture is a Hermit crab, I got from a friend but not sure if it will disturb corals or fish. The second and third picture it comes with live rock. I'm not sure it's good or not for my tank.

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I'm not sure what kind of hermit the crab that is in the first picture, (watch it) but the second picture looks like a zoanthid. The third one just looks like a harmless feather duster.
 
Branching Tentacles Anemone?

Branching Tentacles Anemone?

checked all the id sites an google, come up with diddly squat
no clue if it needs nuked while it is still small.
actually it is real neat looking, clear, so guessing it is non photosynthetic
cool watching it suck in individual tentacles for slurping up what ever it is catching. secretly hopeing it is reef safe and gets a bit bigger.
 

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checked all the id sites an google, come up with diddly squat
no clue if it needs nuked while it is still small.
actually it is real neat looking, clear, so guessing it is non photosynthetic
cool watching it suck in individual tentacles for slurping up what ever it is catching. secretly hopeing it is reef safe and gets a bit bigger.

I believe some kind of cucumber. They stay put and use those to feed.
 
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