Purse Jelly - Coeloplana

[eshook]

This organism was identified as a coeloplana. A purse jelly. Apparently it is harmless, will it spread and/or damage livestock?

At night it makes these:

I had a post in the LPS forum thinking it was sweeper tentacles, but I am very wrong.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12132404

 

[greenbean36191]

Well it's definitely a benthic ctenophore, but whether it's Coeloplana is hard to say. It's just a filter feeder, but the tentacles may irritate the coral and keep it retracted. No, it won't spread.

 

[eshook]

Thanks for the confirmation and id greenbean!

Would you recommend killing it via fw dip?

 

[greenbean36191]

My first option would be to just leave it and see how much if at all the coral cares. If the coral seems to be bothered I would try to very gently peel it off and move it somewhere else in the tank. More than likely that would end up killing it since they're super fragile, but if your other option would be to kill it anyway, so it's not a huge loss.

 

[eshook]

It wasn't bothering the coral at all. At least the coral was fat and seemed to be growing. Unfortunately since I flipped it over it seems to have moved from the skeleton to the flesh so if it doesn't move by tomorrow I will try peeling it off.

Thanks for the help greenbean!

 

[Tennyson]

I had those exact same tentacle things coming out from my toadstool leather! You can just peel it off with tweezers, thats what I did.