Small white polyps - ID needed

[jhascher]

Hey guys,
I discovered something I never had before. My tank glass is full of white little polyps. Size about .5 to 1mm. They've got 6 arms, hard to tell, and look a little bit like SPS polyps. Might also be an anemone of some kind.
I can clean the windows, next day they are all back.

Has anyone seen this, too?

Thanks for the help,
Cheers
Jan

 

[SLove1104]

Are you sure they aren't baby starfish...?

 

[jhascher]

Yes, definitely not baby starfish. I try to keep some and see if they are growing.

 

[Tuscaquatics]

I get these, too. All over the glass. Not enough to cause alarm, but they look almost like microbubbles from a distance. On closer inspection they definitely look like little starfish or polyps of some sort: radially symmetrical, multiple "arms".

I had these for a while early in the life of my 55, and now that I moved it to a 75, and a little cycling has gone on, I'm getting them again.

Like I said, they don't look particularly worrisome, I've just been trying to get a positive ID.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Do they look like this?

If so, hydroid jellies, harmless and they will disappear over time.

 

[jhascher]

Great Thanks, thats exactly what they look like. I wasn't afraid though, just curious.

 

[jhascher]

Interesting, once you know what it is. They seem to appear quite often in newer tanks.

 

[Tuscaquatics]

Yep, that's them. Kinda figured they were harmless. Wonder what they have to do with a new tank?

 

[AJSTITAN14]

I think they come in on the live rock. What I have read echoes what SM said above. For whatever reason their life cycle stages are not compatible with the captive aquarium so they die off.