What are those on the rocks?
- Thread starter lprnvr
- Start date
Vinny Kreyling
Premium Member
Hard to tell with all the blue. Could be Aptasia or Mojanos.
We need a picture in daylight coloring to be sure.
Neither is a good thing.
We need a picture in daylight coloring to be sure.
Neither is a good thing.
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Thanks, so is it harmful and how can I eliminate them?
Vinny Kreyling
Premium Member
Feather Dusters & clove polyps are OK, but the cloves can spread quickly so keep watch.
lebowski
Notorious Reeferus
Feather dusters my friend! Harmless. You will likely find a BUTTLOAD of these growing in shaded areas, near the back of your tank or in abundance inside hang on skimmers and filters... if you leave them alone and take it apart to clean inside you'll likely find a buttload of white little tubes that formed on the plastic. You can literally scrape them off.
An abundance of these likely suggests an abundance of their food in the water column. Since these little guys are not photosynthetic they will rely on the water column. Take a look at the size of this feather duster in comparison to one you would purchase in the store:
Notice how large the worm is, thus also the feathers will retain a larger surface area in capturing food from the water column. As opposed to the smaller feathers you see which will have a smaller surface area, thus giving you clear insight into the size of the particulate matter (or small food in the water column.)
Regardless to customary reefing opinions, I don't believe these little guys eat phytoplankton, or definitely zooplankton. Zoo is too big, phyto is still pushing it. The size of the food that these guys eat is really interesting, something I will consider looking up in my free time as part of my own interest in microbiology.
Enjoy them! Free little hitchhikers!
An abundance of these likely suggests an abundance of their food in the water column. Since these little guys are not photosynthetic they will rely on the water column. Take a look at the size of this feather duster in comparison to one you would purchase in the store:
Notice how large the worm is, thus also the feathers will retain a larger surface area in capturing food from the water column. As opposed to the smaller feathers you see which will have a smaller surface area, thus giving you clear insight into the size of the particulate matter (or small food in the water column.)
Regardless to customary reefing opinions, I don't believe these little guys eat phytoplankton, or definitely zooplankton. Zoo is too big, phyto is still pushing it. The size of the food that these guys eat is really interesting, something I will consider looking up in my free time as part of my own interest in microbiology.
Enjoy them! Free little hitchhikers!
Things they could be: feather dusters, digitate hydroids (not nice, but something you can deal with) and ---because they have a full disc, not a barnacle type---too feathery for a baby anemone (majanos and aiptasia, neither good, but nothing catastrophic), and other things mentioned. They have to grow a bit before they'll be easy to identify. Personally I let live rocks be live rocks with most anything they bring in, and rely generally on good water balance and proper lighting to keep bad things in check. Most of the really obnoxious and common plagues are green (algaes and plants). There aer a few animals not so good. But not too common, either. Observe your tank after dark with a flashlight, and you may see more life.
