Worms?! I think.

[tbraun]

My tank just recently finished cycling and has been in operation for about 5 weeks now.

I noticed these guys sticking out of one of my rocks. They seem to be hanging out in a few wholes in my branchy rock and they never leave, day or night.



I apologize but the picture is a little blurry. There are a total of 4 of them sticking out of the rock in the center of the picture. They all have what seems to be small hairs sticking out of their edges. The also have a two tone horizontal striped pattern on them.

I originally thought they were detritus hanging off of the rock but they have since grown and when a snail touched one it curled up.

I did some research on this site and google and they don't resemble any of the worms I was able to find information on.

I'm not sure if it matters, but all the rock in my tank is Fiji rock which I ordered from Drs. Foster and Smith.

Hope this helps and thank you in advance for any information anyone is able to provide.

 

[jgatmaitan]

They could be tiny brittlestars but its really hard to tell from the pictures. I think what you see are the feet of a tiny bittlestar which are safe to have.

 

[ALLANSAM]

Looks like a aiptasia to me.If so they will multiply like crazy. Very hard to get rid of.:spin3::spin3:

 

[tbraun]

Thanks for the quick response jgatmaitan.

Wow, I never even thought of it being a single creature. I just looked up brittle stars and found the following picture. The colors and pattern are almost an exact match. Only thing is there are only four limbs floating in my tank and the picture shows 5. I also can't see a body as they are all coming out of whole in the rock.

Since my tank just recently finished cycling and assuming this is a brittle star, should I be feeding it? Or, at the very least, figure out if it's stuck in the rock? This is all very new to me.

 

[tbraun]

It's probably the poor quality of the picture, but they aren't translucent at all. The limbs are all very opaque and seem to vanish into a whole in the rock. All the pictures I could find of aiptasia seem to be semi-transparent or soft-tissued (if that makes any sense).

I took the picture with my phone as I was running out the door this morning. Maybe it would be best if I took a better picture when I got home.

Thanks for everything. Reef Central seems to be an amazing resource, especially for someone new to the hobby.

 

[Jaycen B.]

They are small brittle stars or serpent stars I have alot that do the same thing you are seeing. Sometimes 3 legs sometimes 4 legs sometimes all 5 sitcking out of the holes they hide in they are good to have.

 

[DC_40gallon]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saltgeorge/3035664348/

This is a great pic of aptasia. Aptasia will grow out of a rock and have a tube that bases into a rock. They are gorgeous in my opinion, BUT with are just as bad as hair algae and cyano. If they are moving from one place to another, it's not aptasia! Aptasia is stationary.

If you get aptasia (and you will, we all do) buy this stuff ASAP! I learned about it from my LFS who I trust greatly. It was around $13 and comes with a syringe. It's amazing out this stuff works. Just shake the bottle real well (looks like milk) and pull a quarter inch or so in your syringe and go right on top of the aptasia (while it is open) and pop a few drop right on top of it. The aptasia will immediately shrivel like it was hit with acid and go away! If you have a peppermint shrimp (they eat aptasia usually really well) and the aptasia is too big for the shrimp (aptasia will blister a human hand if you touch it so be careful!) I found that the shrimp will eat the shriveled up aptasia like it's candy.

Hope this helps!
http://www.blueharbor.co.jp/shopping/cat0/cat6/id1184/subtitleimageUpload_1205485846aip.jpg

 

[DC_40gallon]

You have brittle I believe as well. They are great! I bought a polyp colony from my LFS and it was growing on a baseball sized snail shell and when I get it home and put it in my tank, at least 4 quarter sized bright green tipped brittle stars. They raced away and are living life somewhere under my elevated live rock haha. It seems to me you hardly ever see them because they love to hide so much.

 

[tbraun]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I have been able to confirm, after some closer investigation, that the limbs are, in fact, from a small brittle starfish which made a home in a hole in the rock. And until it starts eating the fish, which I don't have yet, it is a welcome addition to my tank.

Thanks again. Once I become knowledgeable enough to help others, I will definitely pay the favor forward.