NEW LIFE FORM IN MY TANK?

[Elena309]

Okay, so I am new at this dont laugh. Can coral grow in a tank if no other coral matter exists in a tank? This week little white fluffy things emerged all ofer my tank. At first glance it appears to be a fungus or algae. However, a closer look shows a tubular organism with a slight crown, surrounded by fuzz. I am wondering if this is an emergence of coral or some other life form. I once over fed my freshwater fish, and the food became a white fuzzy fungus, but this is so different, and the fish have been underfed this week. I really cant get a picure of it. Can anyone help me figure this out?

[TJDeMars]

sounds to me like a tube worm. I have 100's of them in my tank, they just keep popping out of the rocks. how long has the tank been going?

[Elena309]

I guess its been 7-8 months. I only have one tube worm, one damsel, one clown, one goby, one puffer, one starfish, one condy anemone and a few pounds of live rock. Tube worm is what it looked like to me, but what do I know? Do tube worms release "reproductive sprores" into the water? Because if so then that is most likely what it is. They mostly settled on the bottom of the tank, but theres a bunch on the glass, scattered all over the place. I wasnt sure if I should remove them or let them grow.

[jojo22]

I agree with tube worms. If you move something near them and they disapear that is what they are.

[Elena309]

well the crown like thing that i mentioned is very faint, barely visible. They aren't even an inch in length. What is that type of anemone that grows freely on live rock, considered to be a pest?????? It sorta resembles that, only the fuzz makes it look like a tube worm suicide!

[dakar]

Without a pic it's hard to guess, but sounds more like what we sometimes call pineapple or q-tip sponges, they would be quite common in a newer tank, they'll grow all over the place. They'll disappear with time and are compeltely harmless, actually helpful as the too will pull nutirents from the water column.

[Elena309]

ill try to get a picture tonight. It is so hard. I suck at tank pics. So I guess it isnt really possible for coral to form on its own huh?

[dakar]

Actually you'd be amazed at some of the animals that magically appear (hitched a ride in on live rock and such). But yes, it is actually possible, all it really takes is a few viable cells, the right conditions, and time.

[Elena309]

Thats cool. I really was thinking that it is a type of soft coral, or tube worm. But if it were a tube worm, I cant see it having such a tiny, and faint crown. Although, things have to start somewhere right? Thanks for the info.......its been great so far.

[graphixx]

if I were to make a guess I would say its a pineapple sponge or q tip sponge. do a search on them and see if that is the little buggar growing

[Reef_Angel]

The one thing no one mentioned about a tube worm, is that these are just mini Feather Dusters that don't grow much bigger than an inch or so. The tube they comes out of is generally the size of a mini straw or swizzle stick like you'd get in a mixed drink....and it's generally white. The crown opens much like a big feather duster, but it is small.
My husband Dakar mentioned another option for you, and that's a little pineapple sponge with a little fluff of a V shaped fan coming out of it. I've taken a few pictures of the two different things that have been suggested to you. Unfortunately they are not the best photos as the tank is acrylic and there's some scratches in sides....of course, right where I needed the photo from.
The first 2 pictures are the pineapple sponges. Some have their little plume out, and the one doesn't have it extended at all, so you just see the hole where it comes out of. The other one has the V shaped plume sticking out.
The other 2 photos are of a mini feather duster with it's little duster sticking out. It will retract into the tube if you startle it, just like the big ones do. This one is sporting a white tube, but others can be light brown and also have a different color duster coming from the top. This is about all the bigger a mini feather duster can get when it grows on it's own in your tank. You can actually buy mini dusters in clumps from order catalogs, but I did once and wasn't happy with them. They just blew all over my tank, and I lost most of them for some reason. I'm happy with my little wild one's that grow on their own. They can appear in a range of colors in this wild version too! They were one of the first things to grow in our tanks when we first started them, and we found them quite exciting at the time! I still think they're cute. If these aren't what you have, I have a few more photos I can take for you of some other wild surprises.
Anyway, this is a sign of a pretty healthy tank! Most sponges are good things, and you'll start seeing more of all shapes, sizes & colors...especially underneath your rockscaping. You'll be amazed at what you can fine over time. I Hope I've helped you on this!

[graphixx]

Angel, the first 2 pics is what I was talking about. but I did not know they were feather duster types critters, I allways thought they were sponges. that is cool.

[Reef_Angel]

:ooops:Actually Greg, you are totally right. The first pictures are the pineapple sponge. Instead of calling the feathery part a "plume" on the sponge to distinquish it between the sponge and the feather duster's fan, I referred to both of them as plumes. Now if I confused my extremely intelligent Moderator-Graphixx with my error, then I might have got someone else to! Sorry for the mistake folks!
.....Angel :angel1:

[lReef lKeeper]

so we have both the pineapple sponge and a tube worm in the tank. GOOD SIGN !!

[Reef_Angel]

Actually Bobby, those are out of my tank. Elena will have to tell us if either of those are what she's talking about! :p If they're not, I got a couple other's I can photograph for her, and she'll have had more than the lesson she actually asked for! :D ....Angel :angel1:

[lReef lKeeper]

oh, my bad ... guess we will have to wait and see. lol

[Elena309]

Thank you so much for all of your imput. I couldt find any pictures that resembled these creatures. They are definately the pineapple sponge. Thanks for those pictures. I couldnt get a good one. Will these grow? Or will they simply die off?

[Elena309]

The second set of pictures though, I am confued. I had those in my tank, they were referred to as a type of anemone, on some pest page. I'll have to find the page again so I can show you. Couldnt find it, but I found the name.

Aiptasia Anemones

I cant get the picture in. I found all of my little critters this way....the bristle worms, mantis shrimp (they are loud sometimes), algae bubbles, ect. Everytime i find something new I try to find it. But this one really stumped me. Thanks for all the imput. But now my question is....are the other little things aiptasia anemones or tube worms?

[Elena309]

p.s. does any one know the scientific name for these qtip/pineapple sponges?

[lReef lKeeper]

in the pics .. the last ones are tube worms, a member of the feather duster family. they wont get very big but they do add a little life to the tank. and no the pineapple sponges will not just die off, i have had them for the past few years in my tanks.

as for aiptasia anemonies here is a pic so you know what they look like ...

2562

pic credit goes to www.garf.org

[Sweetpea]

Lights are off now, so pics will have to wait... but you should be able to tell the difference between the pineapple sponges, tube worms and aptasia. I have loads of the sponges in my new 20 gallon. I also have some really cute little tube worms growing in both tanks... one in the 20 gallon with a bright red crown is peeking out from under a ricordea! Most of the others are white, though. Pics of the sponges and the red dusters will have to wait, but here is a pic of some aptasia from the early days of the 20g...

[Reef_Angel]

Elena.... the pictures I posted and labeled for you are exactly as I named them. An aiptasia has a whole different look to them. They do look like an anemone, kind of see through, and are indeed a member of the anemone family. The picture's that Bobby posted of aiptasia are quite dark, but that may be due to his camera. They appear to be more of a fleshy pink color that attack to corals, rock, tank glass, and unfortunately for one of my seahorses they can attach to just about anything. My seahorse had a bad bite where it attached to her tail, and she was sick for 2-3 days. You don't want those in your tank!! I can get a good picture of one for you if you'd like. They pack on heck of a sting and will kill coral if it is left to multiply and burrow into the surface of a coral. PLEASE take a picture of what you are questioning if none of us are hitting the mark. If it doesn't look like either picture I posted for you, then it is something else. As far as the scientific name for the Q-tip or Pineapple Sponge, I can't find it anywhere. It's such a common sponge that not many people ask for that information. I searched the net for probably a half hour (committed Site Owner aren't I?) :bsod:, and there are books that can be purchased about "All Sponges" that will answer that question for you. Sorry I can't help you on that, but if I ever find out I promise that I will let you know! :o Let the sponges continue to grow in your tank. They don't hurt anything and they are a great nutrient reducers for your tank. They are pure filter feeders, and are a good sign that you've got a healthy tank started there! Congratulations!
<Quote Elena> The second set of pictures though, I am confused. I had those in my tank, they were referred to as a type of anemone, on some pest page. <End Quote>

The mini feather duster is not the best picture I could get and I apologize for that, but it is indeed one. The white tube is hard like a shell. Some stand up straight, but this one decided to lay down on the rock...hard to photograph clearly. These are not harmful in any way at all, and actually as more appear for you, you'll grow attached to them as they do come in different colors and such.


Bobby.... good gosh, if you have that many aiptasia to photograph, you have some serious work to do in that tank! Start scrubbing your rocks in fresh saltwater with a toothbrush, rinse and repeat. Leave them in some saltwater to see if they appear again. You don't want scrub them off within the tank, or the live rock to die by using any other water than fresh salt water. I have 3 rocks that need to have the same process done just because I got one frag sent to me with on stupid aiptasia attached, so I kinda know how you feel, but the tank if virtually empty...thank goodness! You will never get them under control at the rate they are growing in that photo! Wow! Good Luck!

[Reef_Angel]

I just finished you a book with my last post, but if it so happens to be the critter SweetPea posted for you, that is the photo of the BEAST!!! It IS an Aptasia! You do want to remove the rock out of the tank and either use Joe's Juice from your LFS, or coat it with a sure fire home made recipe that will kill it dead.

Recipe for killing Aptasia!

*Put a few tablespoons of Pickling Lime (you'll find it in the canning section of your grocery store).
*Mix in water slowly to form a pasty substance.
*Use an empty syringe filled with the paste and simply coat the aptasia.
Be careful not to break it apart in the water. If you can lift the rock out of the water for a moment, cover it with the paste, blow on it for a few moments and return it to the water. Just make sure you cover the entire aptasia!
Good Luck!
...Angel

[lReef lKeeper]

there is no way that all those would live in my tank with my copperband butterfly. i just took that pick off the net for an example for Elena to know what they look like.

since i added the copperband i have not seen 1 aiptasia for more than a day. seems like as soon as they are visible he will swoop in and take them down !!
kind of like a super fish !! i just found this smiley, we really need to get a superfish smiley ... :newwhacky084-1:

[Reef_Angel]

Bobby....thank God for that! I want to get a couple...maybe even 3 Copperbanded Butterfly's and put one in each tank. First I have to see how compatible they'd be with my ponies. I'll have to check the list! Hey, those are some of the ugliest aiptasia I've ever seen. I'll have to look for a good pic for your "super fish" Bobby! This one will have to do for now! :fish05:
Please do me a favor though....when you use a photo off some other web site, please give the site credit for the photo.

I think we've got Elena covered with a few different choices. Let's hope she doesn't have aiptasia. Once you have one of those buggers, you will have more to come! ...Angel

[lReef lKeeper]

that pic was just from a google "aiptasia anemone" image search. i am working on a watermark for my site, but i need to get the pest page up. i just cant seem to find the time.

[graphixx]

a couple things: the second set of angels pictures are tubeworm feather dusters, these are "good guys" they are harmless filter feeders. Bobbys garf pic is that of a mojano or aptasia. these are "bad guys" they are bothersome to corals, they pack a pretty good sting eradication methods vary from natural methods such as peppermint shrimp or copperbanded butterfly or aggresive methods such as injecting with boiling water and vinegar to coating with a kalkawasser paste.
Pineapple sponges really dont grow that big, the biggest I have seen them are literally about the size of a q tip, they are a good indication of good water quality .
Also another thing you posted that shot up a flag is that you said something about a mantis shrimp. I hope that little devil is not in your tank anymore. they are vicious to the tank and will systematically kill all your fish and inverts, they are in my opinion one of the smartest and deadliest critters you could have in your tank.
Hope all this helped

[graphixx]

I feel like a goof, I posted my last post before I noticed there were 2 pages to this thread..................... well nothing like reinforcing our helpfull ideas.

[Elena309]

:confused: :confused: Okay, heres the verdict. The tons of little things in my tank at this time are in fact q-tips. YEAH! What I was saying was that early on in the tank, there were a few aptasia that poked out of the live rock. They disappeared on their own months ago. But that one picture of the tube worm resembled the aptasia. I was just a lil confused. Thanks for clearing it up with all of the detailed explainations. As for the mantis shrimp. Perhaps they are not mantis shrimp. They are tiny little bug looking things that have been around since jump street. They only come out at night, and sometimes make a loud clicking noise. The only thing I have found that resembled them are the mantis shrimp. So far (8 months) only one tradgedy in my tank.....I had an arrow crab. One morning I woke up to my starfish on top of it. :( :WHY: So if they truely are mantis shrimp, they are tiny and do not harm anything.

[lReef lKeeper]

from the "clicking" noise i am thinking more of a pistol shrimp than a mantis shrimp. i could be wrong though.