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View Full Version : a "what's this? thread"


awcrimety
April 2nd, 2005, 10:21 AM
I'm not sure what these are,...but they are slowly appearing all over my tank. They grow on the undersides of rocks, and if I flip one over for the light to get directly on it, they seem to die off. They almost look a coral of some kind, but they are individual polyps, they do not have a mat like gsps.
Mugster
April 2nd, 2005, 11:02 AM
Almost looks like a type of pulsing xenia. Do they pulse (looks like tentacles grabbing for something)?



Kev
awcrimety
April 2nd, 2005, 11:08 AM
Nope, they don't pulse at all,...When the ones died from the light, there were individual dead tube-like stalks left. I'm not sure how they've even spread around the tank,...they are growing amongst some zoos that were no where near the original patch of these,....
TheFallenAngel
April 2nd, 2005, 01:04 PM
almost like the brown anthelia. I have some, and pieces drop off and reconnect on the other side of the tank. Kinda nice to see them waving in the current.....if you like that look.
Ricar
April 2nd, 2005, 07:11 PM
don't know what they are, but if your looking to part with some lemme know they look kind of cool!!
Aquadude
April 3rd, 2005, 10:09 AM
These are polychaetes. Or more commonly known as feather dusters. They are worms that secrete a calcium tube to live in. They capture tiny food particles with their fans. Quite harmless although some tanks can get overrun with them if there are no natural predators like the copper band butterfly fish in the tank.
awcrimety
April 3rd, 2005, 10:13 AM
They are quite different from feather dusters,...they close up for example, instead of receding into a tube,...also, when I touch them, it takes them some time to close up, it's not immediate. Yesterday, I was doing a water change, and I siphoned some of them out,...they came off the rock like a chunk of algea,...
Aquadude
April 3rd, 2005, 10:38 AM
Ok. I'm clueless. Sounds like a different species of xenia. Are the stalks connected together?
Mugster
April 3rd, 2005, 12:15 PM
Ok. I'm clueless. Sounds like a different species of xenia. Are the stalks connected together?


That's what I thought too. I didn't think they were feather dusters due to the lack of a calcerous tube. I'm still leaning towards a species of xenia.


Kev