Live rock with unidentified growth.

R

returnofsid

New Member
Hi all,
This is my first post to this forum. I've been keeping FW tanks for about 20 years and breeding fish but this is my first foray into the SW realm. One word....EXPENSIVE!!! I've converted a 29 Gal from FW to SW. I'm planning on a reef system. At this point, I've got live sand, live rock, 1 powerhead (planning on adding a 2nd.), an AquaClear 300 that I'm going to turn into a mini-refugium, a Remora skimmer and I'll be adding a Compact Flourescent Current USA w/2-65 Watt and a moonlight.
The live sand has been in there about a month now, the live rock was added in 2 steps with the latest being last week. With the live rock, I ended up with 2 Hermit Crabs and some unidentified "stuff." lol. I believe some of it is Featherworms. This morning, I'm saw a Bristleworm that was about 1" long and 2-toned red. It's hind half was a dark red with the front half being brighter red. I've looked at several pics of "fireworms" and am pretty sure that's what it is. I was unable to get a picture of it as I had to leave for work.
This afternoon, I took some pictures of the other items. Are these featherworms and what is the object that looks like a Sun Polyp that is above the featherduster? There's also something that looks like it is a "hard" or dried up leaf. I sure hope I post these pictures correctly.

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R

returnofsid

New Member
LOL Well, thank you for updating them. What did you do to update them and how should I go about posting them correctly in the first place? Sorry about the size of the images. Any ideas as to what those critters are?? Thanks for the welcome. I'm really looking forward to this new adventure!!
 
Cougra

Cougra

Well-Known Member
they are small tube worms or feather dusters. They are common on all types of live rock and are filter feeders. They multiple lke crazy and are great food for a lot of animals especially angelfish and butterflyfish
 
R

returnofsid

New Member
Thanks for the help with the featherworms...I was pretty sure that's what they were. It's that Polyp that I'm unsure of. I've seen many pics of colonies that look very similar and they are called Sun Polyp or Star Polyp. I've got one by itself, pictured...and a few inches from it are a few more together, hard to get a pic of because of a shadow. It would seem I've also found "Halimeda??" I'll try and get a pic of it but it does look just like the pics I've seen online that are detailing halimeda or (coin plant or coin algae) The one in my tank is green and seems to be growing as small plates connected to one another as they grow up. Very cool.
 
R

returnofsid

New Member
Okay, I've got that part. I've actually got probably 100 duster worms in the aquarium, most attached to the live rock. In the first photo I provided, there's something in a hole in the rock, above the feather duster. It looks to me like a polyp of some kind. It does appear to be soft, although I haven't stuck my finger in the hole to see. In the 3rd photo, there seems to be something that looks like a dried up leaf. That photo's a little harder to see because I didn't use the flash. When I used the flash, it seemed to turn out even worse and everything was washed out.
 
XBwlr

XBwlr

Well-Known Member
First photo:
It looks like half of shell to me.
Does it move or open up?

Third photo:
Looks like another bi-valve of some kind.
Again, does it move or open?
 
Gina

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
returnofsid said:
What did you do to update them and how should I go about posting them correctly in the first place?
Click to expand...

When you posted the images, there were spaces in your image tags. [ IMG] [ /IMG]. Make sure they don't have spaces in them
and you should be fine
 
R

returnofsid

New Member
First photo, I haven't seen it move but it appears to be soft and have some sort of tenticles.

Third photo, I now believe is just a skeleton. It is hard, doesn't move and appears dead.

Ahh I understand what you mean about the spaces now. I'll do it correctly next time...lol.
 
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