Sort wurm who life in a cocon?

[Rini]

Hello,

I noticed the following creature for some time. And first i thought it was basically nothing as an sort of skelet.
But now since today i noticed it has some sort of antenna's. And it is alive, at least the front.
It look like a wurm to me, but only the "head" is able to come out and pop back in.
It look like some sort of shelter what is growing larger.
So the "whole" thing is not moving. Only at the front something is living and come out and pop back in

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

maybe a nudibranch

 

[DianaKay]

Very interesting looking hitchhiker.
I'm not sure what it is
Wondering does it stay in about the same place when you see it??
Hope you will be able to find & remove it IF it turns out to be not reef safe. But I hope it's a good critter
Staying tuned in for someone to ID it

 

[Rini]

Yes an interesting thing. And indeed it does not move, but it grows larger in total.
Guess like those worms with an umbrella (can't find the right english word for it). See pic.
Since it is not moving I keep it into the tank to see what it will be / become or change.

 

[DianaKay]

^^ Those are what we call "tube worms", fan worms or feather dusters
You stick around here & you will learn our "slang words" for all kinds of saltwater critters.
Those look pretty & healthy....I like them too

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Rini - when you said...

noticed it has some sort of antenna's

I though nudibranch, but if you say

it never moves.

.. this would likely rule a nudibranch out... unless it has just not moved for sometime...

See what others think...

When I 1st say the pic, my 1st though was... snail eggs or some type of eggs, maybe nudibranch eggs... but when you said it had an antenna's ... I thought nudibranch

 

[Oxylebius]

This might be a scaleworm. I can't give a positive ID on this b/c I can't see the worm.

The scaleworms of the Acoetidae family creates tubes. I don't know a whole lot on these guys. And searching the internet might not provide a whole lot on them either. But, the Acoetidae scaleworms do create tubes and some have little tentacles.

 

[relexus]

Hey Rini did you ever found out what they are? I have two of them as well. Did they grow and do you still have them??? Let me know


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[Rini]

Hi Relexus.
I gave the name what @Oxylebius wrote Scale worms the 2 monsters in my tank.
They did grow a bit. Not that fast. I noticed both are using some sort of webs to grab foot. Seems they do not any harm so they can stay.
I think I saw an 3rd one under another rock.
Lot of worms currently.

 

[Oxylebius]

@relexus @Rini

Quick question for both of you - At the front of the tube, the opening where the tentacles come out at, do you see a door of sorts that can be closed off? The reason why I ask is b/c members of the Serpulid family have an operculum. The operculum is similar to what snails have, it allow the animal to close off its self inside of its shell. It is a "trap door" that shuts the entrance to the tube when the worm withdraws. If you see this, then perhaps you do have some type of Serpulid worm. If not, we can continue trying to ID it.

 

[Rini]

Mine has no trap door. When you come close it pops further inside tube remains open.


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[relexus]

It looks like it doesn't have a "trapdoor" editted the photo. Crappy shot but the only one with the front visible.

The other one from sideview

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[Rini]

Have recorded a few seconds of mine this afternoon.
See clearly that he has an web around it.

 

[relexus]

Oww nice, well i don't have that. Just antennes sticking out. And they stick to the reef. Not growing "upwards"


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[Rini]

Mine started without the web stuff to. Had just antenna's. Since some time it is learning for spiderman or something

 

[relexus]

Well if it starts "flying" like spiderman we call it a spidyworm [emoji23][emoji23]


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[Oxylebius]

@relexus @Rini

There are a number of families of tube-dwelling worms that feed by extending two tentacles (called palps) from their tube out into the water (Spionidae and Chaetopteridae are two families). They feed on small particulate material, and probably also absorb some dissolved organic matter.

The chaetopeterids (family Chaetopteridae) build permanent fragile tubes sometimes attached to hard surfaces. Many of these worms feed by flapping fan-like structures they possess to generate a water current, so as to trap plankton and other organic matter with the mucus nets they have constructed within their tube.

The mucus web makes me think of vermitid snails. Although w/o a trap door and the way it is laying down its tube, it is a bit different then what we usually see vermitids form in aquariums. You might need to give it time to fully form its tube to determine if it is or isn't.

Now, the Keelworms of the Family Serpulidae seem to be very common in the Indonesia and Malaysia area and these tubes do resemble them. But, these worms for plumes-like crowns (similar to feather dusters). So, the two tentacle description doesn't hold up.

IMHO, I don't know what it is. And based on the structure of the tube, coloration, and pattern (white with black bands) I'm still inclined to think it is not a vermitid. I will keep searching.

 

[Rini]

Thank you very much for identifying. Will keep an eye on it. And another one i found.

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[relexus]

@Oxylebius
It looks like a keelworm (googled) i do not know how old they are because i noticed them last week. One thing is for sure they were not on the rock when i bought it. I will keep on searching. I know what feather dusters are (have about 20 of those and even some christmas trees).
I'll try to make pictures of it every week so i can compare. I must say it is very interesting how things grow and live in a marine tank. Well back to google [emoji106][emoji106]


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[Oxylebius]

Okay, thanks. But, I'm not really sure if I helped you ID it. What gets me with these two critters (showing up in two different tanks in Belgium) is that these aren't your common vermetid or Spionid hitchhikers that are usually seen showing up in many tanks.