Need help with an ID

[Landon]

Hey guys. This is my first post on R2R. Have enjoyed reading over everyones post and want to thank ya'll for distracting me from work....

Anyhow, I have these little guys spreading like crazy in my sump and beginning to pop up in the DT. I would compare the way they spread like ivey. There seems to be a main stran that little polyps come from. It was recommended that I remove and scrub all my rock but 75% of the rock in my tank is 2 70 pound rocks. Anyhow, check out the pictures (these are the best I could get.) and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

You can see them in the first picture growing just on the right side of the red algae.
In the second picture you can see how they creep up the glass.

 

[Landon]

Of course on my first post I use the same title as someone else, really didn't mean to.

 

[dougers31]

Hard to tell but they look kinda like hydroids... Are they're tubes brown and do they look like tiny tube anemones?

 

[Landon]

Yeah, sorry about that quality of the pictures. They are so small. Hydroids were my first thought but i could not find any ID sites that matched what I have. They look more clear/white. I removed some of the inner dead area of a large colony of birdsnest that had them growin on it. I let it dry out and the main stran and branches that the tenacles came from were still there. All hydroid I have seen or heard of are all softbodied.

 

[Wy Renegade]

First off, welcome to R2R.

Looks to me like the colonial feather duster worms, but I'm not positive on that. If it is them, I have tons in my sump, they make good water filters.

I'm gonna go ahead and move this thread to the appropriate subforum; invert ID. Thanks ;)

 

[Landon]

Thanks for the welcome and move1smile1

I was thinking feather dusters at first, but then when they started growing so quick I began to question that. Figured I'd act now before it was too late (almost there anyway)

 

[secretreefer]

maybe tunicates or sponges?

 

[Landon]

maybe tunicates or sponges?

There more like a feather duster. I have a few sponges on the glass in the picture but the things i'm worried about is actually the stringy looking stuff that is creeping all over the glass.

 

[secretreefer]

There more like a feather duster. I have a few sponges on the glass in the picture but the things i'm worried about is actually the stringy looking stuff that is creeping all over the glass.

yeah i thought i saw a thread somewhere about those stringy things being tunicates. i'll try find the link.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Thanks for the welcome and move1smile1

I was thinking feather dusters at first, but then when they started growing so quick I began to question that. Figured I'd act now before it was too late (almost there anyway)

If they pull back into the tube, they are feather dusters. Populations will wax and wane with availability of nutrients. If you're getting a massive population explosion, you may want to back off on your feeding.

 

[Landon]

I'll check out if they retreat back in a tube. I feed once a day. Should I shoot for every other day?

 

[Wy Renegade]

Not necessarily, I would look at cutting back on the amount you are feeding on a daily basis. They won't disappear completely regardless unless you remove them. I have a reef tank I almost never feed, and I still have a decent population in my sump. I figure they are just doing some additional water filtering for me.

 

[Landon]

I'll cut back on the feeding quantity then. Thanks for all the info guys! Still curious what they are though.