Weird white strings growing off Zoa coral frag

[cmann]

Hello all, I’m fairly new to keeping a salt water tank. It’s been about 3 months since I started this tank and I finally decided to start adding some coral after I’ve gone through 2 cycles and my levels have been stable for a couple weeks now. Since I’ve started, this community has been a huge help but I can’t seem to find an answer to this! I’ve heard things from worms to filaments to sponges and I’m not really sure what the right answer is.

Anyway, these white strings have been growing off this zoa every night for the past couple nights. Yesterday I did a huge water change and blew them off into my protein skimmer but when I woke up this morning there were more. Any ideas on what this could be?

 

[therootcause]

hey we can't see what you're talking about with the blue lights on. Can you take a photo under white light?

 

[cmann]

I blew them off again this morning so I’ll wait until tomorrow morning to get a brighter picture but I went ahead and circled them in the previous picture to see if that helps. They look like little worms almost and they’re a whitish translucent color. They look segmented in that photo but they’re actually smooth

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I blew them off again this morning so I’ll wait until tomorrow morning to get a brighter picture but I went ahead and circled them in the previous picture to see if that helps. They look like little worms almost and they’re a whitish translucent color. They look segmented in that photo but they’re actually smooth

Are they tubes made of sand?

 

[cmann]

Are they tubes made of sand?

Yes that’s exactly what they are and you gave me the tip I needed to google what they are haha. Internet says they’re harmless

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Yes that’s exactly what they are and you gave me the tip I needed to google what they are haha. Internet says they’re harmless

Likely Phyllochaetopterus worms.

From https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/index.htm:
Phyllochaetopterus is generally a benign member of the detritivore group found in reef tanks and they are pretty good scavengers; any particulate material that strikes their tentacles is pulled into the tube and eaten.