Please tell me what is this.

[Silas]

Hello, recently I got a new rock with some zos that have a few small holes about 2mm to 3mm in dia on the surface of the rock. I noticed that something about the size of twice the thickness of human hair comes out of these hole at lighting speed. It appears to acts like a hand to feel for food or something and than retracts back to he hole. At a glance, it is like a wip, wipping the area around itself. The furthest I have seen this "hand" extends is about an inch and a half. Attached is a picture of this thing. Can someone tell me what this is?

Thanks

Silas

[mojoreef]

'spaghetti worm'

[Silas]

is this worm harmful to the tank? How long this thing really is?

Thanks

Silas

[mojoreef]

Silas usually they come in bunches, so u should see a few of them in the same hole. Spaghetti worms are a great scaverger and a good addition to any reef.


Mike

[Silas]

Great, Thanks for the info.

It sure is entertaining to watch, especially when the snail crawl around that area. The snail suck down everythime it got "wip". Few time it even lost it's balance and fall off the rock.

These "hands/tentacle" seems to come out of different holes at different time. The speed of them is un-real. In and out can be as fast as within a second.

Silas

[dark horge]

Hold on, Mike
I think you missed the comment on the sheer speed with which the appendage moved. If it is as fast as is described, that is likely a crustacean: many cryptic shrimp can live in burrows and send out one extended arm (there are pincers at the end) to pick out whatever morsels it can. Sometimes a somewhat shorter arm can be seen doing the same thing from the same hole.

To verify, you can try viewing down the hideyhole at night with a weak flashlight. If you see yellow to red-orange reflections (the eyes and parts of the exoskeleton) then that nearly cinches it. Tough to see down some holes, though.

Other hole-dwelling "shrimp" send out a pair of fanlike arms to strain morsels out of the water, much like their fellow crustaceans. the true barnacles do.


In the end, whether you have crustaceans or Terrebellid "spaghetti" worms (which send out LOTS of long, stretchy tentacles), they are harmless, even beneficial things to have in a tank. The crustaceans are more sensitive to water quality than the worms, and are a fair indicator for it.


hth


horge

[Silas]

Only one tentacle comes out from the hole. After closer look at the picture, this tentacle is jointed and not a long smooth one piece. I try the flash light... see nothing.

Silas

[dark horge]

The flashlight was a long shot anyway.
Jointed appendage?
You have shrimp.


Shall I fire up the grill?

[Jimbo]

That's pretty cool that you where able to get a pic of it so well. Looks like I see a joint in it. I've seen the stranges things in holes at night, beady eyeballs looking back at you

[tdwyatt]

definitely not a spaghetti worm, they are usually sandy substrate dwellersm and although they can dwell on rock, they are passive feeders, very slowly pulling back their appendages to clean off captured materials that adhere to their MULTIPLE tentacles,

I concur on the cryptic shrimp idea, especially in view of the photo.

[Silas]

Here is another picture of this. May be this one is more clear, at least you can see the joints. Thanks for all your ideas.

[mojoreef]

Yes the speed factor does make you wonder. My rocks are covered with spaghetti worm of all colors. The reason I leaned toward the worm was becuase of the length of the arm and the fact only one could be seen coming from the hole. Worms can also give the apearance on a jointed critter.

Again the speed is something to look at though, One question would be in its movement Silas. You had said that it has the movement of what looks like a whip, this would sway me over to the worm again. if the movement is a little more ridged ( like that of a jointed arm) then a shrimp is most likly. With your camera maybe try to get a close up look at the end of the arm, possibly you could get a look to see if u can see its pinchers, i think that would be the thing that tell the story for sure.

Mike

[Geoff]

i just found one of these last night. to me it does not look jointed. it reaches out and feels and then when it finds something it either wraps the end around it and brings it back to the hole or it looks like it swallows it there. i also believe it is not a spaghetti worm. i think it is either some kind of worm or feeding tube from an imbedded mollusk.

G~

[Sylock]

I've got a few baby brittle stars in my nano that 'reach' out of wholes for a couple seconds and then bring their arms back in. Most of the time it's just one arm at a time. Does it seem like only one 'appendage' is out at a time or are there several of these things go in and out of the same holes? Does it seem like this thing comes out of different holes? Do you think you just have one? I really have no idea, I'm throwing out questions that could help others though.

[Silas]

There are many holes in this rock and looks like this "thing" comes out from all of them. I can't really tell if it is just one animal or many. I went thru over 100 shots just to get a few that shows the "thing". My digital camera only do 3 fps with 9 shot continous and this "wiping thing" is super fast. I will set up the tripod again and hope to capture the tip.

Drives me nuts not knowing what it is. I might have to break the rock apart to find out what's inside.

Silas