What are these?

[cath]

I've got these funny little things on my trumpet and on some other surfaces around my tank. Any idea what they are? They are hard to the touch.

There are a few polyps on Wynton (my name for the trumpet) that don't look healthy, but they had gotten buried in the DSB I hope they come back.

Help with ID, pleze, and comments anyone?

[cath]

^^

bumpity bump

[cyberchef]

Cath are you referring to the "brown" tube looking things or the white sand? the tubes I believe are a type of snail/worm. They send out a thin string of mucus to catch food.

[ylmaya]

I have a bunch of these in my tank too! They have a yellowish tip. I may have just been hallucinating but I think they may also produce a clear to white "feathery head" that comes out of the hole...

Does anyone think these are harmful? I am assuming they are like the tiny white feather dusters that also appear out of nowhere on rocks and corals......

[Rothie]

If you are noticing a problem with your Calustra, there are probably hydroids. Some types are found in hard tubes with small, very fine feathery heads. They sting whatever they are near.They also spread. I have tried applying sodium hydroxide to no avail.They are more resistant than aptasia.
Scroll down on this page http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/mai.../faq_rock1.htm

[dark horge]

Hard to the touch? Brown calcareous tubes, Cath?

Those are likely vermetid gastropods, as chef has indicated. or tube snails if you like. The snails will pay out a string of mucus as a sticky net, and then haul it in with all manner of tiny edibles attached. Spionid worms usually make dirty-whitish tubes.

I'd be more concerned about the apparent Aiptasia just visible at the bottom of the frame, in the nooks of the rock that your coral calls home. If they are indeed glass anemones, they can and will multiply like ... well, Aiptasia, and sting desirable ornamentals like Wynton.


hth,
Horge

[cath]

Don- I should have described the part that I was referring to, or drawn a circle around it.

I'm reffering to the little dark brown thorny looking thing on the trumpet. It's very hard, though I suspect that I could break it off with my fingernail.

Rothie, I don't think it's hydroids...at least not at all like the kind I had before, which is just like what you described.

They don't show up in a colony formation, but single units, so to speak. Don't change shape or fluffy in any way. But...they are here are here and there around the tank. Don't seem to be causing trouble, but rather unsightly.

Thanks everyone for the comments so far. I appreciate you all taking a look.

[cath]

Ahhh...a keen eye for detail, Horge I was typing out my previous answer as you posted your.

Yup! I've got a healthy crop of Aiptasia near Wynton and other corals. I didn't realize that they were stingers Sigh...I better get some Peppermints to help out.

The white stuff that looks like sand is......sand. The tomato clown and wrasse do a number on my DSB.

[tdwyatt]

Vermetid snails. Expecially if you see a small thread of mucus after disturbing the sand bed of feeding the tank.

[ylmaya]

can these have slightly light yellow tips as well?

[dark horge]

Yes, especially when the resident gastropod retreats further down the tube/shell. The empty tube/shell between the snail's head and the operculum (the tube opening's gate) can seem a slightly translucent, very dirty yellow.

Of course, it would be beter to post a pic of your yellowheads.
It could be something else entirely.
Start another thread for ID.

[cyberchef]

I have tons of these little guys in my tank,all over the LR. Most of mine are not that dark in color.

[CAT]

Yep, vermetid snails

I've been battling these guys for six years... Not harmful but will spread worse than aiptasia. Let me tell me my tale of woe...

I had 2 hitchhike on a snail I bought. Had no idea what they were. Before long, they were spreading all over my tank. When I tore down my old tank to move, I put the rock into garbage bags (wet but no water) and packed it into the trunk of the car. The rock ended up staying in the bags for about a week before I got around to re-cycling it. Figured I'd gotten rid of the dang things for sure. Not!!! They have survived and prospered.

My beef with them is that they're very sharp, they grow everywhere and become a menace to fish darting into the rocks. One day I'll find something that eats them --because I can break off the tube (which I do frequently) and they just regrow.

If you can find a way to remove the entire snail from the rock (they produce better glue than superglue), I'd do it. They can become a real pest...

Good luck

[cath]

EWWWWWWWwwwww Fun with reefin', eh?

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by CAT
...I've been battling these guys for six years... Not harmful but will spread worse than aiptasia. Let me tell me my tale of woe...

Just a note for all you beginner folks out there. These snails are generally benign and do not pose a threat to your tanks. They increase the biodiversity of your tank and occupy a niche for carbon processing to remove some nutrients from the water column that would otherwise be missed by many benthic creatures. Although their tubes can be sharp and a potential obstructiion for some spp. of fishes, these mollusks are generally beneficial for your systems and should be encouraged. They do not GENERALLY bloom to the proportions that CAT has seen in his systems, although it is the kind of problem many folks would LIKE to have...