Is this a colony of feather dusters?

[Por914]

Hello, I have had this rock for about 13 years in a BioCube and bought it as a wild live rock. I have not seen these guys before until I moved the rock to a new 65 gal setup.
What are they and are these critters reef safe?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Do they retract super fast if you touch them? Like almost before you actually touch them?

If not, I'd say I'm 98% sure they aren't feather dusters. They look more like a colony of zoas to me.

 

[JGT]

Hello, I have had this rock for about 13 years in a BioCube and bought it as a wild live rock. I have not seen these guys before until I moved the rock to a new 65 gal setup.
What are they and are these critters reef safe?

Thanks in advance!

Look like Aiptasia to me. You’ll want to get rid of them as they will multiply and sting corals.

 

[Tumey]

I’m thinking colonial hydroids

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

maybe in pic in white light will help?

 

[D4jack]

Hydroids for sure bleach and re cure that rock.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Green xenia would be my guess

 

[D4jack]

That's just what I would do though.

Hydroids for sure bleach and re cure that rock.

 

[elysics]

Definitely hydroids, the fast spreading variety too

 

[eschaton]

In my experience, these type of colonial hydroids die back pretty quickly as tanks get established. It's weird they are on old rock, but maybe the movement to a new setup disturbed things enough for them to get a foothold. I'd watch and wait - they don't tend to jump around the tank in my experience.

 

[Por914]

Here are some pics with white lights on. They do retract when you touch them, and they do so with many heads at once near the one that I touched.

 

[Por914]

Do the updated pictures help in identification?

 

[Seymo44]

Do the updated pictures help in identification?

Looks like colonial hydroids. What did you end up doing?

 

[D4jack]

They are some type of feather duster. They have calcium tubes. I broke a few off and dissolved them in a hydrochloric acid solution. They fizzed away. I'm letting it run wild at this point. I will probably remove the rocks that are really bad soak them in freshwater for a while scrub them and cycle them in a tote.

 

[D4jack]

Sorry my last response was intended for a different post. Disregard.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

They will go away just pester them for a few days like said above they don't spread to fast just limit the suspended food in the water.. ive put epoxy over them b4 but can pop out around it but if you pester anything on the daily it will "go away"