Soft white tubes

[jayjp]

These white tubes are growing on the underside of a piece live rock. They are soft, they expand as the tank wakes up with a bell shaped end, I can pull them off with tweezers and they look tiny and gray on the towel.

When I looked under the rock (this piece isn’t attached, just resting on another), there is a layer of gray fluff underneath as well. Like dryer lint collected all together. These tubes grow tangled in that.

As my signature says-it isn’t my tank- i just obsessively look and examine. . Thanks for giving me insight to pass along if needed.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

These white tubes are growing on the underside of a piece live rock. They are soft, they expand as the tank wakes up with a bell shaped end, I can pull them off with tweezers and they look tiny and gray on the towel.

When I looked under the rock (this piece isn’t attached, just resting on another), there is a layer of gray fluff underneath as well. Like dryer lint collected all together. These tubes grow tangled in that.

As my signature says-it isn’t my tank- i just obsessively look and examine. . Thanks for giving me insight to pass along if needed.

I assume they extend little tentacles like a coral polyp does to form the bell mentioned, correct?

 

[vetteguy53081]

These appear to be tube worms which emit a fan for feeding ad favor

These white tubes are growing on the underside of a piece live rock. They are soft, they expand as the tank wakes up with a bell shaped end, I can pull them off with tweezers and they look tiny and gray on the towel.

When I looked under the rock (this piece isn’t attached, just resting on another), there is a layer of gray fluff underneath as well. Like dryer lint collected all together. These tubes grow tangled in that.

As my signature says-it isn’t my tank- i just obsessively look and examine. . Thanks for giving me insight to pass along if needed.

These appear to be tube worms and emit a fan for feeding and favor brine shrimp

 

[jayjp]

I assume they extend little tentacles like a coral polyp does to form the bell mentioned, correct?

Yes, that is correct. It’s small though and doesn’t appear to have an opening in the center.

 

[jayjp]

These appear to be tube worms which emit a fan for feeding ad favor

These appear to be tube worms and emit a fan for feeding and favor brine shrimp

There are tube worms in the pic as well…the tubes in question are the longer, thicker ones in the background. They are flexible and do not have a retracting fan.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

There are tube worms in the pic as well…the tubes in question are the longer, thicker ones in the background. They are flexible and do not have a retracting fan.

Yes, that is correct. It’s small though and doesn’t appear to have an opening in the center.

These are most likely colonial hydroids then - some species cause problems (spread invasively, have a strong sting, etc.), others don't.

Removal is generally recommended to be safe:

I've heard smothering the hydroids with kalk paste may work, but here are some other threads with suggestions that might be helpful:

Hydroids: a reference to some strategies

Like many of us, I have had problems on and off over the years with Hydroids. The ones that have always given me the most problems are the common ones that almost look like a smaller and darker version of the beginner coral called Yellow Polyps. But the colonial Hydroid is much smaller than...

www.reef2reef.com

Hydroids - How do I eliminate- They have taken over my tank

So I have this stuff that has pretty much taken over my tank and I can't get rid of it. I'm looking for an ID and an eradication plan that is anything short of a total teardown.

www.reef2reef.com

Fenbendazole dip for blue clove polyp/hydroids.

FYI So I had more than few blue clove and what i believe are hydroids pop up on a few frags and start spreading in the frag system. I didn't want to start out treating the whole system so I picked the most populated frags to treat. I mixed 1/4 gram of Fenbendazole with 1 cup of saltwater as a...

www.reef2reef.com

Edit: A relevant link in post 7 of the link above:

Here it is! Fenbendazole use against hydroids

Hi all! Well after getting a lot of questions about the use of fenbendazol I figured I would write this up. This is for informational purposes and I will not be held liable for improper use. Fenbendazol must be used exactly as I instruct or run the risk of a tank crash. Now lets get to it! So...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[jayjp]

These are most likely colonial hydroids then - some species cause problems (spread invasively, have a strong sting, etc.), others don't.

Removal is generally recommended to be safe:

There aren’t fan/feather things on the ends. Just flexible tubes that kind of spaghetti mess under the rock in the fuzzy stuff. I’ve looked into hydroids for other things in the tank and these do not seem to fit that.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

There aren’t fan/feather things on the ends. Just flexible tubes that kind of spaghetti mess under the rock in the fuzzy stuff. I’ve looked into hydroids for other things in the tank and these do not seem to fit that.

So, they extend polyp-like tentacles, but not a fan/feathery tentacles?

 

[jayjp]

They are shorter when in the dark and they grow longer when lights come on with a little bulge/bell shaped tip. In the bottom pic you can kind of see it.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

They are shorter when in the dark and they grow longer when lights come on with a little bulge/bell shaped tip. In the bottom pic you can kind of see it.

I see the bell shape. Alright, so just to clarify here, they just extend into a little, bell-shaped tip, and there are no tiny little tentacles at the end of the bell, correct?

For reference, here are some examples of what I'm meaning to compare with:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Indomethacin-induced-strobilation-in-five-species-All-animals-are-oriented-oral-end_fig3_322091014

 

[jayjp]

It doesn’t really look this those. The more I look and pull it out, I’m thinking some sort of sponge. under side of the rock, is similar to this image I found online.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

It doesn’t really look this those. The more I look and pull it out, I’m thinking some sort of sponge. under side of the rock, is similar to this image I found online.

Sponge wouldn't be extending in the light and contracting in the dark, so it's definitely not that. Any chance you could pull the rock out in a container of tank water for some closer up pics of various angles?

 

[jayjp]

Well hubby threw out that rock last week while I was on vacation. He didn’t know either but didn’t like it. So now that part of the tank is resting for a bit to see if more grow. Then he may add a coral there. Thanks for the insight!