Spider/crab living inside birdsnest!

[Dowtish]

Ok, so I am trying to find out what this thing is. I moved my Green Birdsnest colony last night and turned it to where I could see it differently. Anyways I noticed tonight, that there was a slime type web looking thing spread out on the branches. As I peered closer I noticed the source was coming from the end of a branch on the coral, and it looked to be hollow and clear. Then I saw it, what looked to be some black type spider/crab thing inside the branch. And it had this slime looking web spread out.
So I thought that I would just pull the coral out and frag off the branch that it was in. As I did this I noticed that the whole branch is completely hollow and I didnt really accomplish anything by fragging it. It just retreated deep into the core of the colony. What is this thing and what will drive it out???
I shot coral rx down into the hollow hole, but I dont think that did anything. Should I dip the whole colony for a good 5 minutes???

here is a pic of the tip of the hollow branch

 

[btkrausen]

Can't think of what they are called offhand but almost positive they are harmless....just annoying.

 

[KLR]

Tube snail.
They produce slime to create a web, then they pull in their slime when it catches food and they eat the food. They are harmless alone but they quickly colonize and can cause an issue as a colony because their slime will irritate the sessile animals near them.

 

[Eternal]

SPIONID WORMS or VERMITID SNAILS

This link might help
Xtalreef - Reef Saltwater Aquarium

 

[Dowtish]

This thing had sharp pointy legs.

 

[Eternal]

did it look like anything on the link I provided. Spiders are on there, however dips are not supppose to work on them.

 

[Dowtish]

I did not look like anything on there, but thanks for the link, it is officially bookmarked.

The pic I posted is not a tube from like a snail or feather duster. that was literally the birdnest branch hollowed out. The further I snipped it down it just continued to be hollow all the way down to where I can't frag anymore with out dismantling the colony.:sad:

 

[Eternal]

wow that sucks, never heard of anything like that in a coral. Hopefully someone will know.

 

[KLR]

Ooo

It sounds like a baby gorilla crab then.

They hollow out stony corals and "nest" inside of them, I have had 2 in 2 of my stony corals.

Did it look like kinda fuzzy?

 

[Dowtish]

I have had a couple of gorilla crabs in the tank before, and I couldnt really see the whole thing, I just dont know why it would go thru all the effort to hollow that much of the coral out...and what about the slimey web?

 

[Dowtish]

bump!

 

[ToXIc]

dang chris this sounds wicked.. i'll have to check it out next time i passby..

 

[reefkoi]

could be a gall crab, they manipulate the growth of birdsnest corals to form a little house for themselves which they live inside of..

 

[ToXIc]

could be a gall crab, they manipulate the growth of birdsnest corals to form a little house for themselves which they live inside of..

had to google this... and they're nasty...

 

[Jcr's Reef]

Interesting. If it is the web spewing snails you could put a dab of super glue gel in the hollow hole, but if its a crab I don't know what else it would do to the colony if its hole was closed. If your sure its a crab I would put the coral in a qt tank for a bit to see if the crab comes out.

 

[shred5]

could be a gall crab, they manipulate the growth of birdsnest corals to form a little house for themselves which they live inside of..

That was my first thought too, a female gall crab. Never heard of one putting out slime though but there are several different species, some new species and I bet some undiscovered. There is really has not been a lot of research on them. I have seen a few.

But anyway it sound interesting and I am not sure I would want to kill it if it is a gall crab. They will manipulate the coral around them and has been there since that branch started and has done no harm to the coral..