Stick Figure, ID please

jabberwock · Mar 14, 2024

This popped up today. It is flat against the glass. Can't tell if it moves.

jabberwock · Mar 14, 2024

I am about to scrape the glass. Should I remove it? Or just scrape it into the mix?

thedon986 · Mar 14, 2024

I can't remember the name of them but they are harmless and will likely boom and bust like other things that pop up.

Shon · Mar 14, 2024

Looks similar to the one from this thread.

Aliens going towards the light

Usually I'm the one giving answers here, but W T F They are coming out of the ground from a single point and branching upwards, they react to touch Needs some slithering sounds and disturbing horror music

www.reef2reef.com

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Labyrinthula (though I haven’t researched this enough yet to verify if it actually is Labyrinthula or just worms that look like Labyrinthula). The consensus seems to be that it’s harmless unless you’re trying to keep seagrasses.

Here are some threads dealing with them (some more similar to yours than others):

What is this vein like growth on my glass?!?

for the last couple days in the morning I have had a couple of these “vein” like growths going up my glass from my substrate. I have never seen them before in my tank or in any posts. Not sure what they are. Any help is much appreciated! TIA.

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Worm and Weird Growth?

Any thoughts on what these hitchhikers are and whether or not their beneficial or harmful to my nano reef?

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New hitchhikers!

Recently I found a jelly fish and a peanut worm, but I am having trouble identifying this yellowish object that continuously moves around on the glass of my tank. Today I have found a similar yellow dot... what is this?

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Sudden single spidery algae monster

This popped up and grew exponentially within hours. It looks and feels like algae (wipes off easy), but the sudden onset is weird! I haven't cleaned the tank in several weeks, so there's a small bit of normal film algae, but no problems or algae anywhere else. Any insight? Thank you!

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ID and help please?

Hi, Left the house for a couple hours, come in and straight away check the tank as usual. Find this to what looks to be coming out the sand bed and up the glass around 6-8” or so. many ideas what it is? Should I be worried or need to do anything or can it just be left alone? Seems to be moving...

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Anyone ever see something like this?

No clue what this is. It moves around, but cant really "see" it moving. I've seen it on the rocks in different areas and once on the back glass. Looks like there is something similar in the sump.

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Omg what is this in my tank?!

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum but I wasn't sure where to post since idk what this "alien thing" is! it just came out of nowhere. I haven't added anything new to my tank in over 3 months. The only thing that has changed is my trochus snails exploded babies all over lol please help....what...

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ISpeakForTheSeas · Mar 14, 2024

Shon said:
Looks similar to the one from this thread.

Aliens going towards the light

Usually I'm the one giving answers here, but W T F They are coming out of the ground from a single point and branching upwards, they react to touch Needs some slithering sounds and disturbing horror music

www.reef2reef.com

Yeah, this is one of the few ID's that haunt me every time it pops up because I haven't been able to actually figure it out - some of these seem to be one kind of organism (tiny bristleworms I haven't been able to ID that display extremely interesting behaviors) while some may be another (which I haven't been able to ID either [Edit: to add, the most plausible ID I've heard so far is a Foraminiferan, but I don't know if I trust that ID to be accurate either]):

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Sorry, life got super busy recently.

I thought I had figured it out until I got pinged on a couple of the threads about these guys and saw that someone had posted microscopic videos of them that I don't recall watching before. Based on the movement of the organisms in those videos vs the movement I've seen in some similar looking organisms, it looks like some of the things I've seen/identified on here as either a Labyrinthulid, Thraustochytrid, or similar may still be those (or something similar), but based on the other videos, I have to agree that the ones in those videos (and these ones) are not.

I'll dig into it some more when I have some free time (could be a little while, unfortunately), but - for now - the best I can say is that the way they move is interesting (they seem to expand and contract to move rather than crawling like the typical bristle worm does) and that they seem to be Polychaetes (bristleworms) of some variety (if you look closely when they contract in the video quoted below, you can see chaetae along the contracted areas - you can sometimes see them without the contraction, but it's usually more difficult; the left side of the worm on the bottom from 1:08-1:14 shows it relatively clearly):

Given that they seem to be nocturnal bristleworms and that nobody has reported negative effects from these guys, I wouldn't be too concerned, but the behavior is very interesting.

The video referenced in the quote above:

Doug6952 said:
Here's what's in my tank through microscope.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 14, 2024

jabberwock said:
This popped up today. It is flat against the glass. Can't tell if it moves.

I too have seen this and if you didnt plan it there - remove as you planned. It is believed to be a type of hydroid

jabberwock · Mar 14, 2024

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
Yeah, this is one of the few ID's that haunt me every time it pops up because I haven't been able to actually figure it out - some of these seem to be one kind of organism (tiny bristleworms I haven't been able to ID that display extremely interesting behaviors) while some may be another (which I haven't been able to ID either [Edit: to add, the most plausible ID I've heard so far is a Foraminiferan, but I don't know if I trust that ID to be accurate either]):

The video referenced in the quote above:

Man. I am kind of freaked out if YOU are "haunted". I am gonna burn down the house...