What is this? Sand cocoons?

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Found this on the underside of my acantho, think i noticed a few others in the past, appears to be something cased in rubble, less than a cenitmeter in length, any ideas?

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Photo with flash/white light. You can see the animal itself. Anyone got an ID? @ISpeakForTheSeas? @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal? Should I remove them?

Maybe juvenile spaghetti worms?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Not a juvenile spaghetti worm, but it does seem to be a worm of some kind. It looks like distinct, individual tentacles are coming out rather than a mass of them, so I'm more inclined to think this is going to be a detritivorous/carnivorous worm rather than a filter feeding one, but I could be wrong.

No specific ID from me here yet - sorry.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Not a juvenile spaghetti worm, but it does seem to be a worm of some kind. It looks like distinct, individual tentacles are coming out rather than a mass of them, so I'm more inclined to think this is going to be a detritivorous/carnivorous worm rather than a filter feeding one, but I could be wrong.

No specific ID from me here yet - sorry.

@ISpeakForTheSeas Should I remove it?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Should I remove it?

Without knowing for sure what it is, it's hard to say, but I'm leaning towards keeping it.

If you can remove from the tube and get a pic of it in a bowl, I might be able to ID it, but I understand that might be a big ask. Otherwise, if you can count how many tentacles it has on it's head, that may be helpful too (I can see three for sure, possibly a fourth in the pic).

If it just has three tentacles, then it may be a Syllid worm (most likely harmless/beneficial); if it has four, then it may be a Dorvilleid (most likely harmless/beneficial); if it has more than that, I'd need to know how many tentacles it has, but there's still a good chance it's harmless.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Without knowing for sure what it is, it's hard to say, but I'm leaning towards keeping it.

If you can remove from the tube and get a pic of it in a bowl, I might be able to ID it, but I understand that might be a big ask. Otherwise, if you can count how many tentacles it has on it's head, that may be helpful too (I can see three for sure, possibly a fourth in the pic).

If it just has three tentacles, then it may be a Syllid worm (most likely harmless/beneficial); if it has four, then it may be a Dorvilleid (most likely harmless/beneficial); if it has more than that, I'd need to know how many tentacles it has, but there's still a good chance it's harmless.

Thanks! As long as it dosent bother the acantho it can stay, I'll see if I can get one in a bowl (there's a few)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks! As long as it dosent bother the acantho it can stay, I'll see if I can get one in a bowl (there's a few)

Take a needlenose pliers and break from the base of housing or scrape off outside of tank. Pics a little fuzzy to clearly see, but when in doubt- Remove

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Photo with flash/white light. You can see the animal itself. Anyone got an ID? @ISpeakForTheSeas? @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal? Should I remove them?

Maybe juvenile spaghetti worms?

So each of the 2 clusters of sand on the coral base are worms?

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

So each of the 2 clusters of sand on the coral base are worms?

I think so, I nudged the acanto around when trying to space out the corals, they seen pretty well-attached I might add, though I was using a long coral feeder to move them so I couldn't say for sure, except they didn't come apart easily (they're still there)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

If they've bored into the coral base, I'm not sure how easily you can remove them. If it seems like they are multiplying, they may damage the coral from the inside... If there are only a few and they don't seem to be spreading, you might be ok leaving them. I'm just not sure what dip, etc you can use to kill them...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I think so, I nudged the acanto around when trying to space out the corals, they seen pretty well-attached I might add, though I was using a long coral feeder to move them so I couldn't say for sure, except they didn't come apart easily (they're still there)

If you can remove the coral from the tank and get a better idea of how deep they go, I might have a better answer for you

Or, if you can easily remove them from the skeleton, try to get a picture of them in a clear dish.

 

[JoJosReef]

It's an acantho, so can you take it out and try dipping it or dipping just the skeleton? That's obviously going to leave you with dead or injured worms, so if you are interested in keeping them, then not advisable.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

@ISpeakForTheSeas anyway whatever it is, it's currently expanding it's home, checked today and it added a shell. Any idea now? Don't have a good photo, though is there any harmful hitchhiker that does this behavior?


Edit: just like the worm from yesterday, I'm removing it to be safe, I'll keep you updated

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Hey @ISpeakForTheSeas, sea spiders wouldn't make cocoons, right? Found some strands in the debris, can't tell if they're algae or sea spider legs

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

@ISpeakForTheSeas @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal UPDATE: as it turns out, I was wrong, whatever they were they were living inside the actual skeleton and had an outer tube made of debris, I took the acantho out and used coral glue to seal the tubes, though unfortunately I did have to drag the coral up the glass (I don't have forceps and can barely reach down there) so i accidentally caused some tissue damage, will this be fine?

A small hole from the skeleton poking through, also this is what I sealed up

Anyway, do you have any idea what it was? Definitely was irritating the acantho as he wasn't fully open where it was, glad I killed it

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Really hard to say what it was without pics of the actual animal.

As for forceps, coral tongs, etc... get some! Lol

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Really hard to say what it was without pics of the actual animal.

As for forceps, coral tongs, etc... get some! Lol

Definitely need to! Been procrastinating for too long! Though do you think my acantho will be fine?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Also be on the lookout for additional appearances... they might just bore a new hole to get out...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Definitely need to! Been procrastinating for too long! Though do you think my acantho will be fine?

Impossible for me to say. If you think you damaged it, you can always do an iodine dip/bath.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Also be on the lookout for additional appearances... they might just bore a new hole to get out...

Will be on the lookout, though usually coral glue gets them. Removed my hair worm, sea spider, some other burrowing animal, and I did cover the area around it and the other holes, good luck getting out now!

Impossible for me to say. If you think you damaged it, you can always do an iodine dip/bath.

Iodine dips, my nemesis. I feel like I'll do more harm than good as I might damage it further trying to get it out. Might feed it today to give it some energy/nutrients