What's this?

[fisherdonk]

At first I thought hair algae. But it's very localized and these thin orangy tentacles seem to move with purpose.

 

[bradleym]

It might be a spaghetti worm.

 

[Karen00]

Do they retract when touched? Don't touch with your fingers but take a straw or if you have any of those wooden skewers you can get in packs from the dollar store. Something like that. Usually anything like a worm, etc. will retract. FWIW I had some hair algae in the crevice of a rock (but I didn't know it was algae at the time). When I looked at it I could've sworn it was legs sticking out and moving in the current. I thought I had miraculously gotten a micro brittle star in my tank. Turned out it was just the algae fronds blowing around. I was so disappointed.

Edit: You could also scoop out some of that sand and put it in a container for closer examination. In some cases if it's worms they will retract further into the sand bed.

 

[fisherdonk]

It does indeed retract. Is it a good critter or bad?

 

[fisherdonk]

The culprit. What is it? Is it good or bad? How did it get in do you think? I dip my coral with Revive and started with dry rock and live sand.

 

[Catskiller]

Spaghetti worm

 

[ying yang]

Spaghetti worm and one of the good guys.put it back on the sand

 

[Karen00]

I agree it looks like a spaghetti worm. Sometimes they come in as eggs which the dips don't deal with. It might've also been in the live sand (but unlikely) or it could've been curled up in the coral and managed to survive the dip. I take a soft toothbrush to the coral while they're in the dip and gently run the toothbrush over them and I really scrub the heck out of the frag plugs. I also use multiple different dips in a row now just to be on the safe side.

 

[vetteguy53081]

These guys eat uneaten food and detritus and deemed reef safe cleaner crew

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

@Sean Clark

 

[Sean Clark]

@Erin1971Texas I feel you. It's going to be OK. Hugs.