White tubes on Euphyllia Skeletons?

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 10, 2021

Hello,

Can anybody help me identify these white tubes that seem to grow all over my euphyllia skeleton? Frogspawn, torch, hammer, they all have varying amounts. It seems like the frogspawn skeleton has the most, almost completely covered. If anybody has any suggestions for getting rid of these I would love to hear it. See attached pics. Thanks!

smol_reef · Jan 10, 2021

My hammer also has something like this and I have no idea what it is. Following

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 10, 2021

Glad I’m not the only one. Although it doesn’t seem like it’s irritating them terribly, it also doesn’t seem like it’s great. I’d really like to be able to remove them.

TriggerFinger · Jan 10, 2021

They look similar to hydroids but I’ve never seen them grow that dense before.
Have you tried to pluck or scrub them and it returns? Are they flexible or hard?

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 10, 2021

TriggerFinger said:
They look similar to hydroids but I’ve never seen them grow that dense before.
Have you tried to pluck or scrub them and it returns? Are they flexible or hard?

They’re definitely hard, it’s like a calciferous tube. If I ran a scraper up and down the skeleton they would scrape up. I just didn’t want to have to pull all my lps out to do this

smol_reef · Jan 10, 2021

Oh nvm mine are just like little white hair

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 10, 2021

smol_reef said:
Oh nvm mine are just like little white hair

Mine are like that too, very thin, but they are brittle if you scrape them

smol_reef · Jan 10, 2021

Mine are soft and they easily fall off. I just scraped it with my finger and they would float right off

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 10, 2021

smol_reef said:
Mine are soft and they easily fall off. I just scraped it with my finger and they would float right off

Yeah same with mine. I shouldn’t have described it as hard, just that they are brittle and will definitely fall off when scraped. Found this thread from 3 years ago which is definitely the same thing, but didn’t look like there was a conclusive answer as to what it was:

White hairs under coral HELP

My gsp and now a plate coral have had white hairs under them causing them to look sick gsp was not coming out until I scrubbed it off and now my plate coral was getting white and looked unclean on top pulled it out and found more white hair looks like whiskers on a cat but only about 1/4 inch...

www.reef2reef.com

smol_reef · Jan 10, 2021

Yeah mine aren't brittle at all. Feels just like very soft and very fine hair. Maybe ours are different?

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 10, 2021

smol_reef said:
Yeah mine aren't brittle at all. Feels just like very soft and very fine hair. Maybe ours are different?

Interesting. Must be!

TriggerFinger · Jan 11, 2021

Can you scrape and take some out for a better picture @Boxofpurplerocks ? I saw you posted a pic of your urchin eating part of a skeleton and it appeared to eat these too. Now I’m invested, let’s get some better pics!

Sharkbait19 · Jan 11, 2021

I bought an elegance yesterday that had that stuff but my emerald crab quickly tackled it, so I assumed it was some sort of algae.

smol_reef · Jan 13, 2021

I realized that mine do have a brittle part. Mine look like this, don't know if yours is the same: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/spionid-worms.356762/

namfuak · Jan 13, 2021

Boxofpurplerocks said:
Yeah same with mine. I shouldn’t have described it as hard, just that they are brittle and will definitely fall off when scraped. Found this thread from 3 years ago which is definitely the same thing, but didn’t look like there was a conclusive answer as to what it was:

White hairs under coral HELP

My gsp and now a plate coral have had white hairs under them causing them to look sick gsp was not coming out until I scrubbed it off and now my plate coral was getting white and looked unclean on top pulled it out and found more white hair looks like whiskers on a cat but only about 1/4 inch...

www.reef2reef.com

That's interesting; I read the thread in this link and it seems like there were a few labeling it as Bryozansis....

Subsea said:
@KJ

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/bryozoans-moss-animals

My exposure to Bryozansis is limited to live rock from Gulf of Mexico. I googled it and found this first, which discribe “vine like growth”.

Family:
Various families in phylum Bryozoa (most freshwater bryozoans are in the class Phylactolaemata)

Description:
Bryozoans are microscopic aquatic invertebrates that live in colonies. The colonies of different species take different forms. Most are attached to a structure such as a rock or submerged branch. Some colonies are rounded, jellylike masses. Others resemble antlers or mosses (bryophyte means “moss animal”), trace delicately like vines across rocks, or create furry colonies. The species that creates the round, jellylike masses is Pectinatella magnifica.

Each tiny individual bryozoan (zooid) is attached to a surface at its base. Its body has an outer sleevelike structure (cystid) and a mass of organs (polypide) that moves within it. An opening at the top of the cystid permits the polypide to slide outward toward the water, exposing a headlike structure (lophophore) crowned with tentacles, which filter food from water. At the slightest disturbance, the polypide and tentacles retract instantly.

I saw the same consensus looking up Bryozansis from replies in other forums. A few google searches and came across this species....

Victorella Pavida

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 13, 2021

TriggerFinger said:
Can you scrape and take some out for a better picture @Boxofpurplerocks ? I saw you posted a pic of your urchin eating part of a skeleton and it appeared to eat these too. Now I’m invested, let’s get some better pics!

I’ll try and do that yet this week! Busy week so haven’t had a chance yet. Unfortunately I don’t think the urchin ate them, for some reason or another that torch doesn’t have many. That or if he did, I believe it to be incidental to eating the corraline. I did observe my tuxedo on the skeleton of my frog spawn last night, and when he left they were still there.

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 13, 2021

namfuak said:
That's interesting; I read the thread in this link and it seems like there were a few labeling it as Bryozansis....

I saw the same consensus looking up Bryozansis from replies in other forums. A few google searches and came across this species....

Victorella Pavida

Wow, good find! There doesn’t seem to be a ton of info, but what I do see looks pretty close! I think that might be it.

Boxofpurplerocks · Jan 13, 2021

smol_reef said:
I realized that mine do have a brittle part. Mine look like this, don't know if yours is the same: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/spionid-worms.356762/

Mine are similar, however the tubes are longer and thinner and I haven’t noticed anything sticking out of them yet.