2 things

[Anonymous]

On my rock, there are these tubular things. The tubes are similiar in appearance to the tubes of a tubeworm/featherduster, but much larger - they're about .5 centimeter in diameter. They seem segmented and are white at the base and as they reach the tip are green. All around the tip there is little "hairs" growing out of it. I can't tell if these are animal or vegetable. They haven't moved, one clump has 3-4 and another has 2 right now. They just moved in out of the blue.

The other is some kind of anemone. It's not aptasia. It's completely and perfectly transparent except at the tips of its tentacles and where the tentacles meet the body. The tips are white and where they meet the body, I can barely make out white where there is just more membrane than the rest of the animal. When he curls up he's white - barely. He's about 3/4 of an inch across and has grown considerably in the past month or so he's been in my refugium. He rarely closes up. He's open whether the light's on or off. He came with the rock pool sludge I bought from PA.

Thanks

How'd I do Chucker? Kept it out of the main board - for now

 

[MedicineMan1]

I'm clueless about the anemone but the other things sound like hydroids. I have many in my tank and, so far, they aren't bothering anything (then again, nothing is near them!

)
Hydroids is a very generic term and covers many different critters. There's some info on the FAQ here.

 

[Anonymous]

They don't look like any of the hydroids in the pictures. The "hairs" aren't coming just from the tip, but all around - probably the top 1 half to 3 quarters of an inch. The's things are about 1-1.5 inches long.

 

[Wormy]

tangirl,

I've got the tube things you've described too. Two came in on some Fiji rock, and since then about 7 have popped up on another rock in my tank. The look like tube worms, but don't spiral at all. The tube tapers slightly at the bottom, and the attachment is flexible so they can blow around in current. The tube is stark white, and becomes algae green at the top, where there appears to be a bunch of little green hairs (these are hard to see except on close examination). When they die, the green disappears, and the tube slowly disolves.

I have been really wondering what these are, and if they're animal or plant. I though maybe I was the only one that had these. I've had them for several months, and while they grow quickly, they don't spread quickly, and I can't see any trouble they've caused.