SPIDERS IN MY TOADSTOOL

[skeeter1]

Last night after the BIG lights went off and my 25 watt blue (moonlight, don't laugh) incandesant came on I sat and watched my tank for about an hour. Reason is; after approx 5 minutes I notices a long thin spiderweb looking THING

extending from my toadstool, the damn thing was about a foot long. I started to reach in and pull this piece of slime from the coral when all of a sudden it withdrew back into the toad stool

. Kept watching and eventually there were 3 to 5 of these long hairy spiderweb looking things continually extend and then be drawn back in

NEATEST THING I'VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. I'm new to the hobby so at this point it doesnt take much to impress me.

LET ME KNOW IF YOU'VE EXPERIENCED THE SAME WITH YOUR TOADS

 

[skeeter1]

nala

yes they were, long with strings

thanks

 

[Jacob1]

Nala if you want to collect them instead of scrubbing them I would pay shipping if you would send one to me. I have seen them on very healthy toadstools and Dr. Ron said they don't harm them . I would like to have these in my tank, so the next time you get rid of them feel free to email me I really would appreciate it as I think these guys ae really cool.
[email protected]

 

[arnjer]

It's not the toadstool it could be a vermitid(sp) snail. I have them all over the tank. Look for these redish tubes coiled up on a piece of rock, tank walls, just about anywhere. They put out their "fishing line" let it catch food and then real it in and eat.

Jerry

 

[skeeter1]

another said it could be flat worms. Spooky what might lurk after dark

 

[nala]

Was it a long string with little strings coming off of it? I had these on a Toadstool frag...they were identified as a Sessile Ctenophore by Dr. Ron. Here's the threads: http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=635a22ecff6b54597338ade6d5ec49ba&threadid=13580&highlight=toadstool http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=635a22ecff6b54597338ade6d5ec49ba&threadid=14421&highlight=toadstool
There's more threads there...you can do a search in Dr. Ron's forum.
I ended up scrubbing my Toadstool with a toothbrush to get these things off

I don't think they were feeding on the coral...however there were so many of them the irritation caused it to close up all together. There's one on a polyp on my Alevapora now and I'm not sure how to scrub that one

They have multiplied in all my tanks...so far only bothering the Toadstool it rode in on

 

[arnjer]

[ August 10, 2001: Message edited by: arnjer ]