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Long white tentacle like thing

T

Twisteduptrix

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Manhattan Reefs
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Brooklyn. NY
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It appeared to be completely white. I saw it comes out of my rock work last night. So over the past week or so 2 of my fish have completely dissappeared. I thought it was completely weird because both of these fish (carpenter's wrasse and firefish) have been in my tank for over a year. They were both eating and were 100 percent healthy. They dissapeared on two seperate nights over the past week. The weird part was that the nights before each of them dissapeared they ate fine and a whole lot. My other fish seem to be doing alright and are all eating like little piggies.

So I decided to set up a night watch on my tank and low and behold I flashed a light a few hours after the lights went off and see a long white tentacle thing sticking out of one of the rocks. As soon as I flashed the light on it it jolted back into the rock work. I am concerned that this is what is attacking and killing my fish. I also have a reef lobster and a pistol shrimp in the same tank but I keep them well fed and they have'nt eaten any of my fish for the 3 years that they have been in my tank.

Any help in identifying or catching this thing would be greatly appreciated. I will try to snap a picture but the problem is that when I flash a light on it it jolts into the rock work.

Also I do not think it was a bristle worm . This thing was sticking out of the rock and was almost completely erect. It was about 4 or 5 inches long and it was completely erect.
 
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rookie07

rookie07

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Manhattan Reefs
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Was it white white, or an off white? Could you flash light have changed the color of it?

I have had worms that do the same thing, but they seem to take "bites" from the rock. When there is no light and i am able to observe them, i am able to see the food they ate (rock?) go through the top part of their bodies.
Never had any issues from them.
 
T

Twisteduptrix

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Manhattan Reefs
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Thanks for the responses. I will shut off the blue leds tonight. I will try to snap a picture . It is possible because the flashlight I used had white leds so it might of appeared to be white. I was also reading and apparently a red colored flashlight works for "spying". If it is in fact a type of worm should I be concerned? It still doesnt explain the disappearance of my two fish so suddenly. thanks for the help so far :)
 
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Twisteduptrix

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Manhattan Reefs
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Normally I would think it's the lobster as well but considering he's been in my tank for 3 years without a single incident I doubt that it was him. That and on top of the fact that I keep him well fed I doubt he could've killed two of them within a week and a half.
 
Y

yah-the submariner

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Yeah,i have the white worm like,star fish arm like creatures in many of my rocks,never a problem with any fish,invertebrate ect.maybe there's a mantis shrimp hiding in your rock work,lol.....or a serial killer
 
T

Twisteduptrix

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Manhattan Reefs
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Brooklyn. NY
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Highly doubt its a mantis shrimp. I do have a pistol in there along with the reef lobster. I recently added a fuzzy lion and he has been well fed as well. It is totally possible that he ate the wrasse but it would've been impossible for him to eat the firefish considering the firefish was much bigger than him. I am begining to think that it was probably the lobster. I camped out last night for a few and didn't see the tentacle thing anymore. Now I am starting to believe that I imagined the whole thing. It was really late and I was a bit drunk. But then that doesn't really explain the dissapearence of my two fish. I will spy again tonight. Hopefully nothing goes missing again and it was just a random event.
 
TRIGGERMAN

TRIGGERMAN

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Manhattan Reefs
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Staten Island
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Twisteduptrix said:
Highly doubt its a mantis shrimp. I do have a pistol in there along with the reef lobster. I recently added a fuzzy lion and he has been well fed as well. It is totally possible that he ate the wrasse but it would've been impossible for him to eat the firefish considering the firefish was much bigger than him. I am begining to think that it was probably the lobster. I camped out last night for a few and didn't see the tentacle thing anymore. Now I am starting to believe that I imagined the whole thing. It was really late and I was a bit drunk. But then that doesn't really explain the dissapearence of my two fish. I will spy again tonight. Hopefully nothing goes missing again and it was just a random event.
Click to expand...
lion fish are known predators of damn near everything it was probably him then. What do you mean the fire fish was bigger than him? Is that even possible? Fire fish are very small and skinny. How big was the fire fish?
 
Paolissimo

Paolissimo

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Manhattan Reefs
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Brooklyn - Dyker Heights
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I think i have the same thing you are talking about, they been armless in my tank. I one firefish and he is fine. Is this the firefish you are talking about, because a lionfish can easily eat it. I bet is the lionfish that ate the fish.
Z
 

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