Hitchhiker Identification

[Brian5000]

Well, I've been cycling my new tank for about a week now, and I must be doing something right because I'm starting to see critters moving about. I've spoted a couple of feather dusters, which are actually kinda colorful. I have another worm in there that I can't identify though. They're long (3-5cm) and maybe 0.5mm in diameter. They're brown and white stripped. They don't really match the description of a bristle worm. Could it be a spaghetti worm? I also see several white branching stalks planted in the live rock. The largest one is about 0.5cm tall with a 1mm base branching like a tree down to very fine hairs. What is it?

 

[Haloway]

I have another worm in there that I can't identify though. They're long (3-5cm) and maybe 0.5mm in diameter. They're brown and white stripped. They don't really match the description of a bristle worm. Could it be a spaghetti worm?

Does it look like this, if it does I would like to know too...even if it doesn't i would still like to know .

 

[Haloway]

lol wow i confused myself...*i would like to know what it is even if it doesn't look like what you have.*

thanks,

kevin

 

[Brian5000]

It doesn't look like that. The worms are brown and white stripped and I think they are actually several inches long (through only 0.5 mm in diameter). They are tube shaped with a simple pointed nose (no antennae or distinguishable features). Sorry, they're too small to get a clear picture.

 

[Anonymous]

its probably a bristleworm? do you mean 5mm or .5mm it could also be spaghetti worms...both of which are beneficial to your tank...

 

[bckane]

Does it look like this......BTW this is a Bristleworm

I have 4 of them in my tank....avg size is 5"

 

[hdtran]

Haloway,

Your picture (hard to tell because of brightness/contrast) looks actually like a brittle star or serpent star whose body is embedded in a rock crevice, and whose arms are out, waving in the sea breeze.

Brian,

If your second unidentified hitchhiker looks like the picture below, you have a filter feeding sea cucumber.

 

[Brian5000]

The branching thing does look like the picture. As for the worms, yes, I meant 0.5 mm (very thin). They are just stringy, tube shaped worms. It doesn't look like the pictures I've seen of bristleworms (unless this is some sort of juvenile stage). Spaghetti worm makes sense (if the dimensions are correct).

 

[bckane]

Heres a spaghetti worm have many in my tank

 

[Brian5000]

Different color, but that's it.

 

[Brian5000]

OK, I figured our the camera thing. Here are some pics of the critters. Can you confirm that the tree-like thing is a sea cucumber?

 

[bckane]

The first photo looks like a Aiptasia...............Look I "HAD" a few in my Tank........Got rid of them
Here a look

 

[Brian5000]

No, I don't think it's aiptasia. In fact, I think I just found one of those in my tank. These are different. They are solid stalks like a tree that branch down much finer that my camera can pick up.

 

[Brian5000]

The white tree thing is a foraminiferan colony. I found a matching picture in the hitchhiker FAQ page (page 3) of this site. I can't figure why I didn't notice the first 5 times I looked through there.