Can anyone tell what these might be??????????

[CB]

I am fairly new to saltwater ownership recently these brown stick looking things have appeared on my rock. They are about 1/2 inch long and just look like a stick. Sorry don't have a camera to take a pic.

 

[BillyZ]

http://home.attbi.com/~76fxe/verm3.jpg

do they look like these:

http://home.attbi.com/~76fxe/verm3.jpg
Photo by Reeflady

found that pic on another users site, if thats what you have, those are Vermetid Snails. More info here: http://www.aquarium.net/0897/0897_8.shtml (also a link from the other users site)

 

[CB]

No they are not as thick as they said they should be on that site.wouldn't they have to come out or send a tentacle out to feed. No matter when a view the tank [during the day or at night with a red night ]there is no movement. :?

 

[Zain]

possibly aiptisa(sp?)

 

[fishfreek]

Are they hard or soft bodied? If they are touched with a straw or something do they retract?

 

[CB]

They seem to be hard when I touched it they snap like a twig but the part that is left on the rock is hard. :?

 

[fishfreek]

Have you ever seen anything at the top of this? Look for somethin very small and almost translucent. My guess is its a form of tube worm and what your seeing is the tube.

If this guess is correct they are toatlly harmless and acutally do your tank some good because they are filter feeders. Of course unless you got thousands of them you wont notice a difference in your water quality.

 

[ReefLady]

I still agree with BillyZ that these are possibly Vermetid snails. The ones I have had - the "stick" is not even as thick as a wooden matchstick. Very small and narrow.

The only time you might see them send a tentacle out to feed is when there is food in the water - they sometimes send out a filament/string to catch the food. If you have a few, it almost looks like cobwebs.

Here's another pic:

HTH!

 

[CB]

I have occassionally seen what appeared to be a strand of cobweb in the tank,so these will not harm the enviroment of the tank?

 

[ReefLady]

CB - no, they're not harmful at all. Just filter feeders.