weird shells growing and moving and i think featherdusters??

[stevefromga2000]

i have these shells that i have actually been watching grow, they started out of nowhere, and now they constantly move around, but only on this one live rock. they don't look harmful, but i was just curious what they are. there are a total of 3 of them that i have noticed so far. the other two pics are what i think would be featherdusters, maybe. they come out and open up like they are in the pics, but then they look like they close up and suck back down into the rock. then, later on they slowly come back out and open up. they don't get bothered by anything, but i think that they're neat. if they need some kind of special care, i would like to know so that they can continue to grow. i don't have a lot of equipment right now (tight budget), but these guys just started growing on their own.

 

[austinsdad]

That first pic (white thingy) looks like a duster (tube worm) and the way you describe it opening slowly and retracting is just that. Can't see what's going on with the shell too well.

 

[Fluff]

You would be right on the feather dusters. The shelled creature is a keyhole limpet. They are algae consumers but should be watched if you have soft corals in the tank. I've had them without problems for years but it's documented that they will sometimes munch on soft corals. I've had them reproduce in my tank but very slowly. They get to be about an inch long.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i actually just today noticed a fourth little shell growing. i've only had my tank for about 4 months also, so if they are reproducing, i think they're doing it at a pretty good pace. they start out really small and with a white ring around them. it's kind of weird looking, and like i said, they all stay on the one rock, or at least every time i look for them they are on the same rock. i don't have any corals growing, at least not intentionally. i have all kinds of things growing on that one rock, but i don't know what any of it is. nothing is really big yet, except for those shells that move around. i don't plan on getting any kind of corals for quite a while, at least not until i can afford the better lighting system. i also have stems growing out everywhere, on all the rocks, but mostly again only on the one. you can kind of see one of them in the top pictue at the bottom, in the center. nothing grows off of them, they just grow straight out. any thoughts on those? and what about the purple growth and also the neon green growth in different spots on the rock? both are visible in the top picture.

 

[Fluff]

The limpets will eventually move off the rock and onto the glass to graze. The tank is very new at 4mo. and they have plenty of die off and algae to consume on the rocks right now.
I can't see the "stems" you are talking about but your description sounds like vermetid gastropods. They are a tube dwelling snail and harmless if not beneficial to your system.
The green and purple in the pics looks like coralline algae.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i will try to get a better pic of the stems, but they don't move at all. if they were snails, wouldn't they at least move a little bit? that should be neat when the limpets start to move around to different places. thanks for the help.

 

[Fluff]

No, the vermietid snails don't move. They live within the tubes they build and send out two mucous covered tentacles to collect food from the rocks. They will move by abandoning their tubes and rebuilding but the tubes themselves are stationary. If there are snails living in them, if you look closely you will see two tiny "hairs" sticking out the top. Here is a pic of some in my tank to give you an idea. (I added the blurry one cause it shows the tenticals pretty well) The tubes in the pic are about 1/4" tall and about as big around as thin spaghetti.

 

[stevefromga2000]

my tubes are a yellowish color. my computer at home isn't working properly right now, so i had to use the old picture that was already on here, but i outlined two of them that i could see in one of the pictures.

 

[Fluff]

I'm sorry, I don't see the outline in your pictures.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i tried to add them, but then i started having problems with my stuff at work. when i get home later, i will try to send them again but off of my laptop. sorry

 

[Fluff]

No problem.

 

[stevefromga2000]

here we go fluff, i finally got my laptop hooked up so i could do those outlines that i thought i already did. anyways, the tube things are outlined in white, but then i also outlined some stuff that looks like red hair growing on the sides of the rock. i outlined that stuff in yellow. hopefully you can help. oh yeah, you should check out the fireworms that i caught in my tank. i posted them seperatley. i didn't know if they were for sure fireworms or not, but i'm pretty sure. i hoped that maybe they could get posted in the gallary in this forum.

 

[Fluff]

They tubes look like abandoned vermetid tubes to me. The red algae could be red hair or it could be another type of red macro growing. I really can't see it well enough to try to ID it for you. The pic is so dark, it just look like a dark patch on the rock. If it's red hair, you'll want to remove it and treat it the same as green hair. Any other macro can be left but depending on what it is, it may need pruned weekly. Sorry I can't help more.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i need to get in there and scrape it off? what can i use to do that? should i just like peel it off with my fingers or something? it does look like grass, except red. also, there are a couple other really small, about 1 square inch or so, of green grass looking stuff growing in other places on my rocks. remove that stuff the same way?

 

[Fluff]

No, by removing I meant it can be gotten rid of by eliminating the phosphates in your water. Water changes are the best way to fight it. You can do some manual removal as well but be sure when you are plucking it, that you don't leave any to float in the water. It will just settle somewhere else. Do you have corals in the tank? If not, then a black out will work to help get rid of it. Hair algae is almost fuzzy in texture. It may not be hair. Personally, I'd handle it through water management and just watching it. It may be a caulerpa, or type of Rhyophyta. Maybe even a red maidens hair (Polysiphonia sp.). I would wait it out and see what happens with it. Maybe try to get a lighter macro picture of it with more detail.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i don't have any corals in the tank. if there are any corals, then they are there because they hitched a ride with my live rock. what kind of timing should i use for a blackout? speaking of lighting, what kind of hours should i be using for my tank? right now, i usually give them about 12 on, 12 off. is that good, or should there be more time for the lighting?