White tube on zoa frag

[ZzyzxRiver]

What’s this? At first I thought maybe it was a spiorbid worm because I have some of those popping up but this one isn’t curled up like those are.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

bump! Anybody?

 

[shcrimps]

tube worm

 

[BristleWormHater]

What’s this? At first I thought maybe it was a spiorbid worm because I have some of those popping up but this one isn’t curled up like those are.

Definitely a feather duster. Wait awhile and if you don't see the crown(the feathers) come out then feel free to remove the tube, its probably empty.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Definitely a feather duster. Wait awhile and if you don't see the crown(the feathers) come out then feel free to remove the tube, its probably empty.

The tube is new, so hopefully there’s a feather duster in there (They’re good guys, right?). I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

 

[BristleWormHater]

The tube is new, so hopefully there’s a feather duster in there (They’re good guys, right?). I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

Yes they are harmless filter feeders very fun to watch

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Update on the feather duster- its tube continues to wind around and has gotten thicker, too. Super fun to watch it grow!

I don’t know anything about this animal- is there a specific name for the *kind* of feather duster it is? I’d like to know more about it, like its max size and whether it might propagate in my tank.

Paging @ISpeakForTheSeas (am I allowed to do that?)

 

[BristleWormHater]

Update on the feather duster- its tube continues to wind around and has gotten thicker, too. Super fun to watch it grow!

I don’t know anything about this animal- is there a specific name for the *kind* of feather duster it is? I’d like to know more about it, like its max size and whether it might propagate in my tank.

Paging @ISpeakForTheSeas (am I allowed to do that?)

I'll tell you what he told me, which is that it unfortunately is almost impossible to give an exact ID without some equipment you probably don't have.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Paging @ISpeakForTheSeas (am I allowed to do that?)

Haha, yeah, it's fine to tag me. I can tell you from the tube (which is a calcium carbonate tube that's hard rather than a mucus and sediment tube that would be leathery and flexible) that this is a Serpulid worm (family Serpulidae), but doing a species specific ID would require very close up pics, including some microscope pics (which wouldn't really be possible to get on the live worm without risking its health).

This first quote is directly related to Serpulid worms:

the tube shape and operculum/opercular peduncle (the "stalk" of the operculum) can theoretically tell us quite a bit, but I'm not familiar enough with Serpulid taxonomy yet for it to be of much use at the moment I'm afraid (with ~95 recognized genera in the family, it's a lot to learn about, and I currently only know useful info for about 5 specific genera). The body shape, eyes, specific body parts and certain chaetae (at the microscopic level) are all also used in the identification of specific species, and most of these aren't visible without removing the worm from the tube.

OP, if you want to try for an ID, you'd need super clear pics of the feather crown, the operculum and opercular peduncle, any eyes you can find, and any pics of the worm's body you can get (removing it from the tube would be stressful, so I wouldn't suggest it). Showing the shape of the crown and operculum would be important. This info may at least be able to get us down to a subfamily/tribe level, but there's no guarantee.

This second quote was for Sabellid worms, but with the focus being on showing the eyespots and such, it would still be useful here to give an idea of what to look for with any eyes the worm may have:

Does the worm have any eyes on the tentacles there? I don't see any compound eyes, but does it have any eyespots? (They'd look like little, dark dots/tiny balls on the tentacles themselves; they can be hard to see when they're on the dark colored portions of the tentacles - for examples, Figures 2B, 2M, 3B, 13F, 16E, 16I, 21F, and 22F; you can see them in others as well, but they're harder to pick out).
View of <strong>A taxonomic guide to the fanworms (Sabellidae, Annelida) of Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, including new species and new records</strong> If your worm has eyespots, note as much info as you can about them (things like, do they come in groups, pairs, rows, singularly, etc.; where they're found on the tentacles; how close they are to worm's mouth/body on the tentacle; etc.).

And, finally, my post linked below is about a different kind of polychaete than feather dusters, but it shows some of the sorts of things I'd be looking for with the chaetae of the worm (which aren't typically visible with the worm in its tube) and (between my post and the OP's post beneath it) gives an example of how intensive of microscope pics are required to show that stuff well enough for me to work with it for an ID:

worm with white ends

any ID would be much appreciated - thanks!

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Haha, yeah, it's fine to tag me. I can tell you from the tube (which is a calcium carbonate tube that's hard rather than a mucus and sediment tube that would be leathery and flexible) that this is a Serpulid worm (family Serpulidae), but doing a species specific ID would require very close up pics, including some microscope pics (which wouldn't really be possible to get on the live worm without risking its health).

This first quote is directly related to Serpulid worms:

This second quote was for Sabellid worms, but with the focus being on showing the eyespots and such, it would still be useful here to give an idea of what to look for with any eyes the worm may have:

And, finally, my post linked below is about a different kind of polychaete than feather dusters, but it shows some of the sorts of things I'd be looking for with the chaetae of the worm (which aren't typically visible with the worm in its tube) and (between my post and the OP's post beneath it) gives an example of how intensive of microscope pics are required to show that stuff well enough for me to work with it for an ID:

worm with white ends

any ID would be much appreciated - thanks!

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks for the reading material! I’ll be excited to see what new things I notice as it continues to grow in size.
From what you can tell, is it something that I can look forward to more of?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thanks for the reading material! I’ll be excited to see what new things I notice as it continues to grow in size.
From what you can tell, is it something that I can look forward to more of?

If it's the only one in your tank, then I wouldn't expect more of them to appear, but it may get slightly larger and should stick around for awhile as long it likes where it's at.