Worm, tree, root, thing?

[trixter227]

Noticed this show up after lights out tonight. Could watch it "grow" i assumed to be algea or somthing odd. All happed within a hour or so
HOWEVER it seems to be a "colony" or singular very odd worm of somkind. If i shine a light i can watch them retract and pull away from eatchother. Its like strands of worms together forming the "tree/root" shape
Sorry in advance for the bad pictures.

Also see how it left like residue, thats where a 2ed smaller "tree" was minutes ago.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Noticed this show up after lights out tonight. Could watch it "grow" i assumed to be algea or somthing odd. All happed within a hour or so
HOWEVER it seems to be a "colony" or singular very odd worm of somkind. If i shine a light i can watch them retract and pull away from eatchother. Its like strands of worms together forming the "tree/root" shape

View attachment 3108322View attachment 3108324
Also see how it left like residue, thats where a 2ed smaller "tree" was minutes ago.

This is dinoflagellates and often occurs when nutrients are low and used up by their cells. Siphon up and see if it returns within 12-24 hours.
Light is part of energy source for this.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Possibly an organism (or collection of organisms) tentatively ID as Labyrinthula?

If you click my username in the quote below, it'll take you to the thread it's posted in for another example:

Labyrinthula (though I haven’t researched this enough yet to verify if it actually is Labyrinthula or just worms that look like Labyrinthula). The consensus seems to be that it’s harmless unless you’re trying to keep seagrasses.

Here are some threads dealing with them (some more similar to yours than others):

What is this vein like growth on my glass?!?

for the last couple days in the morning I have had a couple of these “vein” like growths going up my glass from my substrate. I have never seen them before in my tank or in any posts. Not sure what they are. Any help is much appreciated! TIA.

www.reef2reef.com

Worm and Weird Growth?

Any thoughts on what these hitchhikers are and whether or not their beneficial or harmful to my nano reef?

www.reef2reef.com

New hitchhikers!

Recently I found a jelly fish and a peanut worm, but I am having trouble identifying this yellowish object that continuously moves around on the glass of my tank. Today I have found a similar yellow dot... what is this?

www.reef2reef.com

Sudden single spidery algae monster

This popped up and grew exponentially within hours. It looks and feels like algae (wipes off easy), but the sudden onset is weird! I haven't cleaned the tank in several weeks, so there's a small bit of normal film algae, but no problems or algae anywhere else. Any insight? Thank you!

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ID and help please?

Hi, Left the house for a couple hours, come in and straight away check the tank as usual. Find this to what looks to be coming out the sand bed and up the glass around 6-8” or so. many ideas what it is? Should I be worried or need to do anything or can it just be left alone? Seems to be moving...

www.reef2reef.com

Anyone ever see something like this?

No clue what this is. It moves around, but cant really "see" it moving. I've seen it on the rocks in different areas and once on the back glass. Looks like there is something similar in the sump.

www.reef2reef.com

Omg what is this in my tank?!

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum but I wasn't sure where to post since idk what this "alien thing" is! it just came out of nowhere. I haven't added anything new to my tank in over 3 months. The only thing that has changed is my trochus snails exploded babies all over lol please help....what...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[trixter227]

This is dinoflagellates and often occurs when nutrients are low and used up by their cells. Siphon up and see if it returns within 12-24 hours.
Light is part of energy source for this.

Wow thanks for the quick reply, sucked out 99%. Dont know much other than hearing "horror" storys. I recently installed a macro algea reactor due to my phos steadly creeping up. Any effect?

 

[trixter227]

Possibly an organism (or collection of organisms) tentatively ID as Labyrinthula?

Yes! Exactly like that frist video on the first link.
I was just about to say i wish i got a video. Its definitely moveing and a collection of more then one of whatever organism.

 

[trixter227]

This was apart of the first thread, i guess it could make sense that I just added cheato to the algea reactor about a week ago at this point.

Hi I'm gonna revive this thread real quick. Although I don't have a definitive answer on what these are but here are my two cents. I have the same thing in a really really dirty ten gallon that I use to breed pods and macros (kinda like a trashy fuge). I have two "colonies" at the moment. At first I though they were the silicate spindles of a sponge until I realized that overnight they would catch and kill some copepods. I don't think they are worms since a gentle tap from a toothbruh bristle cuts them in two. However, I do thik that this could be a type of primitive bryozoan which are a type of encrusting animal (like a predatory sponge). If you look at the tip of each "branch" you will see some similarities to the structure of a bryozoan's "mouth" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryozoa#/media/File:Ectoproct_generalized_01.png) just imagine the tentacles as the cobweb. I hope this helps!