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Well, I don't have hondreds, but it's good to know they are harmless. Thanks!

Marine Aquarium Annelids

Annelids, or as most people know them better, worms, formed the basis of an interesting article in one of my recently acquired issues of Today's Fishkeeper (June 2004), which covers a number of different species from across the aquatic Annelid spectrum. However, my main motivation in writing this little piece is a post by another Board member (the start post in this topic by BenCoastie) about strange white creatures appearing in his aquarium.

I decided to engage in a little reading, as the post in question made my antennae twitch (as quite a few posts on this Board do regularly!). The mention of 'strange white things' immediately set me off looking for the requisite article. Now, at last, I've found the article (amid a million and one chores, plus photographing baby Panda Corys etc!) and the article contains a nice photograph and a brief description of some marine worms that very definitely fit the description of 'strange white things'. Whether they are the same 'strange white things' from the other aquarist's post remains to be seen, but this little creature is very interesting, because thus far, it is only known to science via aquarium specimens, and indeed, the entire Genus to which it belongs is only known from the aquarium to date, and has never been observed in Nature!

Microprotula ovicellata is a tube worm, that lives inside long, thin calcareous tubes whose size, shape and colouration cause them to resemble lengths of fine PVC-coated wire such as that used in computer ribbon cables. The tubes are very fragile, apparently breaking at the slightest touch, and when the worms show themselves at the ends of the tubes, the worms have transparent crowns with tiny bright red patches. There is no operculum at the end of the tube (the protective covering that some worm Genera manufacture to close off the end of the tube when danger threatens), and in the aquarium, the tubes reach a length of 5 cm or more, but are only 0.5 mm thick. Given their fragility, it is considered unlikely by the article's author, Alf Nilsen of Norway, that the tubes reach such lengths in the wild. Nilsen states in the article that much more information on these worms awaits discovery, and scientists would be interested to acquire specimens from any aquarists that have spare Microprotula populations to donate for research. Anyone who wishes to know more about this can E-Mail Alf Nilsen in the address he gives in the magazine: ajnilsen@online.no (he also gives a postal address and fax number).

While on the subject of 'strange white things', Alf Nilsen mentions an oddity that turned up in the marine aquarium hobby in Norway in the late 1970s. A collection of parchment-like tubes, densely covered with 'polyps', turned up in the trade in Norway on several occasions, and at first, people thought that the tubes were actually sponges that had been colonised by some coralline organism. However, Alf Nilsen's friend Julian Sprung formed the opinion that the tubes originated from a worm, and he was later proven to be correct. The worm in question is Eunice tubifex whose empty tubes are often colonised by Zoanthid anemones in colonies that resemble some of the 'polyps' of the reef aquarium, such as Zoanthus socialis, the so-called 'Green Polyps'. In this case, the colonising anemones are members of the Genus Acrozoanthus. And again, in appearance, they easily fall into the category of 'strange white things'!

So, take another look next time you see 'strange white things' in your reef aquarium, as you may just have one of these two organisms in residence



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

GOT IT TO WORK!!!!]

bencoastie attached this image:
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YAY! I can finally attach pistures for my endless stream of questions! These white things ( I can never remember the name) are 1/4 to 1/2 inches long, depending on how old it is I guess.
bencoastie attached this image:
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I think yours are runts, I have a few that are 1/2 inch long!

I really don't mind them.
Yours are bigger....mutants perhaps!
Or mabey mine are just runts

I'm glad I don't have that many, but mine are bigger.

OH YEAH, My four year olds favorite part of fish keeping...The MAG FLOAT!

I have the same thing in my tank, or atleast it looks the same. When I go over them with the mag scrapper they sound hard.



Dan

Keep in mind I clean them off the sides and they are also on the rocks and shells.
fishheadfred attached this image:
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:%)
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and this!
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O.K. so you thought I was crazy![img][/img][/font]
fishheadfred attached this image:
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I have asked this before, but I forget. What are the little white things that look like a cross between barnacles and tube worms? They attack themselves to the glass and are no larger than 1/4 inch or .4 mm. Also, are they good, bad or indifferent? Thanks in advance.

They do a great job of removing aptasia. The only problem is not all of them will do it. Soem like to eat it, others dont.



Dan

LOL..... the peppermint shrimp finally ate the one aptaisia and the mojano I had on the last piece of rock I put in.Didn't see the shrimp for 2 weeks after I added him, thought he was dead!

Ok, just wanted to make sure it was not aptasia



Dan

Totally white,all are spirally formed.

Are these white, or do they have a slight brown color to them?



Dan

When looking close you can see the feathery appendiges much like the larger versions.

[span class="edited"][Edited by Fishheadfred 2004-08-07 07:35][/span]