Identification?

[Big Lance]

Dr. Ron-
I have a relatively new tank (1.5 months) and a hitchhiker that I cannot identify. I have looked all over the place and cannot find anything that quite fits. The organism(s) started out on the front panel in the area of most water circulation. It looked like a single celled organism with 10- 15 cilia type hairs jutting out in all directions. Over the course of one weekend, me being gone, the front panel was covered with 50-75 of the tiny objects. I would say a geometric progression in reproduction. Soon there after, evidence of these things were on most of the rock. Now, the more mature ones are turning to a more white color and growing. Now they appear to be some type of tiny circular tube worm, with a spherical hard body and several hairs out the top. The largest are around 1-2 millimeters in diameter.

I have posted a pic of a large group of them on one of my astrea snails. The pic is not good, but the best I can get with my girlfriends cheap digital camera. Perhaps my description and the blurry pic will be enough for you to be able to deduce an identification. Sorry if these turn out to be the average feather dusters spawnin, but I didnt think they would do it this fast. Thanks very much for any ideas.

-Lance

[horge]

:)

Spirorbid worms, most likely.

[rshimek]

Hi,

Horge's answer appears to be correct [thanks]

Spirorbids are tiny feather duster worms that are characterized by the small spirally coiled tube that they secrete. They reproduce by brooding their larvae, so the larvae come out of the parent's tube ready to move a short distance and metamorphose into a tiny worm. This allows them to spread well in our systems, as they don't get filtered out or eaten.

They are common reef tank inhabitants, and are effectively impossible to remove. They are harmless, however, will not cause any real problems.