Parasitic featherdusters?

[karimwassef]

By day, most of these guys are covered up by the coral polyps, but at night, you can see how invasive they are... They do interfere with the polyps when open - like an irritation that causes them to grow in a different pattern. With some SPS, they seem to bury themselves into their skeletons or the coral skeleton growth engulfs them except for the head?

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/56CCC4B4-B6BB-494E-826F-6ADF82BB718A_zps3re6aony.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/56CCC4B4-B6BB-494E-826F-6ADF82BB718A_zps3re6aony.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 56CCC4B4-B6BB-494E-826F-6ADF82BB718A_zps3re6aony.jpg"/></a>

And by day

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/905B79E5-310B-474F-8DFD-F02A6D2E12D0_zps19ovltue.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/905B79E5-310B-474F-8DFD-F02A6D2E12D0_zps19ovltue.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 905B79E5-310B-474F-8DFD-F02A6D2E12D0_zps19ovltue.jpg"/></a>

Here's another one

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/5AD1C71E-D924-40B6-B9ED-A7D555D66F57_zpsmyzdn28l.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/5AD1C71E-D924-40B6-B9ED-A7D555D66F57_zpsmyzdn28l.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 5AD1C71E-D924-40B6-B9ED-A7D555D66F57_zpsmyzdn28l.jpg"/></a>

And by day

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/9A90738D-1BEC-4FAE-9AA7-79E198009E24_zps8196i4il.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/9A90738D-1BEC-4FAE-9AA7-79E198009E24_zps8196i4il.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 9A90738D-1BEC-4FAE-9AA7-79E198009E24_zps8196i4il.jpg"/></a>

They also seem to spread to any rock that's adjacent... Almost as if they can move on their own?

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It sounds strange, but I can see a clump in on part of a rock and over time, the little hard tubes actually relocate to other parts and even to other rocks. They're not breeding.. Or I would see old and new tubes and they'd start small and get bigger. They're moving.

I've never experienced this before. Are there parasitic featherdusters? Should I be worried?

[HammerLover]

Feather dusters aren't parasitic since they get food through filter feeding. A population explosion of them means that the tank is nutrient rich or dirty. Try cutting back feeding as a suggestion.

[Dkuhlmann]

You mentioned growing in an SPS skeleton structure yet I don't see any SPS in your tank, I think you meant to say LPS

Hammerlover is correct they're not parasites they are excellent filter feeders and as he mentioned you have too many of the nutrients that they prefer. First give us a full list of all of your tank parameters so we can see what's the problem with your PLAGUE of them :D

I think that I would start breaking them off so you can get rid of most of them. I also say they're reproducing at an alarming rate and not moving.

[Sapelo]

I have to agree with Dkuhlmann, I doubt very seriously that they are moving, just multiplying very quickly.
When I purchased my 300 gallon it was up and running. The guy had a feather duster outbreak very much like your pictures. They were EVERYWHERE. There were so many that they had even begun to take over the sump and overflow boxes. I've never seen anything like it before or since.
Six months in to having the tank up and running again and they are mostly gone but it took a while, bringing nutrients down was critical.
All in all, I can think of far worse outbreaks to have.

[karimwassef]

The last two pics are of a monti cap who's structure was weakened by these guys growing in them. My tank is mostly SPS, but the feather dusters seem to prefer finding safety under big LPS polyps or inside the GSP. Does that look normal?

Temp 82
Salinity 35
Alk 8.0
Ca 500
Mg 1500
pH 8.4
PO4 - below kit (zero)
NO3 - below kit (zero)
No ammonia or nitrate

I feed a lot, but I have a lot of export mechanisms too.

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/FA106525-3383-45CF-85FD-4BA8049A226A_zpsdx4m60kl.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/FA106525-3383-45CF-85FD-4BA8049A226A_zpsdx4m60kl.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo FA106525-3383-45CF-85FD-4BA8049A226A_zpsdx4m60kl.jpg"/></a>

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[Dkuhlmann]

Very nice tank! :thumbsup: All you showed pictures of were the LPS LOL You do truly have an awesome tank!

[karimwassef]

Thanks. I was just focused on my problem.

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[karimwassef]

Here's why I think they're moving, not just breeding...

In June 2015, I experimented with a cap frag that had these guys stuck to the bottom. I superglued it vertically against the artificial concrete wall. All the feather dusters should have died (superglued between a frag and the concrete). But in a few weeks, they had moved out and started to spread on the concrete.

If they were breeding, why would the new featherdusters be so close to the original location? They should be scattered all over the tank.

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/142F8363-5147-41F2-92A3-FE4839B3FAD3_zpsqlnxg6pi.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/142F8363-5147-41F2-92A3-FE4839B3FAD3_zpsqlnxg6pi.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 142F8363-5147-41F2-92A3-FE4839B3FAD3_zpsqlnxg6pi.jpg"/></a>

Sorry for the bad picture. I wasn't focused on them at the time. It's just the only old pic I have that shows them. The monti frag is shadowed and there's a tiny colony of Xenia and green button polyps.

Today:
<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/40E81310-EB4F-49CC-B778-51143BAB6ECC_zpscwjq3izh.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/40E81310-EB4F-49CC-B778-51143BAB6ECC_zpscwjq3izh.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 40E81310-EB4F-49CC-B778-51143BAB6ECC_zpscwjq3izh.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/613D46DE-39FF-45F9-9F44-E8FB8D1DF931_zpsglz57xhy.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/613D46DE-39FF-45F9-9F44-E8FB8D1DF931_zpsglz57xhy.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 613D46DE-39FF-45F9-9F44-E8FB8D1DF931_zpsglz57xhy.jpg"/></a>

Again. Close to the original location. The featherdusters that were in the original location are now gone.

I don't see that as breeding?

[cloak]

Check these out. (Sabellidae)

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/8/inverts

FWIW I've never had any problems with these feather dusters. Like mentioned above though the population will usually rise and fall depending on how much food is in the system.

[karimwassef]

I do feed a lot and have to continue to feed a lot to maintain my coral growth.

I can break them off by hand. It's not like they're stinging my corals.. they're more irritants.

I have about 8 coral banded shrimp and a large breeding female in the system. They're been working on the population.

[CuzzA]

One of my LFS's had this same species in a coral frag tank. They were everywhere. Very proficient at spreading.

[karimwassef]

They've spread to my ATS sheet and I end up removing them every couple of weeks to put into my algae holding tank. The water there isn't as pleasant but they still survive.

[Rybren]

I used to have a lot of them in my tank as well. Since adding two Halichoeres wrasses, I don't see them in the DT any more. There are, however, lots still in the sump.

[karimwassef]

I have three wrasses - yellow coris, six line, and melanarus. They're usually very full with the mysis I feed.

[HefeWeizen]

They spread by breaking off and floating. I have a lot too. No bother to the corals.

[karimwassef]

Are yours also invasive into the tissue and skeleton of the corals?

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/5AD1C71E-D924-40B6-B9ED-A7D555D66F57_zpsmyzdn28l.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/5AD1C71E-D924-40B6-B9ED-A7D555D66F57_zpsmyzdn28l.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 5AD1C71E-D924-40B6-B9ED-A7D555D66F57_zpsmyzdn28l.jpg"/></a>


<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/56CCC4B4-B6BB-494E-826F-6ADF82BB718A_zps3re6aony.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/56CCC4B4-B6BB-494E-826F-6ADF82BB718A_zps3re6aony.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 56CCC4B4-B6BB-494E-826F-6ADF82BB718A_zps3re6aony.jpg"/></a>

I've always had featherdusters in my tanks, but never seen them so deep in the coral tissue

[CuzzA]

There's a few reef safe products out there that will kill worms. Of course it will indiscriminately kill any worms so if you had some desirable worms that may be a concern.

Do you have any butterfly fish in your reef? They would make quick work of them. Of course once they're all gone you would likely have to feed brine shrimp and/or black worms.

[karimwassef]

I'm too fond of worms to use a chemical. I consider worms to be the keystone of a healthy reef - even more than pods and micro starfish. They do all the heavy lifting IMHO.

I can kill them and manually remove them from the corals they're buried into. They're not exactly going to run away.

I've been keeping reefs since the early 90s and had tons of similar looking featherdusters, the little curly ones and the skinny tube ones. I want to identify what these are and why they're so different from the others.

[HammerLover]

My feather dusters were usually in secluded areas like under a cave where there is minimal flow. I got mine as hitchhikers on LR and they never multiplied at all. They never died either so I guess I have something that feeds them. I even bought larer colorful feather dusters and they are very interesting creatures to watch.

[karimwassef]

Hmmm... That's interesting.

I observe that these guys like to huddle under and in corals where I have "shadowed flow".

Most of my SPS get massive surge flow and they're clear of them. My LPS and softies are in reduced flow so they expand their polyps better.

So- has anyone else seen their FDs encroach this deeply against or in their corals?

[CuzzA]

A Google search using the terms "tangled tube worms" produced some similar images. Perhaps that's a start to finding a proper ID.

[karimwassef]

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/877BF727-3F8D-44C0-B22D-114534742130_zps7ycgzpaq.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/877BF727-3F8D-44C0-B22D-114534742130_zps7ycgzpaq.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 877BF727-3F8D-44C0-B22D-114534742130_zps7ycgzpaq.jpg"/></a>

They're encroaching the polyps. At least for these LPS polyps, they're killing my coral.

[karimwassef]

One polyp has died already... these are definitely parasitic

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The idea that all featherdusters are good... I think this disproves it