Underwater fly trap?

[d-ster]

I also have a, coral im guessing, that is in a hard to see spot in my tank I am working on getting a good picture. It looks sort of like a underwater venus fly trap. It opens and closes from time to time its only about the size of the tipof my finger. Its color is a pale green. Any Ideas? The tank I have i bought from a customer of mine from the LFS I worked at. She had it up and running for 6-7 years. Said she nerver did anything to it but feed flakes and add water. I since have added more rock some corals and livestock. It has come a long way.

When she had it:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p163/d-ster/100_0830.jpg


since Ive had if for 4 months:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p163/d-ster/100_1106.jpg

[Rob]

im not sure i know what it is,. but if you can manage to get a close up shot we would be more than happy to take a shot at identifying it.. :)

[d-ster]

Here's the best I could do:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p163/d-ster/100_1132.jpg
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p163/d-ster/100_1131.jpg
sorry the second is a bit dark.:pic:

[Rob]

Ahhh...
thats a normal feather dusters, they are common hitchihickers.. they are good filter feeders.. :)

you will notice there population increase and decrease based on availible nutrients in the tank.. :)

[d-ster]

You are talking about the green object in the middle of the first picture right?

How many kinds of feather dusters are there?

[saxman]

how many kinds of feather dusters are there?

quite a few, certainly more than most folks know, ranging in size from the tiny Spirorbids to the giant Hawaiian dusters.

[PSH]

Hope you don't mind but I took your pic and circled what I think you are talking about.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/PonderosaSnakeHouse/Saltwater/d-sterpic.jpg

I have no clue what it is myself.

[d-ster]

Thank you that is exactly what I am trying to I.D. Hard to get a picture of it without ripping whole tank apart. :)

[Rob]

ah.. ok, i was looking at the wrong thing..
that is also a hitchhiker, looks like a mollusk to me, maybe a clam or a scallop.
sorry, i cant be more descriptive than that as im not sure exactly what it is
likely not a problem, but i would look for a more specific ID on it

[d-ster]

How can I find out if this is a good thing or a bad thing?

[Rob]

here is a good place to start
Bivalvia (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bivalvia.htm)

you can also google for bivalve hitchiker ID, etc...

[gwen_o_lyn]

I have a few of those attached to my live rock too- they are really cool! They react in the same way as clams do.

[CarmieJo]

I have bunches of them on my rock. Bi-valve is my best ID as well. I've aways presumed that they are fine in my tank.