Common Hitchhikers in a Reef Aquarium

Owners of marine fish aquariums must maintain a specific balance of nutrients, salinity, temperature and life to create a tiny ecosystem in their tank. Live coral provides a marine aquarium with a variety of marine life. All of these organisms stored within the rock, which will grow once you introduce the live coral to your tank, are called hitchhikers. Some of them are beneficial to the marine ecosystem and other varieties are not beneficial.

  1. Button Polyps

    • Button polyps are colorful, beneficial hitchhikers.

      Button polyps or are very common hitchhikers in coral. They are flat anemones referred to as sea mats, or moon polyps. They are usually brown, according to the Live Aquaria website, but are also known to be green. Button polyps are slightly aggressive. If you would like to maintain them make sure they have enough space. They are easily maintained but they grow rapidly and can become invasive. These anemones require iodine and trace elements, which are common supplements required in a marine aquarium.

    Worms

    • Spoinid Worms are beneficial scavengers that spend their life in tubes. They have long antennas that reach out of the tube and grab pieces of food. Spirorbid worms appear as white spirals on the rock, according to the Xtalreef website. Spirorbid worms are also harmless filterers. Flatworms are hitchhikers that can potentially damage a marine aquarium if allowed to thrive.

      Small, clear flatworms are very common in coral. They look like bits of clear Jell-O and are mostly harmless. Red flatworms will grow invasively and eventually choke out other life. You must remove them.

    Feather Dusters

    • Feather dusters are mysterious looking additions to an aquarium.

      These are very common worms found in aquarium coral. They use feather like fans to scavenge drifting debris. The fans not only catch food but also serve as breathing gills for these worms. Upon anything touching the fan, it instantly retreats into a tube attached to the coral. According to the Advanced Aquarist website, once in a while the feather dusters will shed their fans and many owners think they have died. This is not the case; do not remove the feather duster tubes. Within a couple of weeks the worms will re-grow their crowns.

    Colonial Hybrids

    • Sometimes this invasive and destructive hitchhiking species gets confused with the beneficial feather duster. Like the feather duster, the colonial hybrid has a feather-like fan but the arms are thinner and more spaced. Unlike feather dusters, the hybrids can sting anything that comes into contact with their hairs. According to Wet Web Media, there are some species that will feed on these stinging critters but they will likely feed on your other life as well. A better way to get rid of them is to slowly deprive them of nutrients until you can remove them.