timmylucas Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I have these little shell looking things on the glass. II never had them before and all of a sudden they are everywhere. Not sure why. Water peramaters still seem fine with them in there. They are just ugly to have all over and I scrape them off and siphon them out but they keep coming back. I have a new nano that I want to transfer my corals too but I have a fear that they are going to spread to it. Any Ideas on what I can do and what they are? Maybe I can dip the corals into something that will kill those white things off them? They look like some type of filter feeder, They have spiral shells It would be nice to have some suggestions on what to do to make sure they dont spread to the other aquarium Link to comment
Kellie in CA Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Do they have a spiral type shape? Link to comment
timmylucas Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Do they have a spiral type shape? Yes, and they seem to have taken over my nano in a matter of days. I dont know what they are Link to comment
mickeymouse Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 A picture would help us help with identification Link to comment
timmylucas Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 I tried to paste a link in but it didn't allow and the photo is too large to attach..ill try resizing Link to comment
Lalani Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 They're little feather dusters, harmless and normal. Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 To me they look like Spirorbid. Spirorbid polychaetes are harmless tightly coiled white spirals that are no larger than a few mm in diameter. They appear on the glass, pumps, in sumps, etc. These common critters are most often seen in new aquariums, and may have periodic population growth depending on nutrient availability. Spirorbids usually come under control or disappear as the tank ages. They feed primarily on tiny particles in the range of bacterial floc and tiny suspended particles of organic detritus to the smaller end of cell sizes of phytoplankton. I have them all over the back wall of my Biocube and the live rock. They freaked me out for the longest time until i did a bit of research. They are harmless and actually a good sign of good tank nutrient levels. Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 To Lalani's point, some of them will grow to be pointy extrusions. If you look really close (try to zoom in with a decent camera), you'll see that they are little feather dusters. BTW, be careful to move any of your rock with these things in there. I sliced the heck out of my fingers on them like little papercuts. Link to comment
timmylucas Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 To Lalani's point, some of them will grow to be pointy extrusions. If you look really close (try to zoom in with a decent camera), you'll see that they are little feather dusters. BTW, be careful to move any of your rock with these things in there. I sliced the heck out of my fingers on them like little papercuts. What about if I scrape them off the acrylic? Wont they scratch my acrylic? What is the best way to remove them from acrylic?? Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 What about if I scrape them off the acrylic? Wont they scratch my acrylic? What is the best way to remove them from acrylic?? Yikes. From everything I've read you can scrape them off. On glass they come right off. If you try to scrape them off i'd just go super slow and check for scratches as you go. As you see them try to get them off. A lot of what i've read say they'll go away after time. Mine never went away. they just keep spreading. they don't stay white on the rocks but they're still white on the back wall. Link to comment
timmylucas Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Yikes. From everything I've read you can scrape them off. On glass they come right off. If you try to scrape them off i'd just go super slow and check for scratches as you go. As you see them try to get them off. A lot of what i've read say they'll go away after time. Mine never went away. they just keep spreading. they don't stay white on the rocks but they're still white on the back wall. I just wish there was a way to eliminate them before I could transport my corals to my next aquarium. I scrape them off but it seems like that makes it worst. and I can see the smaller ones starting to form. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 IME these spirorbids take off in a new tank but after a while they kinda find a balance.. you'll never get rid of them but they don't really hurt anything other than being an eyesore. as far as removal, just scrape them off. you can use an acrylic safe scraper and they'll just come right off, they're really really easy to scrape off of glass/acrylic. Link to comment
timmylucas Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 IME these spirorbids take off in a new tank but after a while they kinda find a balance.. you'll never get rid of them but they don't really hurt anything other than being an eyesore. as far as removal, just scrape them off. you can use an acrylic safe scraper and they'll just come right off, they're really really easy to scrape off of glass/acrylic. Thanks for the tip! Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 also, I think they look more natural with a good coat of coralline covering them and the glass(they add texture but don't stand out), but when they are against a black background with no coralline they stand out and look kinda ugly. Link to comment
RC1313 Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Those are everywhere in my tank! I was actually gonna ask for id the other day. I wonder if a wrasse would eat them. Also my tank is ~7-8 months old so not exactly new Link to comment
timmylucas Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Yeah if a knew of a fish that would eat them I would definitely buy one. They are eye sores Link to comment
jestep Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Nothing will eat them except maybe a puffer or other fish that eats snails. A credit card can usually be used to scrap them from the glass. I wouldn't use a algae magnet because the shells get stuck in the fibers and can scratch. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Nothing will eat them except maybe a puffer or other fish that eats snails. A credit card can usually be used to scrap them from the glass. I wouldn't use a algae magnet because the shells get stuck in the fibers and can scratch. this is what I use, got one (or at least one very similar) at petco.. works very well for scraping those off, it's okay for coralline but I prefer a razor for that.. Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Nothing will eat them except maybe a puffer or other fish that eats snails. A credit card can usually be used to scrap them from the glass. I wouldn't use a algae magnet because the shells get stuck in the fibers and can scratch. Goodpoint on the algae magnet. I just wish there was a way to eliminate them before I could transport my corals to my next aquarium. I scrape them off but it seems like that makes it worst. and I can see the smaller ones starting to form.What's really crazy about these things is from time to time they'll simultaneously eject a stringy secretion. This happens regardless of if they're on the same rock or not. Like some kind of synchronized collective spawning or something. The Borg... Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 What's really crazy about these things is from time to time they'll simultaneously eject a stringy secretion. This happens regardless of if they're on the same rock or not. Like some kind of synchronized collective spawning or something. The Borg... you might be thinking of vermetids.. I've never seen anything come out of a spirorbid (they're like feather dusters basically).. vermetids have a spiral shell but are typically more of a red-purple color (though they can be white), they send out a string of slime to catch food particles.. and they do typically all send out at the same time (like during a feeding).. Link to comment
jestep Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Goodpoint on the algae magnet. What's really crazy about these things is from time to time they'll simultaneously eject a stringy secretion. This happens regardless of if they're on the same rock or not. Like some kind of synchronized collective spawning or something. The Borg... That sounds like very small vermitids which initially look very similar. I try to get rid of vermitids because the strings bug the heck out of any coral they touch. Link to comment
gahumphrey Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 That sounds like very small vermitids which initially look very similar. I try to get rid of vermitids because the strings bug the heck out of any coral they touch. vermetid spirorbid This is why nano-reef.com is so awesome. I just learned I actually have both!! Here's a really good article I just found on Vermetid: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rs/ according to the article "Fortunately, some fishes such as Copperband butterfly fishes, seem to eat them, and some hermit crabs will eat them as well" Here's the reefkeeping.com article on spyrorbid: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/ Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 according to the article "Fortunately, some fishes such as Copperband butterfly fishes, seem to eat them, and some hermit crabs will eat them as well" don't get your hopes up good links.. I love reefkeeping articles.. I wish their site was a little easier to use and I wish they were still writing articles.. very informative stuff there.. hopefully that site doesn't just go offline one of these days.. Link to comment
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