Strange orange dots

[Lennie]

Does anyone know what this is? Is it potentially an orange coralline algae? A start of some sort of ugly stage? Or anything else?

 

I used dry rocks, a commercial "live sand", and just added this big shell my parents gifted me long ago, they got it from their Thailand trip.  I did not introduce anything live yet, not even snails that might carry potential spores or something..

 

The dots are only on the shell. Nothing on the glass, dry rocks or sand. They don't move, and easily come of when I wiped it with a towel paper.

 

Before introduing the shell, I cleaned it with %3 hydrogen peroxide. Cycled the tank with a raw shrimp from the market, but it was put in a purigen bag all the time to not get the tank messy. After buying it, I froze it for a day or two, as the tank wasn't setup back then.

 

 

Would love to hear opinions. I'm lost.

Thank you

 

 

Pictures:

 

Under Tank Lights (looks neon-ish orange IRL):

 

Under daylight:

 

 

 

[Staticmoves]

That shell is awesome!

possible diatoms or mineral impurities in the pores of the shell.

that one may be a hard one to figure out.

at this point with no live stock in danger, if it were me and if I wanted the shell as part of my setup, I would let it do its thing during the cycle as no to in danger live stock later.

just a heads up, down the road your tank will start to absorb that shell over time, by steeling its minerals.

how ever, if you like the look of coralline, that shell would look great purple and pink…..

[Lennie]

6 minutes ago, Staticmoves said:

That shell is awesome!

possible diatoms or mineral impurities in the pores of the shell.

that one may be a hard one to figure out.

at this point with no live stock in danger, if it were me and if I wanted the shell as part of my setup, I would let it do its thing during the cycle as no to in danger live stock later.

just a heads up, down the road your tank will start to absorb that shell over time, by steeling its minerals.

how ever, if you like the look of coralline, that shell would look great purple and pink…..

thanks! That shell was mainly gifted to be a part of a tank by my family. But, I did not like the idea of introducing it to a freshwater tank. I think saltwater objects look absurd in a freshwater environment 😄 So instead, I kept it as a decoration for the past months.

 

I am really curious what these dots are. The fish are on the way, shipped already. I will get them in 4 hours, when they arrive. 

 

If I have to, I can also just remove it...

[mcarroll]

I think most (green) algae could have florescent proteins like that...usually covered by green chlorophyl.   The only times I've seen that florescent orange color was when I'd killed algae during routing filter cleaning, sometimes with a bleach or peroxide soak.

 

IMO be patient and see what happens vs being paranoid.  👍😎

[Lennie]

32 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

I think most (green) algae could have florescent proteins like that...usually covered by green chlorophyl.   The only times I've seen that florescent orange color was when I'd killed algae during routing filter cleaning, sometimes with a bleach or peroxide soak.

 

IMO be patient and see what happens vs being paranoid.  👍😎

Thanks mate

 

It is just some people said they are red flatworms and it worried me.
 

They didnt seem like it to me, but I am pretty new to saltwater, so how would I know for sure

 

 

[mcarroll]

Flatworms would move, so that would be your #1 clue to whether it's algae or not.  No movement and you know it's "something else".   We would need a better photo to know that from where we're sitting.  🙂   

 

They usually have a pretty identifiable shape too...although that's when they're still in the water: