Eywwwwww What is it???

[auntkaren]

About an hour ago I fed my fish and crabs a new special treat. I mashed up some frozen squid and a bit of baby brine shrimp for their dinner. They scarfed that stuff up like it was their last supper! But now I am seeing very thin hairlike filaments with strings of bubbles coming out of the LR. I grabbed one of them and it was kind of a thin mucous in consistency. Any Ideas on what it is? I tried taking a picture but they are so fine that they don't show on a picture.
Anyone have any clue what is going on?? :notsure:

 

[sunburnt]

I think you have the same thing I do. There are holes in the LR, and sometimes short crusty tubes, and 5 or so "arms" come out, and wiggle around, right? I think they're some sort of worm, but when I tried to research I came up empty. I like mine, though!

 

[auntkaren]

No, they are more like mucus not crusty and very very fine hair thin. The chromis are not sure what to do LOL.

 

[anothrname]

sounds like red slime algae to me...

 

[granny]

Ya know, it could be a multitude of things-but most likely harmless-this seems to be the first time you have seen this-is it the first time you have fed squid?
Sometimes food we feed is oily-and it will leave residue in the tank-on the rocks or sand, wherever it lands-there are also lots of little wormy critters in live rock that stick out their arms-called 'fishing worms' as far as I know, but they are generally white.
probably just oily residue with bubbles clinging to it-try to scoop it up with a small net or see if you can dislodge it for your filter system to suck it up.
where my wrasses sleep at night, they always leave a mucuosy film behind and sometimes that collects bubbles or other gunk-but it is always gone after a few hours since I have powerheads everywhere.

 

[auntkaren]

It's not red it's clear I'm thinking somehow it's the squid i mashed up....anyone think that may be it? They are getting really long, about 12 inches. They come out and are slimy and you can't really see them you can only see the bubbles lined up along it's length. Out of water it's kind of elastic. I think it has something to do with the squid?!?!?!?!

 

[uberlink]

I suspect its vermetid snails. These are little sessile snails that live on live rock (among other things) and send out filament-like mucus nets to catch food in the water. I actually have one of these as a hitchhiker on the back of an astrea snail. When you feed (especially when you feed something extra delicious) these little guys will send out their strands of mucus to catch bits from the water.
Do a search on "vermetid" and see if this might be what you've got.

 

[auntkaren]

Thanks Uberlink I haven't seen the actual snails yet but researching the vermetid worms here on this site it sure seems like that's what I have. WHEW!