what are these small calcerous discs on LR?

[romeofoeve]

i have been ovserving my tank closely for hitchhikers recently and for a while ive noticed small flat calcerous/whitish discs all over my lr. What are these things?

 

[fmelindy]

It could be small patches of coralline algae starting up or it could also be disc shaped foraminiferans. Do a search on google for them or here and see if that matches what you see. And a picture would help and then we could post it in the hitchhiker thread.

 

[eoalulavis]

are they white and coiled ? I forget the exact name but there is a type of worm that appears in mature and healthy aquariums. (ring ? roung ?)

 

[romeofoeve]

heres a pic, its about 6 mm across

 

[fmelindy]

My thought is definitely foraminiferans of the genus Marginopora. These are sometimes called "Money forams" because they look like coins. They are filter feeders on bacteria and other microorganisms.

 

[romeofoeve]

thanks for your insight fmelindy. i will do more reseaarch on them.

 

[fmelindy]

My pleasure, I love trying my hand at id's!!

 

[fmelindy]

Or perhaps I should say "eye"!

 

[romeofoeve]

lol. yea, although the worst is when you find something in your tank thats been there and you realize is harmful. i just found a Marisa snail on a polyp cluster thats been there from day one, i just realized its been eating my polyps. ARGH!!! atleast i know they will regenerate new polyps.