navarcus
Member
What are these white things growing everywhere?
- Thread starter navarcus
- Start date
granny
Member
Its a litte hard to tell, but my best guess is simply calcium deposits which form naturally in our tanks. If they are hard and not 'alive'
Good-indicates your water hardness and calcium content is adequate-Bad-a pain to clean off the glass. I only clean the front of my tank and leave the back and most of the sides. But mine is mostly pink and greenish yellow. Check out the threads below and see if there are more answers there.
Good-indicates your water hardness and calcium content is adequate-Bad-a pain to clean off the glass. I only clean the front of my tank and leave the back and most of the sides. But mine is mostly pink and greenish yellow. Check out the threads below and see if there are more answers there.
navarcus
Member
Hey Thanks this is what I found out they are from the Family Spirorbidae. Little feather duster worms called spirorbids. They are a small calcium-shell feather duster.... not bad to have. some aren't feathers but instead a type of stationary snail... the visible difference being either you see a feather or 2 antenna and occasionally (after feeding) a mucus net. Which would explain my next question what is this mucas stuff on my rocks. I'll post pics, maybe it will help someone else too. I'm gonna look into these more.
navarcus
Member
Here is what I found at reefs.org: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Spirorbidae (
[hr]
ror-bid-day)
I think spirorbids are the worm about which I field the most questions, because their tiny calcareous tubes are almost ubiquitous among reef aquaria, and they are so small that unless one looks carefully, you cannot see the crown worm itself, just the circular spiral of the calcareous tube. I usually receive questions to the effect of, "There are tiny calcareous spirals all over the glass and rocks in my tank. Are they egg masses of snails or something?" If you take any hand lens and look carefully at those spirals, you will most likely see a tiny set of pinnules and a tiny operculum which both resemble the structure the serpulid tubeworm, Hydroides dianthus.
Like the sabellids and serpulids, these worms have two distinct body regions: a tentacular crown which projects from the tube for feeding and respiration, and a soft, fleshy body which remains permanently within the safety of the tube. The tightly-coiled, calcareous tubes attach permanently to any available hard substrata, and the anterior end of the tube is sealed by an operculum similar to that of the serpulids when the worm withdraws into its tube. Serpulids, however, do not grow in the characteristic coiling pattern of the spirorbids (which may coil to the right or left -- sinistral or dextral -- depending on the species) which is unique to the spirorbids.
Once again, these worms are virtually harmless. These animals brood their larvae in either the operculum itself, or within the tube until ready to metamorphose, and then release very short-lived planktonic larvae. These larvae often settle within minutes (and almost always less than an hour) of their release, and can therefore spread rapidly within a reef aquarium. This generally happens early in the life of the aquarium, and in a well-maintained, clean aquarium, the initial population explosion of these small worms quickly slows and they are almost never a problem in any aquarium. If the population continues to climb to the point that all surfaces in the tank become encrusted with these worms, it likely indicates a high suspended organic problem, and you should be more concerned with your water quality than the presence of these polychaetes, per se.
Spirorbidae (
[hr]
ror-bid-day)
I think spirorbids are the worm about which I field the most questions, because their tiny calcareous tubes are almost ubiquitous among reef aquaria, and they are so small that unless one looks carefully, you cannot see the crown worm itself, just the circular spiral of the calcareous tube. I usually receive questions to the effect of, "There are tiny calcareous spirals all over the glass and rocks in my tank. Are they egg masses of snails or something?" If you take any hand lens and look carefully at those spirals, you will most likely see a tiny set of pinnules and a tiny operculum which both resemble the structure the serpulid tubeworm, Hydroides dianthus.
Like the sabellids and serpulids, these worms have two distinct body regions: a tentacular crown which projects from the tube for feeding and respiration, and a soft, fleshy body which remains permanently within the safety of the tube. The tightly-coiled, calcareous tubes attach permanently to any available hard substrata, and the anterior end of the tube is sealed by an operculum similar to that of the serpulids when the worm withdraws into its tube. Serpulids, however, do not grow in the characteristic coiling pattern of the spirorbids (which may coil to the right or left -- sinistral or dextral -- depending on the species) which is unique to the spirorbids.
Once again, these worms are virtually harmless. These animals brood their larvae in either the operculum itself, or within the tube until ready to metamorphose, and then release very short-lived planktonic larvae. These larvae often settle within minutes (and almost always less than an hour) of their release, and can therefore spread rapidly within a reef aquarium. This generally happens early in the life of the aquarium, and in a well-maintained, clean aquarium, the initial population explosion of these small worms quickly slows and they are almost never a problem in any aquarium. If the population continues to climb to the point that all surfaces in the tank become encrusted with these worms, it likely indicates a high suspended organic problem, and you should be more concerned with your water quality than the presence of these polychaetes, per se.