White webbing-like substance in tank

[BCTugboat]

Hey again guys and gals, I just moved a macroalgae and a piece of live branch rock in my tank and yhe water was suddenly full of this thick webbing material. I moved things so I could "plant" my new feather duster worm. I can't figure out how to upload a photo at the moment but if someone lets me know how I can do so. I have a 3.5 gallon Pico set up. I've heard it could be a type of "mat bacteria". But thats generally associated with die off on live rock. I didnt cure the rock. It came from a dedicated live rock tank at the LFS and was the first thing in the tank. Its been set up 3 or 4 weeks with just a brittle star I got by accident on my macroalgae. Any ideas of what this stringy material is, or if its harmful, are appreciated.

[Delphinus]

Google vermetid snail and see if the nets they cast look like what you're seeing.

Unfortunately reasonably common in our reef tanks, they are a bit of a nuisance as the webbing both looks annoying and also will irritate corals.

[BCTugboat]

This does look like the vermetid snail webbing. Sand sticks to it as well. Maybe he's in one of the tubes on my mew featherdusters cluster of tubes. It was a LOT, more than I'd expect from a snail but I dont have experience with them. I'll be trying to get a picture up

[BCTugboat]

Heres a photo, had to shrink the size online.

[DKoKoMan]

vermetid snails will produce a web like in your photo. I know a couple reefers who are struggling to get them under control.

[Frogger]

That is not vermetid snail

[Myka]

I vote for Vernetid Snails. They send out webs like that when the tank is disturbed.

[Frogger]

I have vermetid snails in my tanks there are thousands of them every inch of may tank is covered with them. Each of my snails have a half a dozen or more on them. They have never produced webbing that has extended more than a few inches from their shells and never anywhere near that dense. Also the webbing is only visible when it traps food. His rock appears to be free of their shells. I can't see any on his rocks. So unless this is a different variety that is hiding in the back and produces enormous amounts of webbing I vote that it is not vermetid.

[Myka]

Frogger, do you realize that there is an air stone in the tank which makes it look like there is about 10x the amount of white strings?

[tang daddy]

Tug boat just syphon out when you do a wc, then see if it comes back right away or not, it doesn’t look like vermetid snails to me either as the web is so big. But I could be wrong...

If you syphon out the web maybe you can see the next time where the source is and if you do kill it with superglue filling it’s hole or plain drill the sucker out.

[Frogger]

Frogger, do you realize that there is an air stone in the tank which makes it look like there is about 10x the amount of white strings?

Not sure I clearly see the airstone.

The amount of webbing looks to be a hundred times worse than I have ever seen. His webbing is growing up to the surface and along the surface in dense mats. And like I said I have thousands of these little monsters, every inch of rock in my tank has between 5 to 10 snails.

I have found that if I avoid heavy feeding with the pumps on they do not bother any of the corals in my tank at all. More unsightly then anything else.

[BCTugboat]

I looked around a little deeper and couldnt find anything that looked like a vermetid snail. Its a small tank so it cant be hiding THAT well. Ive read that it may be a type of bacterial bloom as well. My live rock was uncured, and my ammonia is around the first positive mark on the API saltwater test. I'm going to do a water change when I get home from work and see if that helps when I test tomorrow. I'll probably end up doing another 20% the day after tomorrow if its not better. I'm wondering if the ammonia spike, and possible subsequent bacterial mats, are due to my brittle star being unheard from in a few days. Will post updates later.

[604reefer]

Not sure I clearly see the airstone.

The amount of webbing looks to be a hundred times worse than I have ever seen. His webbing is growing up to the surface and along the surface in dense mats. And like I said I have thousands of these little monsters, every inch of rock in my tank has between 5 to 10 snails.

I have found that if I avoid heavy feeding with the pumps on they do not bother any of the corals in my tank at all. More unsightly then anything else.

I agree... I have some vermetid snails and never seen even a fraction of this amount of webbing.

[Myka]

I looked around a little deeper and couldnt find anything that looked like a vermetid snail. Its a small tank so it cant be hiding THAT well. Ive read that it may be a type of bacterial bloom as well. My live rock was uncured, and my ammonia is around the first positive mark on the API saltwater test. I'm going to do a water change when I get home from work and see if that helps when I test tomorrow. I'll probably end up doing another 20% the day after tomorrow if its not better. I'm wondering if the ammonia spike, and possible subsequent bacterial mats, are due to my brittle star being unheard from in a few days. Will post updates later.Well if the tank hasn't finished cycling yet then it probably isn't vermetids. :lol:

[BCTugboat]

Thats the thing, its been set up with live rock since day 2 or 3 for over a month. I "ghost fed" tropical flake until my brittle came in. He ate the flake so I kept feeding it til recently. It should by all means be fully cycled by now. I found the brittle star earlier and he's alive and well. I'm a little lost, but I've done a 20% water change and I'll test the water in the morning. The ammonia level didnt seem to have budged since yesterday, still at 0.25 ish.

Upon researching featherdusters some more, i found that when they sort of panic (like when placed in a new tank and handled by human hands) they sometimes release all of their sperm into the water as a sort of last ditch effort to spread their genes if they die. I think it may have been that, though it does look a little different.

Still probably thinking bacteria though.

[Myka]

So these strings are still there? Could you post a pic with the air stone and flow off?

[BCTugboat]

The strings are gone. They appeared when I put my worm/hermitcrab/cleaner shrimp in. They were gone the next morning. I used a turkey baster and took some out the night of, and I think the filter got the rest.

[BCTugboat]

The strings are gone. They appeared when I put my worm/hermitcrab/cleaner shrimp in. They were gone the next morning. I used a turkey baster and took some out the night of, and I think the filter got the rest.

For updates sake if anyone is still interested;
There has been no sign of this webbing since the first time. My tank water parameters are dang near perfect I would say. 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, between 5 and 10 ppm nitrate. Clean clear water and happy inhabitants. Looking for an NPS coral soon actually, as the tank is doing quite well.

[Myka]

Well that's really weird. Maybe it was something spawning.