LR is getting a sort of white webbing on it....

C

cadeucsb

New Member
Before I pulled my rock to bust it up last night, it had this white, almost spider web looking stuff on it... i assumed it was algae. It wasnt just growing directly on the rock, it was like a sheet over it in places that would move(move as in ripple, it was in one place on the rock) with the current, if that makes sense.

any idea what it is?
 
I

incysor

New Member
cadeucsb said:
Before I pulled my rock to bust it up last night, it had this white, almost spider web looking stuff on it... i assumed it was algae. It wasnt just growing directly on the rock, it was like a sheet over it in places that would move(move as in ripple, it was in one place on the rock) with the current, if that makes sense.

any idea what it is?
Click to expand...
I doesn't sound like algae to me. I haven't of any white algaes. If it's lots of little tendrils, then it's probably a type of worm...I can't remember what they're called right now, but they live in the rock and they're feeding tentacles are really long, some are white and in areas with a lot of them they get to looking like a bunch of little threads, or possibly web-like kind of like what you're describing. I searched for them when I noticed them in my tank a long time ago...Consensus seemed to be that they were harmless.

B
 
C

cadeucsb

New Member
yea, there were definately worms in the rock when i split it up... but the white stuff seemed definately more like a webbing than like a tendril (like a white blanket over the rock)... but the worm idea makes sense because there was a worm under one of the rocks when i pulled it out...then when i came back to remove it, it was gone...brown worm about 2.5inches long not very thick
 
I

incysor

New Member
cadeucsb said:
yea, there were definately worms in the rock when i split it up... but the white stuff seemed definately more like a webbing than like a tendril (like a white blanket over the rock)... but the worm idea makes sense because there was a worm under one of the rocks when i pulled it out...then when i came back to remove it, it was gone...brown worm about 2.5inches long not very thick
Click to expand...
Probably different critters.

The worms cich1 and I are talking about are more like small tube worms. What you found was probably a peanut worm.

B
 
C

cadeucsb

New Member
no, it definately looked more like a brown centipede... the webbing was basically like a milky colored blanked on the rock that was not 100% attached... i hope he is in the sand and ill remove him either way... i have read the cold FW approach for removing from rock and I am wondering if that will hurt the LR or mess with the SW when i put the LR back in the SW
 
D

dragon79

New Member
incysor: The JBJ has those white tube worms with really long tentacles, it's bizzare. I almost posted about it because I was thinking....gee i wonder if those long ass thin white tentacles can wrap around fish or something, but I guess not. All i ever see them is eat up the scraps off the sand and rock. They form that same tube like the feather duster worm.

As for the spiderweb type thing. I have seen build up like that in my pico tank. Like it'll be a clear web that sticks from a rock to maybe the featherduster worm. I'll put my finger or something to break it, and the filtration sucks it up. Almost like a "slime" but resembles that spiderweb look of when it's wet. I do have bristle worms in my lower right LR, so I am going to take that out, and rid them just to make sure they aren't spitting some crazy web as rbaby spoke off.
 
I

incysor

New Member
dragon79 said:
incysor: The JBJ has those white tube worms with really long tentacles, it's bizzare. I almost posted about it because I was thinking....gee i wonder if those long ass thin white tentacles can wrap around fish or something, but I guess not. All i ever see them is eat up the scraps off the sand and rock. They form that same tube like the feather duster worm.

As for the spiderweb type thing. I have seen build up like that in my pico tank. Like it'll be a clear web that sticks from a rock to maybe the featherduster worm. I'll put my finger or something to break it, and the filtration sucks it up. Almost like a "slime" but resembles that spiderweb look of when it's wet. I do have bristle worms in my lower right LR, so I am going to take that out, and rid them just to make sure they aren't spitting some crazy web as rbaby spoke off.
Click to expand...
I still haven't seen anything after skimming articles for the last hour or so that mentions bristleworms having anything to do with any type of webbing or net.

Hopefully rbaby can find and post a link to the info.

B
 
C

cadeucsb

New Member
here is the webbing, large pic for detail purposes... i would leave the worm alone, but the only thing i have read about it is rbaby saying if webbing is involved, its bad...

 
D

dragon79

New Member
gee you weren't kidding were you? I haven't seen anything like that. The only thing I can say look somewhat similar is when I had cyano bacteria. When it got bad enough with the white bubbles, it would start to look like the bubbles wrapped in web. What I ended up doing was buying "chemi-clean" (a product recommended by incysor) and it worked when I pulled out the chemi-clean carbon.

To see if that webbing comes back, you can clear all of it with a turkey baster, then watch it at night with a flashlight and a red lense over it. See if you can see something shooting out webs like spiderman :)
 
D

dragon79

New Member
Here are some articles so you can read for yourself

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynami ... leworm.faq

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpe ... 102198.htm

They have a so called powerful jaw to bite or defend itself, some species stronger than others. They say in this site or another I came across while I was at work today that if you get an infestation and they start growing real big/long, they need to come out, because they can become irratable to nearby corals. As for fish, it would go for weak/dying, or dead fish. These answers come straight from articles I've read. Run a search on bristleworms.....you'll find tons of stuff on them ranging from doctors talking about them to users with personal experience saying yes good, or no bad.
 
C

cadeucsb

New Member
odd that those articles reference eachother, but have contradictory info... The first one (seems more knowledgeable) is more in depth. He also says 99.9% of all bristleworms are beneficial and the bad ones are fireworms. He says that almost everyone with LR will have bristleworms as well. He also says that splitting the worms will NOT make 2 worms... while the 2nd article says the exact opposite...strange

I might just try the nylon trap method and see what happens, I am not in a huge hurry as they seem to be beneficial...but still creepy...
 
C

cadeucsb

New Member
yea, my only concern was him growing and eventually eating coral/fish that sleep near the rock (if they are sick or whatever)...right now i dont mind his presence, especially after reading that most LR has them... and i can use all the cleaning help i can get since im just using a standard HOB filter
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top