cobweb looking substance

[wchill]

I have an 8 month old tank and is maintain pretty well. I have a long tentacle anenome, several damsels including a clown fish, a cleaner shrimp, banded coral shrimp, some hermits, a leather coral and mushroom coral and a goby. from time to time I will see a long stringy cobweb looking substance in the tank. Is this some kind of discharge from my anenome ?

 

[jag3534]

You probably have vermetid(?) snails. They are funky little snail things that build a shell on your rock, then put out a big stringy web to catch food. They're a PITA when they start touching corals, cause they seem to sting a little. If you don't want them, you can crush the shell with pliars or something.

 

[jrgilles]

You probably have vermetid(?) snails. They are funky little snail things that build a shell on your rock, then put out a big stringy web to catch food. They're a PITA when they start touching corals, cause they seem to sting a little. If you don't want them, you can crush the shell with pliars or something.

thats what it sounds like to me. I have these. No big deal, but they are very sharp, and can cut your hands if you aren't careful. They look like a little tube attached to rocks that shoot out a webbing. Several of these guys can work together to make a net. Net is not toxic though and will be consumed by the tank as it breaks down.

 

[wchill]

Great info. Thanks. I have noticed the tiny tube formations and wondered what they were. Sounds like this is not a big issue or tank threat. The little tubes I have noticed look like super small feather dusters

 

[jrgilles]

if you don't see a feather duster mouth part, sounds like the snails. Tubes are usually reddish in color, where the feathers are white.

Some people don't like the appearance of the netting in the tank, but really doesn't bother me any. Added filtration and tank food imo

 

[wchill]

Thanks. So these snails have a protruding stem like structure? White in color and about a 1\16th in length?

 

[jrgilles]

well, mine are 1/4" to 1/3" in length, and reddish in color. I have a picture of on on a snail somewhere online, let me see if I can find it....

OK, here are several pictures of one of them that attached to one of my astria snails, there are a lot more on the rocks in my tank though. Is this what you are looking at? Its the thing attached to the snail shell that looks like a coiled pile of dog poop

http://picasaweb.google.com/jrgilles/SnailArtillary?feat=directlink

 

[wchill]

Thanks. I will take a closer look in a few hours after my lights come on

 

[slim_jim989]

Looks like a big dookie on your snail lol.

 

[jrgilles]

Looks like a big dookie on your snail lol.

yea, exactly. Snail was cruising around, and the vermiculae (sp probably) snail on its back was taking pot shots around the tank. Driving shotgun if you will.

 

[IWishIWasAFish]

I had them for a while, I had a smallish tank and they gooed all over my zoanthids and made them all close up. Finally had to kill them all. Stuck a paperclip with the last 1/4 inch bent at about a 90degree angle into the end of each snail tube and levered it to break the tube and squish the snail. Was very sad, but had to be done. Took a couple rounds to get them all, and haven't seen any since.

 

[wchill]

I've checked my tank and do not see those snails. They may be on the backside of my rock scape where I can't see. Thanks for the info. This stuff just showed up in the tank one morning last week and has shown back up