Barnacles

[barber1575]

I am having problems with what I think are barnacles. There are white spots showing up all over my live rock and glass. They are about the size of a pen tip. I can clear them from the glass with my magnet, but they soon come back within a week. Please help!!!

 

[demonsp]

Im not sure of there name but they are a food source for fish and filter feed. A type of worm or pod. Safe and after rock and glass is coraline incrusted this should be less noticable.

 

[barber1575]

The spots are like cement texture. Am I wasting my time scraping them off with magnet?

 

[demonsp]

They are benificial and free food for omnivores. Its best to just keep the viewing area clean the rest will encrust with coraline.
I just clean the front gave up on the sides but i might razor the sides at some point. I hear that coraline in large amounts will cause the coraline to die off whene the limit is reached.

 

[JCTewks]

I believe you are talking about either small tube worms or vermetid snails....the tube worm more than likely. I forget the exact name, but they will have a small spiral tube and red/pink "feather" head when exaimned closely. They are not really a pest, nor are they really a food source. They will aid in filtration to a small degree. You should keep the viewing panels clear, and leave the rest alone as they are really no harm other than asthetic.

 

[JaredWaites]

What are you calcium levels?

Your calcium maybe coming out of solution.

 

[JCTewks]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11134060#post11134060 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JaredWaites
What are you calcium levels?

Your calcium maybe coming out of solution.

I don't believe that calcium will precipitate out of the water and fix to a hard surface. If for some reasin calcium IS precipitating, it would not form hard circles on the glass. I had a small hard tube worm/feather duster that started showing up all over the place that perfectly matches the description.

 

[JaredWaites]

Calcium can precipitate out to a hard surface what are you talking about? It can cause ball valves to stick, it can stick to glass, foul check valves, etc.

When you scrape the 'white dots', they are hard to get off but once you get them off, they disappear or dissolve back into the water column normally, or that's the way the formations I clean off always react.

I think you need to do some more reading before you can say calcium can't precipitate and form hard calcerous formations because its happened to plenty of people on here and has been discussed plenty of times.

 

[barber1575]

The shape is a circular hollowed out tube.

 

[JCTewks]

It's a tube worm Like I said, just keep cleaning them off of the viewing panes and let the rest go. They will not cause any problems and will contribute a very tiny amount to filtering the water.

 

[mikeatjac]

I have them too. No big deal.
I agree with JCTewks.

 

[mano]

They sound like serpulid worms to me.