Giant ball of snot

[Ooulophilia]

I was walking by a tank today and saw what I thought was a scrap of a bag hanging over it but upon closer inspection was a mass of organisms making its way into a lower tank.

I think that I have seen this before - I believe they are protists?

 

[Ooulophilia]

Anyhow, just wondering if I was right in the ID. These must be some hardy buggers - the system I found them in is treated with copper and formalin!

 

[ehayden]

That's ... impressive! Both in volume and tenacity. I hope someone can I.D. this.

 

[Zire]

Wow, I'd probably torch my tank if I had one of those nasty suckers in it. none the less though, very cool.

 

[ladyonyx]

Holy cow! That's some cool S***!!! I'd love to know more about that...

 

[DogfoodEnforcer]

what the hell?

who dumped a clear version of Flubber into your tank???

that is bizarre. never seen anything like it before...except maybe when one of my rics slimes like crazy when taken out of the tank...but not on that level!

 

[kmk2307]

Annelid eggs? Do you have any large tube-dwelling worms?

 

[Ooulophilia]

I found another one and took a look at it under the scope and it is an invertebrate egg mass. There is nothing in that system capable of producing something like that but I thought about it and the water in that system is from the Pacific down here so it must have been something that we sucked up when getting the water. They may have got cooked in the warmer temps but I have them in a 10 gallon to see if they do anything!

 

[kmk2307]

Very small worms can produce egg masses that size. I have seen similar masses produced by Oweniidae sp. that were only about 2 mm in diameter and 5 cm long.

 

[dudley moray]

there is another creature (actually a collection of creatures much like that) i can't remember the name of hand hydroid perhaps anyway it could be that they can grow to be miles long !! and feed on various planktons

 

[kmk2307]

dudley, I think you are thinking of Salps which are urochordates. Pyrosoma can get to be the size of a submarine. Others that form chains can get huge. I didn't realize they could literally be miles long but I'd believe it.

Ooulophilia, ever figure out what that was?

 

[aquaboy620]

ever see the movie space amoeba? j/k. crazy looking.

 

[Hephalump]

That is truly impressive and unique! Almost makes me want one just so I can gross out my fiancee.