LaCamus
New member
Hello everyone....first post here:
I've been lurking and decided I finally had something interesting to say/post...I've been doing tanks since I was a kid (70's), and salt since the mid 80's, but I've never seen anything like what I'm about to explain. I'm getting back into the hobby on a small scale (modified 29 gallon biocube) and am currently cycling my tank. I went with about 30 lbs of dry rock, 30 lbs of live sand, and 3 or so lbs of live rock (2 pieces). The live rock had been sitting at the local fish store for awhile so they were well cured...I grabbed them mostly for the coralline. They came with a few hitchhikers (feather duster, anemone, multiple bristle worms) including something(s) that have remained mostly undetected during the last 2-3 weeks. I'm pushing about 800-ish gph on alternating powerheads and I've kept them going through the cycle. By adding a small shrimp and feeding my tank I had seen a jump in ammonia and then nitrates, but never did get a nitrite spike. I had drilled the tank and added a sump/refugium (~270 gph on 7 gallons)...so maybe the water is highly oxygenated and nitrites zoomed by undetected (testing every 2 to 3 days).
Anyway, sorry for the long setup, I wanted to make sure the cycle really occurred; ~17 days seemed short, but I am getting some diatoms and green coralline everywhere (some hair algae came in on one of the live rocks). So I decided to kill the circulation for 48 hours (return pump only) just to see if I'd get another spike on ammonia or nitrites. After 24 hours something(s) on one of the live rocks seems to have built a couple of skinny slime tubes with a bubble attached to the end of each (gone fishing?). I had seen a few black hairs (proboscises?) rising from the rock over the past week and these tubes seem to be rising from the same location. I tried taking a few photos (see below)...sorry if they aren't clear, it's a new camera and I haven't figured a way to control the auto-focus (or if I even can). I've searched on the web for a while and the only thing that I can find that even seems close is ctenophora aka comb jelly. I doubt they are harmful, but just wanted to know if anyone else has seen something like this?
Thanks for the help.
Another view:
I've been lurking and decided I finally had something interesting to say/post...I've been doing tanks since I was a kid (70's), and salt since the mid 80's, but I've never seen anything like what I'm about to explain. I'm getting back into the hobby on a small scale (modified 29 gallon biocube) and am currently cycling my tank. I went with about 30 lbs of dry rock, 30 lbs of live sand, and 3 or so lbs of live rock (2 pieces). The live rock had been sitting at the local fish store for awhile so they were well cured...I grabbed them mostly for the coralline. They came with a few hitchhikers (feather duster, anemone, multiple bristle worms) including something(s) that have remained mostly undetected during the last 2-3 weeks. I'm pushing about 800-ish gph on alternating powerheads and I've kept them going through the cycle. By adding a small shrimp and feeding my tank I had seen a jump in ammonia and then nitrates, but never did get a nitrite spike. I had drilled the tank and added a sump/refugium (~270 gph on 7 gallons)...so maybe the water is highly oxygenated and nitrites zoomed by undetected (testing every 2 to 3 days).
Anyway, sorry for the long setup, I wanted to make sure the cycle really occurred; ~17 days seemed short, but I am getting some diatoms and green coralline everywhere (some hair algae came in on one of the live rocks). So I decided to kill the circulation for 48 hours (return pump only) just to see if I'd get another spike on ammonia or nitrites. After 24 hours something(s) on one of the live rocks seems to have built a couple of skinny slime tubes with a bubble attached to the end of each (gone fishing?). I had seen a few black hairs (proboscises?) rising from the rock over the past week and these tubes seem to be rising from the same location. I tried taking a few photos (see below)...sorry if they aren't clear, it's a new camera and I haven't figured a way to control the auto-focus (or if I even can). I've searched on the web for a while and the only thing that I can find that even seems close is ctenophora aka comb jelly. I doubt they are harmful, but just wanted to know if anyone else has seen something like this?
Thanks for the help.
Another view:
