Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

[Timfish]

I was doing maintenance on a system when this stuff showed up. It's a nice surprise to have something spawn or hatch out just would like to know what it is. They're pretty tiny, maybe 200 microns (1/5 mm) if I had to guess. With a magnifying lens they were really round, flattened on one end and had 2(?) short tentacles. They move pretty fast though, there's no current to speak of as the pumps had been off for awhile. I apologize for the video, wasn't exactly ready to film a spawning or hatching event.

 

[griss]

Wow, that’s really cool Tim. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Reefing102]

Pretty fascinating. Would be interesting to set up a small tank to see if any survive to see what they are.

 

[Uncle99]

A coral spawning event?
I also thought a seen some pod like fry…idk.
That’s a lot of spawn IMM.

 

[Timfish]

Pretty fascinating. Would be interesting to set up a small tank to see if any survive to see what they are.

I have, I had a 15 gallon with just some 'shrooms, xenia and live rock and no fish or filter so I added some and some were still visible yesterday. A friend has a microscope with a cell phone attachment and we're going to try to get better pics and video

A coral spawning event?
I also thought a seen some pod like fry…idk.
That’s a lot of spawn IMM.

I'm guessing it wouldn't be a spawning event per say, it would take several days for the fetilized eggs to develop into free swimming larva and the filters would have removed most if not all. Whatever these things are they're pretty good swimmers, they can be seen swimming in different directions when close together so currents don't seem to be a factor. Seeing how they stay together as they move through the water they appear to be intentionally clumping together. I'm wondering if they are adults and it's some kind of spawning aggregation. Hopefully we can get better pictures

 

[Uncle99]

I have, I had a 15 gallon with just some 'shrooms, xenia and live rock and no fish or filter so I added some and some were still visible yesterday. A friend has a microscope with a cell phone attachment and we're going to try to get better pics and video



I'm guessing it wouldn't be a spawning event per se, it would take several days for the fetilized eggs to develop into free swimming larva and the filters would have removed most if not all. Whatever these things are they're pretty good swimmers, they can be seen swimming in different directions when close together so currents don't seem to be a factor. Seeing how they stay together as they move through the water they appear to be intentionally clumping together. I'm wondering if they are adults and it's some kind of spawning aggregation. Hopefully we can get better pictures

I see stuff actively swimming, I see “bubble” shaped things kinda churning in the column, in one shot I see what looks like a shrimp larvae configuration.

Very interesting stuff…….certainly looks like a few things went off there.