white spots on tank glass

[kurt72]

hey all. i just noticed today that there are several minute white spots growing on my tank glass. luckily there are no white "things" on my fish. they look like snails with a little bit of hair on them. i would provide a picture, but they are soooooo small i can't get my camera to focus on them. and it hurts my eyes trying to get a good look at them.

i have been searching the web frantically trying to find a "critter" similar to mine, but no luck. pod? snail? shrimp?

i started with a 12 gal back in feb. 2 1/2 months ago i moved all my livestock, rock, sand, into a 26 gal. nothing new has been introduced to the tank in the last month. i did do a water change 2 days ago. i use actual seawater from my LFS tank which they get from http://www.catalinawater.com/. could there have been something in that?

i did add some more live rock and live sand when i moved all my stuff from the 12 gal. but that was 2 1/2 months ago. please help. thanks!!

 

[gkarshens]

Are they knid of in a spiral shape? If so I know there is a harmless snail that is tiny and white. They don't move either like a regular snail.

 

[kurt72]

that sounds like what i have. picture a snail shell, but flat. so it is in a spiral shape. and no they don't move. any idea where they come from?

 

[Ah64av8tor]

They are probably vermetid snails they are harmless unless you scrape your hand across some and scratch your self.

 

[kurt72]

will they go away if i don't scrape them off?

 

[Paintbug]

sounds like Spirorbid Worms. which is what i think gkarshens is talking about. they are small spiral shape tube worms, that are just harmless filter feeders.

if the "hairs" go all the way around a white dot, then those would be hydroid jellyfish. heres a pic

either way they dont pose a threat to the tank.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

You can't get rid of them! They are just part of a healthy reef, you can scrape them off if you like. They can be a problem in plumping when they get big (5 mm) and are in large numbers.

 

[kurt72]

not really worried, just curious. since jellyfish were brought up, the other day when i was feeding, i was watching my watchman goby, and what i thougt a piece of fish food pellet floatiing by it. it went for it and didn't eat it. then i noticed this "thing" was pulsating and moving like a jellyfish. it was brown and about the size of half a common fish food pellet. have not seen it since. any ideas?

 

[Ah64av8tor]

Here is a link about them.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rs/index.php

 

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8277265#post8277265 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ah64av8tor
Here is a link about them.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rs/index.php

what he is describing is not vermetid snails. they rarely grow on the glass, and spit a web.

 

[Ursus]

I'll second the spirorbid's. Annoying at times, but you get used to them.