Unidentified Tank Occupant...

[djdubdub]

Has anyone seen this before???

I have an unidentified growing "algae" in my tank... Each night when my actinic light is on, a green, microscopic organism begins to creep up my glass from my sand... It spreads up the glass and looks almost like the glass has shattered... It branches out about 6-8 inches up from the sand... And if you look at it VERY closely, it looks like little, green, crawling worms creeping up the glass...

Then, in the morning... Nothing... All that is left is a white, ashy residue...

Any clues??? Should I worry??? Does anyone know what this is???

Thanks....

[MikeP]

If it's leaving a whitish residue maybe it's some type of calcerous algae? I had green and brown diatoms for about a week and the green ones were almost flourescent and sort of receded after darkness. Post a pic if you can.

[djdubdub]

Yeah... I've got a pic... I will try to post it tomorrow night...

No... It's not the blob... More like... Heck, I don't know... But it spreads fast enough that it looks like it could take over the tank in 3 days if it didnt receed/die...

Anyway... I'll post a pic tomorrow night...

[Sherri]

Ya know, that's strange... :-o yesterday I noticed something like that on my front glass that went down to the sand - it branched out on the glass. Looked like a root system of some sort. I didn't look at it closely tho - probably should have.... :oops: Cleaned my glass...

[djdubdub]

Hey Sherry... I tried to post a pic... Didnt work...

I will try to add it to my website so everyone can just look at it that way...

I'm also trying to see if Chris will help...

[djdubdub]

Ok... I put a pic of the algae on my pic's in the image gallery...

"DJ's picture's"...

Let me know if anyone knows what it is... Thanks...

[Sherri]

LOL DJ.. :-D I checked out your pic and it looks exactly like the one that appeared on my glass but wasn't as big. It came out of the sand about 4-5 inches high and was about 3-4 inches wide (branched out).

I have no idea what is! :shock: If you ever find out - let me know!

Sherri

[dow]

DJ,

You didn't happen to get your sand from the Black Lagoon, did you? :-D :-D :-D

[djdubdub]

Well Sherri... If it's 4-5 inches now, it *will* get bigger... Mine started out about an inch or so... The next day it was more... And the next, more...

It will spread up to about 8 inches up the glass and 7-8 inches wide....

Anyone know???

[djdubdub]

No, Dow...

Got arg from Petland (wife got it)... Live sand from Alamo (packaged)... And live rock from Fintique, LiveAquaria.com and Alamo... My green creeping crawlers could have come from anywhere...

Come on... Someone has to have seen this before?!?!

[dow]

Sorry, I don't have a clue. It's kind of interesting looking though.

[Sherri]

:hammer: After I saw mine I cleaned it off the glass without studying it too hard...I thought "cool" and cleaned my glass....But it still looks like the "root system" of it is still in the sand against the glass... :skeezy: Guess we'll see if it decides to make its presence again!

[djdubdub]

Ok Troy, Tim, Chris, Vinh, etc....

Ya'll are the experts... Can you help????

[Sherri]

dj...my mysterious glass creeper came back. I posted a pic on my image gallery. Today it is still there, but it looks "empty" now????? :wtf:

Anyway...take a look at the pic & see if this is what showed up on your glass. It's interesting if nothing else!

Sherri :rotf:

[Sherri]

Haven't seen it in my refugium...but then again, I think my whole tank is a refugium. It has taken me a few months to catch a big rock crab that hijacked some live rock, but I caught the crab last night. So in the meantime, I haven't been able to put any live stock in it or he would kill it. He killed a few smaller "hijacker crabs". I've got tiny little shrimp running everywhere...all kinds of algae growing. The darn tank is just about glowing! :-D Put a green mandarin in today. He's gonna eat real well!

This is the 2nd time this has shown up on the tank after 5 months...was just wondering along with DJ...since he has it too.

Sherri :rotf:

[Isis]

Have you tried sending your pic to the guys at Wetwebmedia.com?? They are pretty good at helping identify stuff. It sounds like it could be a some sort of polycheate worm, like something a feather duster would make to survive.

I once had a stringy type growth in my tank that wasn't as dramatic, but was similar in texture of a sponge.

[Sherri]

No Kim...hadn't thought of that...maybe I'll give it a try...will post if they come back with something...Thanks for the tip... :-D

Sherri