Please help identify what these "flakes" are?

KaryTse · Sep 20, 2021

About a year ago, my tank started to show up these "flakes" on the rock and sand and soon all the rocks surfaces and the sand were fully covered by these things. About 2 months ago, I decided to re-scape the tank with new rock and new sand. But after few days, these things appeared on the rock and the sand again. Anyone know what these are? Any way to control it?

Some tank info:
1. About 300L
2. 5 years tank with new rock
3. 2 fishes only (Ich outbreak early this year)
4. 2pcs of coral only (bad water quality few months ago killed most corals)
5. ALK 6.9dKH
6. Ca: 380ppm
7. Mg: 1200ppm
8. N03: 0.5ppm
9. PO4: 0.1ppm
10. Dosing Aquaforest Component 1+2+3+ to maintain parameters
11. With GAC, Bio-pellet, ROWA

I know I am going way too much for 2 fishes and 2 corals, but I am planning to fill in more fishes/corals over the next few months, so want to make sure the water is good.
Thanks.

Isopod80 · Sep 21, 2021

They appear to be a type of benthic formaniferan. Are they hard to the touch? They appear to be the variety in Figure a. Harmless filter feeders.

Isopod80 · Sep 21, 2021

Your best bet is to scrape off and siphon what you can. They won't hurt anything but I could see this variety becoming annoying if left unchecked. Definitely not a common sight in most aquariums. I believe yours are Heterostegina sp.

KaryTse · Sep 21, 2021

Isopod80 said:
They appear to be a type of benthic formaniferan. Are they hard to the touch? They appear to be the variety in Figure a. Harmless filter feeders.

Yes, they look like figure a, and are also hard to touch.

KaryTse · Sep 21, 2021

Isopod80 said:
Your best bet is to scrape off and siphon what you can. They won't hurt anything but I could see this variety becoming annoying if left unchecked. Definitely not a common sight in most aquariums. I believe yours are Heterostegina sp.

Thanks. It looks to me that they kind of live in a colony, I will try to siphon some out later today.