White coating and feather worms maybe?

[alliw]

Hello reef community! Still learning here. I have a question about some white / translucent stuff on my rock work among other things, it’s hard to get a photo of it so I filmed a short and hopefully that will help

also have a ton of these worm/ feathery things and they’re taking over my tank, not just on one rock but also in my sandbed etc. I don’t know if the two things are related. My tank has been running since March and I only have a saltwater Molly, two snails (whom also have feathers growing on them) and a blood shrimp.
Please let me know if you see any stand-out issues with my attached pics. (Bright green patches on rocks, GHA, etc) I don’t dose anything and feed the tank every couple of days. Water change every week. It’s a 20g.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Those are featherdusters, completely harmless/beneficial, hold on, let me watch the video and see what the white film is

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I do remember seeing the white filaments before, though can't remember that the community ruled them out to be. Think it was some sort of bacteria or algae. @ISpeakForTheSeas?

 

[alliw]

Those are featherdusters, completely harmless/beneficial, hold on, let me watch the video and see what the white film is

Thank you. They’re really infesting my tank. It’d be great if they stayed put and didn’t attach themselves to snails (although the palm tree effect is humorous) and in every nook and cranny but if they keep harm away from porous rock work let them. Just as long as they won’t harm corals. Personally I love how they have an iridescent blue hue. It’s like a feathery zoa garden but instead feathers. There must be 100’s of them now

 

[alliw]

I do remember seeing the white filaments before, though can't remember that the community ruled them out to be. Think it was some sort of bacteria or algae. @ISpeakForTheSeas?

I appreciate the ask. I’ve really tried to scour the forums for things like mucas and bacteria. This one part of the rock though, I haven’t seen snails go near yet. I feel like the snails are eating mostly everything else. Maybe I should get another couple of snails?

 

[alliw]

This forum post mentions chrystophytes - that’s the closest I’ve found to a match for that white / translucent stuff https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-know-about-the-“ugly”-stage-of-cycling-but-this-is-ridiculous.463242/

I don’t have any air fresheners , perfume or alcohol in the house. I do use a cO2 scrubber for my HOB skimmer although no noticeable raise for PH which is always around 7.89

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Thank you. They’re really infesting my tank. It’d be great if they stayed put and didn’t attach themselves to snails (although the palm tree effect is humorous) and in every nook and cranny but if they keep harm away from porous rock work let them. Just as long as they won’t harm corals. Personally I love how they have an iridescent blue hue. It’s like a feathery zoa garden but instead feathers. There must be 100’s of them now

Completely harmless to corals, i also have alot of them in my system

This forum post mentions chrystophytes - that’s the closest I’ve found to a match for that white / translucent stuff https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-know-about-the-“ugly”-stage-of-cycling-but-this-is-ridiculous.463242/

I don’t have any air fresheners , perfume or alcohol in the house. I do use a cO2 scrubber for my HOB skimmer although no noticeable raise for PH which is always around 7.89

I actually don't know much about bacteria growth (other than cyanno)l @ISpeakForTheSeas would probably be the person to ask about this kind of stuff

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

From what I can see, Chrysophytes or a bacterial film would be my guess too. I haven’t looked too much into pest algae/bacteria films like this, so I don’t have much advice on dealing with the issue at the moment though - sorry.

 

[alliw]

From what I can see, Chrysophytes or a bacterial film would be my guess too. I haven’t looked too much into pest algae/bacteria films like this, so I don’t have much advice on dealing with the issue at the moment though - sorry.

Appreciate you chiming in to help. It looks like it’s only on one piece of my rock so im thinking of taking that out and boiling it and maybe dousing it with Dettol. May be overkill and it also may not help but I have nothing to lose!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

im thinking of taking that out and boiling it and maybe dousing it with Dettol.

I wouldn’t boil it - if you’re wanting to get rid of anything bad on it, I’d pull it out, bleach it, let it air dry for 24+hrs, rinse it well, and toss it back in.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Tube worms, alongside spirobids, very invasive in my opinion, calcium based shell that's like concrete.

Not easy to remove.


I keep one as a pet on a frag plug..

 

[kevgib67]

With even a possibility of chrysophytes I wouldn’t think twice about taking @ISpeakForTheSeas advise. You really wouldn’t want to deal with chrysophytes all over the tank

 

[kevgib67]

Tube worms, alongside spirobids, very invasive in my opinion, calcium based shell that's like concrete.

Not easy to remove.


I keep one as a pet on a frag plug..

Would reducing feeding keep them in check since they are filter feeders or not this type?

 

[alliw]

I wouldn’t boil it - if you’re wanting to get rid of anything bad on it, I’d pull it out, bleach it, let it air dry for 24+hrs, rinse it well, and toss it back in.

Ok. Will try this. But why not boil? Just curious as to why bleach would be better.

 

[alliw]

Tube worms, alongside spirobids, very invasive in my opinion, calcium based shell that's like concrete.

Not easy to remove.


I keep one as a pet on a frag plug..

A pet haha! my snails look like deserted islands with palm trees

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Ok. Will try this. But why not boil? Just curious as to why bleach would be better.

Just a precaution to protect against aerosolizing any toxins that may be present in the water/in stuff on the rocks (like palytoxin, for example).

 

[alliw]

Just a precaution to protect against aerosolizing any toxins that may be present in the water/in stuff on the rocks (like palytoxin, for example).

Oh wow. Never even thought about that! When I used to have freshwater tanks, I’d use sand from the ocean and bake it first. That was back before the internet existed and I didn’t have such an awesome community to ask for advice! Thank you!