Web like slime in tank, PICS

[woodycb]

It all started after putting a red chalice in the tank. After a couple of days of having him in there he started secreting a very heavy slime. I removed the coral and cleaned the tank and everything looked good. After 4 days the slime came back. Could the Chalice have triggered another hard coral to secrete the same slime. I did notice my flower pot is slowly dieing. Do not want this to be a never ending battle. Any help greatly appreciated. I posted this in the SPS forum but I need as much help as I can get.
Thanks

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb248/woodycb/mini-100_2077.jpg
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http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb248/woodycb/mini-100_2078.jpg

[Randy1]

I've had corals slim from stress but never that much.mmm.

[risika67]

I had that in my tank last week

[ivgonmad]

corals probably mad and want to sting anything close to them

[woodycb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10978958#post10978958 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by risika67
I had that in my tank last week

How is your tank doing. Did it stick to everything. This crap is like the plague.

[risika67]

Yea, it was everywhere. I just vacumned it out with an air hose. I don't have anymore now. Not sure what it was. I haven't had any since though...

[woodycb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10979010#post10979010 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ivgonmad
corals probably mad and want to sting anything close to them

I took the coral out, do you think that slime will go away.

[agoutihead]

If I am correct, then you have a bunch of Vermetid Snails. Even they they are considered snails, they are a tubed like animal that stays stationary on the rock work where it settles.

Technically they are harmless, but can be a nuisance in abundance.

What you are seeing is their saliva. They let out a long string of it to collect food particles and then they reel it in to eat.

They also let eggs go via this route as well.

Follow each and every individual string. It will lead you to a very tiny hard worm hole. Smash it, crunch it, do what ever you have to do in order to rid them.

It may take several weeks if not a few months to totally annihilate them as they seem to reproduce rather quickly.

I have them in mine and still find a few in my display every week or two.

The saliva can actually be used for food for various animals, but when you have so many of them like that, they can suffocate other corals if their saliva gets caught up on them in-mass.

HTH.

I see you live by me, did you happen to buy this particular piece of coral from Salty Critter?

I only ask because I had bought a sun coral from him that happened to carry the mother snail that released a bunch of eggs in my tank.

You might as well put the coral back in, the damage is already done. Just inspect and clean it off really good for any kind of tubed looking animal.

[m2434]

agoutihead is correct Vermetid Snails. Doesn't take many to get big webs.

[woodycb]

I bought them from a reefer here in nw ohio. I didnt notice any of this stuff in his tank, he had a lot of corals for sale. His tank looked good and clear. It looked like it started coming off of the chalice I bought from him. It was not mounted on anything, can these snails travel on the coral itself. And what do they look like. I followed the slime trail to the rock and did not notice anything, would they be that small.

[agoutihead]

When they are small, they are probably as thick as a pin and about 1/8"-1/4".

Their really small.

They can pretty much attach to anything I think.

[woodycb]

I just got done going over every square inch of my live rock, breaking every tube looking thing off and then rinsing the slime off in a bucket of saltwater. Plus I finally got to reaquascape which I have been wanting to do for a long time. If I didnt fix the problem, I hope I knocked a big chunck out of it.

[uscharalph]

I've had some of my corals do this. I just sucked up the slime with a turkey baster. It never lasted long.

[Æonic]

I thought vermetid too, but:

1) you should be able to follow the slime trail to the snail itself. Mine are generally 2-5mm in length. With the large amount of slime trails in your pics, you'd think they would be all over. You should find them by accident. If you don't see them, it is probably something else.

2) Vermetids take longer than 4 days to take root, I think. Unless they were there the whole time and you just now noticed them. Again doesn't seem likely.

3) I have a green slimer acro that well.. slimes. when I do anything big with the tank and have to move it. As was said, the slime goes away on its own after a few hours.

4) My vermetids don't put that much slime out. It's also a thin tendril, not a thick snot-like thing that can cover a mushroom, altho, I guess if you had a lot of them.. then #1 becomes more problematic.

5) Occam's razor maybe? The chalice was the last thing added and maybe ****ed some other stuff off.

Keep us posted. Is the chalice still out of the tank?

[SaltyBoG Water]

did you ever figure out whats happening?

[m2434]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10985102#post10985102 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Æonic
I thought vermetid too, but:

1) you should be able to follow the slime trail to the snail itself. Mine are generally 2-5mm in length. With the large amount of slime trails in your pics, you'd think they would be all over. You should find them by accident. If you don't see them, it is probably something else.

2) Vermetids take longer than 4 days to take root, I think. Unless they were there the whole time and you just now noticed them. Again doesn't seem likely.

3) I have a green slimer acro that well.. slimes. when I do anything big with the tank and have to move it. As was said, the slime goes away on its own after a few hours.

4) My vermetids don't put that much slime out. It's also a thin tendril, not a thick snot-like thing that can cover a mushroom, altho, I guess if you had a lot of them.. then #1 becomes more problematic.

5) Occam's razor maybe? The chalice was the last thing added and maybe ****ed some other stuff off.

Keep us posted. Is the chalice still out of the tank?





I recognize those webs anywhere definately look like Vermetids to me. Sometimes I've notived that the webs get detached if they get hit with water from a powerhead, or a fish swims through them and then they just float around. I had a similar problem when I tried to keep a Tubastrea. I had to feed to much and they poped up every where quite possible in less than 4 days!

[woodycb]

I did take the chalice out about 6 days ago now and put him a 5gal nano I was building for ricordia. He is doing very well and no slime yet, he is the only coral in there right now. If he continues to do good It may turn into a sps nano instead. It has been 6 hours since I cleaned the live rock and still no slime, but I am not getting to excited yet. Lets see what tomorrow brings.
Thanks for the info and the support.

[agoutihead]

No problem. What part of NW Ohio do you live in?

You probably will notice them pop up here or there over the next couple of weeks or so. Who knows how many eggs they released, but you just have to keep up on it for a little while and you should be fine.

Like I said, they are harmless, but can be a nuisance.

[woodycb]

I am in Bowling Green ohio. It is very confusing, I have been adding coral frags here and there with no problems. All of a sudden I have an infestation that I have no clue what it is. Everything was doing so well, I have lost a couple of fish in the past but no major problems. Welcome to reefing I guess, huh.

[woodycb]

Well it must have been vermetid snail. I crushed every tube looking thing I could find on my live rock. I did have a few scragglers, I just hope I got to them before they released any eggs. So far the tank is looking good. I am not ruling anything out just yet, I am keeping a close eye on it for awhile. Thanks everyone.