What is this filamentous clear stuff???

[gnatlee]

Hi,

I recently took out my live rock to remove some hitchhiker crabs. During this time, I had to rinse my live rock under tap water to flush out the crabs.

After i got the crabs out, the water temp dropped from 79 to 76 degrees F, when I was finally able to put the rock back into the water. at the same time I placed my corals back too. All of a sudden I see a bunch of filamentous stringy clearish whitish stuff on my live rock, but it seems to be coming from my green centered flavia? and the flavia polyps seemed to be separating from the sides.

Does anyone know what this stringy stuff is and might it have come from the coral?

thanks.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/141287filamentous.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/141287frompineapple.jpg

[bertoni]

[welcome]

Are the filaments remaining in place? I suppose they might be sweepers from the Favia. They could also perhaps be a sponge. A clearer picture might help.

[Lizz85]

The picture on the left looks like a Spaghetti Worm (if the filaments move).

[staticx]

Just thought I would let you know its not a good idea to rinse your rock in freshwater. You are going to have a ammonia spike now due to the fact that the frest water killed alot of stuff on your rock

[kau_cinta_ku]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8776323#post8776323 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by staticx
Just thought I would let you know its not a good idea to rinse your rock in freshwater. You are going to have a ammonia spike now due to the fact that the frest water killed alot of stuff on your rock

i must agree next time put your rock in a bucket of sg. of 1.030- 1.035 and the crabs will come out and you will save all of your stuff.

[gnatlee]

The white stringy stuff just flows with the current generated by the powerhead and doesn't seem to be moving by itself.

And yes, I will definitely rinse with low salt water next time instead of fresh water. Do you think that the live sand in the tank will handle some of the filtration while the bacteria in the rock replenishes?

[JownsenJesus]

not low salt, higher salt water. That is if you want to try and flush something out of the rock like crabs or other goodies.

[bertoni]

I wouldn't flush the rock with either low salt or high salt water, personally. I'd try trapping to catch the crabs. Either of the dunks can kill a lot of organisms on the rock.

Since the filaments are flowing in the water, I'd guess they're not sponge. Hard to say. A sharper picture might help, might not.

[gnatlee]

I will try to brace for the ammonia spike now. So sad.

[bertoni]

I'm not sure you'll see an ammonia spike. Hard to say.

[gnatlee]

I will try to brace for the ammonia spike now. So sad.