Spider Webs in a Salt Tank....

[KellyFrancis]

Stopped by an LPS, and noticed they had salt tanks so I decided to check them out to see what I could get and price things out. They had quite an assortment of critters and fish, including a seahorse in a tank with a mangrove shoot and some other salty shrubberies and what appeared to be some white spider-webby stuff. It was odd. Two of the girls there (who were clueless as far as fish go -- I mean, I'm clueless, these two were just wow!) stuck a pen in there to get it out and it just fell apart. I am curious...What was it? It almost looked like it was coming out of a shell in the bottom of the tank. The primary strand, a little thicker than the rest, ran from the sand to the top of the water. There were a couple of off-shoots and some on the LR, thin like...well...spider's silk.

[Comatose]

I've got a couple of these from time to time, and they came from a specific batch of live rock I got, and I recall person who sold it to me explaining what it was, googling it, confirming it was harmless for my purposes and then promptly forgetting. A few quick google searches just now didn't refresh my memory, so I'd recommend poking around google more if you don't get an answer here. I think it was a worm or something...

[cichlid_king]

Stopped by an LPS, and noticed they had salt tanks so I decided to check them out to see what I could get and price things out. They had quite an assortment of critters and fish, including a seahorse in a tank with a mangrove shoot and some other salty shrubberies and what appeared to be some white spider-webby stuff. It was odd. Two of the girls there (who were clueless as far as fish go -- I mean, I'm clueless, these two were just wow!) stuck a pen in there to get it out and it just fell apart. I am curious...What was it? It almost looked like it was coming out of a shell in the bottom of the tank. The primary strand, a little thicker than the rest, ran from the sand to the top of the water. There were a couple of off-shoots and some on the LR, thin like...well...spider's silk.

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It could be Vermited snails. They have tubes that create the web

[KellyFrancis]

I searched "Vermited snails" in google - thanks for the lead...I didn't know what to search for! - and all the pics looked wrong. I hit one from another forum and a guy said a "thread worm" except when I google "thread worm", I get parasites, not marine life. Anyone know another name for a thread worm?

My main concern was whether or not it was harmful for the tank. I was thinking about going back for the mangrove shoot if it wasn't. Thanks for the help guys!

[Addikted2Cichlids]

Yeah, the only thing I can think of is a vermetid snail. I had one in my tank and I super glued the opening of the shell. Haven't had that problem since. My understanding is that they are harmless for the most part but they can multiply rapidly and can bother some corals with the mucus they expel to trap food that is floating in the water. If your positive it wasn't theses, I have no idea what they have in their tank.

[jworth]

must be a vermited snail. Glue that dude in. Harmless, but obnoxious.

[cichlid_king]

Yeah, the only thing I can think of is a vermetid snail. I had one in my tank and I super glued the opening of the shell. Haven't had that problem since. My understanding is that they are harmless for the most part but they can multiply rapidly and can bother some corals with the mucus they expel to trap food that is floating in the water. If your positive it wasn't theses, I have no idea what they have in their tank.

.
X2
Yeah really the only thing bad about them is that they are a bother to some corals and they multiply rapidly.

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[KellyFrancis]

Yeah, the only thing I can think of is a vermetid snail. I had one in my tank and I super glued the opening of the shell. Haven't had that problem since. My understanding is that they are harmless for the most part but they can multiply rapidly and can bother some corals with the mucus they expel to trap food that is floating in the water. If your positive it wasn't theses, I have no idea what they have in their tank.

I'm really not positive of anything. Everything that the webs extended from in the pics online were different than the one in the tank at the LFS. I trust you guys though and thanks for the help!