Couple questions....

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
kntrygrl4lyfe

kntrygrl4lyfe

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2007
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Pensacola, fl
I've had this tank set up for over 6 months now. It's my first tank that I have done in saltwarer. I started to notice this green mossy stuff growing on my live rock about a month ago. I let it be, and now I've got this good chunk of it. I see it starting to grow on the rest of the live rock. I didn't know that saltwater tanks grew this stuff. Is it ok to leave it?

The other thing was when I first set it up and put live rock it, I had noticed after a week or so, a flat, round, clear blob thing that will come out and crawl around on the glass. They have a little orange dot in them, guess it's their stomach and other innards? I've only seen like 3 at one time. Usually they come out at night and when I turn my lights on in the morning they crawl back down and hide in the rock. What do they do?

Thanks
 
first thing is probably algae i would remove it so it doesn't take over your tank.

no clue on the second
 
this should be removed as it can become a plague you can siphon it out and add some snails to your tank to keep algae such is this in check.

mr.reef24
 
Its algea as the others have said, and yes it grows in salt tanks, you previously may not have thought so due to the extream measures salt owners go to to remove nutrients from the system. What type of filtration do you have?
As for the clear "blob" it sounds like some cind of infant molusk that has yet to develop a shell, or possably a ctenophore of some sort (jelly fish type of stuff). But at the same time it could be alot of other things. My next best bet would be some type of flat worm specificaly the Acoel Flatworm as it is clear with an orange stomach. If this is the case they need to be delt with ASAP or they can do some serious damage to life in the tank and become a plauge that will be difficult to deal with. Here is a link to show you what the Acoel Flatworm looks like its near the bottom of the page. http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchworms.html
 
OK, that's what they look like. How do i take care of them? Just take em out when they are out?

This tank has the filter system in the tank. It's along the back of it. Like a sump, but in the tank. Kind of like those eclipse ones Ive seen.
 
Well firstly it sounds like you don't have a skimmer or scrubber, so how do you keep your nitrate/phosphate levels down? Large regular water changes? Either way it sounds like you are having trouble keeping them down to near 0, I personaly would recomend building a Nano algea scrubber (assuming its a small tank which it sounds like it is) the scrubber will grow algea on it instead of in the tank, which means that all you have to do is take it out and scrape it off once a week to keep algea out. If you want to know more about building scrubbers let me know and I'll find you some good links on DIY (as you cannot buy them as of yet).

As for the Flatworms, I would first suggest you syphon out as many as you can when you see them. if they stay stuck to w/e they are then just poke them with the syphon untill the come loose haha. Mr. reef says at night they will gather around a flashlight at night if the rest of the room/tank is dark, I have no experience with that though so you would have to ask him. Once you think you have syphoned off as many and you can get you should try a Flatworm med, there are a number of them out their that should be reefsafe/seahorse safe, but I have never had to use one so you will have to ask around.
 
So I have been doing some reaserch on this specific flatworm for you, and I'm geting the general impression that they are rather harmless (unlike a good number of other flatworms) so I wouldnt recomend medication at this point, unless you have corals that are clearly being harmed by them or unless their numbers get to big. It's even possible that your seahorses eat them in which case their population will stay small.

So I would say if you want syphon them out when you see them, but if not then just keep an eye on their population, and unless their population gets to big I would say you don't have anything to worry about with these little guys.
 
I've been told I don't need to have a skimmer, and then I've been told I HAVE to have one. I've also been told it's all up to the owner. Where yes the skimmer can help, but is not needed if I'm ok with doing the water changes and everything else necessary. I test my water each week and everything reads great.
Nitrites 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
pH 8.4

About the worms, I turned my tank light on at about 2 in the morning and there was a lot more then just a few like I thought. I counted like 12. I'm just going to pick them out when I see them.

I would like to know more about the scrubber
 
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