Identify hard freckles

froggy4112 · 07/05/2007, 07:57 PM

Hi! Iâ€™ve had a tank set up for about 6 months now. 65G... i have a modest cleaning crew, nothing fancy in it yet. But i have some copepods and amphipods that come back for extended stays every now and again.

Here is the question, what would be small (about the size of and ink pen head) and white. Some are kind of swirly. They are all over by the hundreds. They dot around with no rhyme or reason. They donâ€™t move, they are stuck in place. Its kind of hard to scrape them off the front of the glass, I let them grow everywhere else because i just assume they are good. I canâ€™t find anything that looks like them. Other than there shape kind of reminds me of a snails shells swirl.

Any thoughts that I can use to try and identify?

Thanks!

LeslieH · 07/05/2007, 08:41 PM

Sounds like spirorbid polychaetes. They're tiny feather feathers that have hard white calcium tubes that always grow in spirals. Harmless and even beneficial in that they filter out minute particles from the water but unsightly to most. Populations go up and down depending on food availability. You can always scrape them off if you don't like the way they look.

07/05/2007, 07:57 PM	#1
froggy4112 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Central Florida Posts: 131	Identify hard freckles Hi! Iâ€™ve had a tank set up for about 6 months now. 65G... i have a modest cleaning crew, nothing fancy in it yet. But i have some copepods and amphipods that come back for extended stays every now and again. Here is the question, what would be small (about the size of and ink pen head) and white. Some are kind of swirly. They are all over by the hundreds. They dot around with no rhyme or reason. They donâ€™t move, they are stuck in place. Its kind of hard to scrape them off the front of the glass, I let them grow everywhere else because i just assume they are good. I canâ€™t find anything that looks like them. Other than there shape kind of reminds me of a snails shells swirl. Any thoughts that I can use to try and identify? Thanks!

07/05/2007, 08:41 PM	#2
LeslieH Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 3,178	Sounds like spirorbid polychaetes. They're tiny feather feathers that have hard white calcium tubes that always grow in spirals. Harmless and even beneficial in that they filter out minute particles from the water but unsightly to most. Populations go up and down depending on food availability. You can always scrape them off if you don't like the way they look. __________________ Cheers, Leslie So many worms, so little time... Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County