White Things on Glass

[Suprised]

90 gal reef with keys live rock. A few weeks ago i noticed tiny tiny little white things walking around on the glass. There are quite a few of them and they're more prolific in areas of algea growth. I cant give a good description as theyre incredibly tiny. Theyre very active and appear fairly quick. About a month ago the tank had an ick outbreak. Could the little white things be related? The fish have been quarentined since but they're about ready to go back in the tank and i wanted to make sure these things werent something to worry about.

Question: Should i be concerned about these things? Is this common? Any idea what they are from the vague description?

 

[fishfreek]

This is a good sign. Its not the ich parasite so you dont need to be worried about that.

 

[MrWrasse]

I have recently noticed this also. The small ones look to have tails. If they are good....what are they? Just curious. I was assuming pods or plankton of some sort. My fish are in QT as well. When the fish are reintroduced will these be eaten?

 

[WarOrks15]

some fish might eat them.

 

[Hammer]

OK But what are they because I just got over an ich attack and have the same thing?

 

[revhtree]

Its normal for a healthy tank.

 

[Atari]

They're pods.

 

[ButrflyShark]

Been trying to find answers for weeks!

I have been going to aquariumfish.com and have been asking for like 3 weeks what these white "shell" looking things are! This is my first time here and didn't even have to ask the question and already I have answers! I'm so excited that I found this website!
Anyways, my little shells on the glass are turning grey and getting pointed with almost a tube worm looking thing sticking out of it. I think I found the mother of them all on one of my live rock pieces. But it's white and round, sort of looks like a cotton ball with a tube worm sticking out of it. They're are even starting to get into my filter! is there anything that I can do to keep these things down to a minimum? They're spreading like crazy!

 

[snapcrackler]

sort of looks like a cotton ball with a tube worm sticking out of it.

Hi and welcome to AA

Those little guys are pineapple sponges AKA Q-tip sponges. Harmless filter feeders that like to live in HOB filters and high flow areas I have found (gobs of them in back of filter)

 

[ButrflyShark]

Thank you very much for ID'ing them! But, is there anything that I can do to keep them down to a minimum? And, are they at all related to the white "shell" things that are on my tank? (from my observations, the white shells are turning into the pineapple sponges, could this be right?)

 

[MantisFreak]

I could be wrong as I don't have any pics. However, I would highly suspect we are dealing with two different critters. Scypha sponges and spirorbid worms.

Here is a sponge http://www.habitas.org.uk/marinelife/species.asp?item=C350

Spirorbid worms grow into spirals. I have attached a microscopic pic of a sprirobid worm releasing eggs.

Basically, there is nothing to fear with either critter....their populations will wax and wane depending on nutrients.

 

[ButrflyShark]

Thank you very much for providing the pic of the sprirobid worm and the website for scypha sponge! I am very happy to find out that neither of these are harmful to my tank!