backside of the rock there are little tube like structures on it

[mwilliams]

I just had to have this rock. On the backside of the rock there are little tube like structures on it looks to be incrusted onto the rock are those bad or good to have on a rock? Or should you avoid rocks with those on them?
It weighed 14lbs. about 12+ inches long

 

[jphendren]

I have several live rocks with those, I'm not sure what they are however. I figured that they were just dead sea life of some kind, and not harmful.

 

[scottkraft]

from my research those tube looking "thingys" are from feather dusters or the like they do no harm, they were "baby" feather dusters that "hitch hiked" on the LR
Scott

 

[mwilliams]

Thanks

 

[melosu58]

They are just feather dusters and they are good for your tank. They are good filter feeders and will help to get rid of excessive nutrients in your tank. They wont get as big as regular feather dusters. Hence why they are really called mini dusters.

 

[mr_X]

yeah, they are harmless. btw, look for the most porous rock you can find. the lighter the rock is, the better. surface area is what you are looking for. ignore the colors on rock- 90% of the time all that stuff dies off and new stuff grows in it's place anyway.

 

[mwilliams]

I don't think these will they are incrusted into the rock almost fossilized. To bad too.

 

[melosu58]

You`ll be surprised. Mine was like that also.

 

[mwilliams]

Oh that would be a very nice surprise....

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I looks like it's dry rock in those pics. As long as it's not completely dried out, there might be some life deep inside, but the die-off from partial drying will cause a mini-cycle most likely.

+1 on surprises.

 

[mwilliams]

What do you mean by Dry Rock?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

dried out rock (used to be live rock, but was left to dry) I just meant that it looked pretty dry in the pic, so I was wondering if you bought it that way or it just dried out on the outside during transport

 

[mwilliams]

Nope it was in water when bought it and I put it into a bucket with SW and I had it out inspecting the rock under my magingfing glass any stuff that is un-wanted in the tank and now it is in a 30+gallon rubbermaid tute w/sw and powerhead along with some other rocks. I am collecting my live rocks so when I get my new tank I will have enough live rocks for the pounds per gallon.