strange white stuff

[judyb]

Sorry I don't have a picture, but I'll try to describe what's in my tank. The first time I noticed it was about a week ago.

It was white, about four inches long and 1/8 inch wide. My first thought was that someone had dripped Elmer's glue onto the outside of the tank. When I looked more closely I could see that it's inside the tank on the glass and that it had the really long hair-like (gossamer) extensions stretching irregularly for anywhere from one to four inches away in sparsely dendroid configuration.

The next day it was small -- about one-and-a-half inches long and still about 1/8 to 3/16 inch wide and no hair-like extensions. The day after that it was longer again -- maybe two inches -- about the same width and the extensions were back.

This morning it as about an 3/4 inch long, no extensions. No apparent head or tail and no appendages. All parts remain attached to the glass -- nothing waving around in the water. I can't see that it has a gut -- it's not transparent.

It has not moved off the glass nor has it strayed far from where I first saw it. Other than shrinking and stretching out, it's about where it was to begin with. I haven't actually seen it move, but it's a different size every day -- sometimes larger and sometimes smaller.

What do you think? No, I'm not making this up.

 

[wade1]

College Station Huh?


Perhaps we can ask a few more questions to help...

1- Is it in high flow area, like near the output of a powerhead or where current swirls?

2- does anything appear to stick to the threads you described?

3- do the threads originate from a single point or a single plane or are they diffuse?

3- Any chance of getting a picture?

Wade

 

[judyb]

http://people.tamu.edu/~jnb180d/myweb/thingy.jpg

I'm not sure how to post an image, but I think if you follow this link it will take you to a picture of this thing. It has morphed again.

The thing I'm talking about is the white thing that looks a little like a paint splatter to the right of the thermometer. I took the picture this morning. There is no way to focus on the little hairlike extensions I'm talking about, but they sort of come off the pointy pieces on the sides and are about like spider webs in size. Sometimes it does not have the parts sticking off the sides. It gets longer or shorter, smoother or less smooth on the sides.

 

[Chucker]

You can post an image by enclosing that URL in IMG tags, or simply by clicking the button above, and pasting in the URL when prompted. The finished product will look like this-

FWIW, it looks vaguely like a nudibranch, but is hard to see since the pic is taken from so far away.

 

[judyb]

Thanks. I figured it couldn't be too difficult to post an image, but I'd never done one before. Sorry for the quality of the photo. I couldn't get the camera to focus on it. When I tried to get closer, it kept focusing on something in the background.

Wouldn't a nudibranch have a head and a tail? I thought a nudibranch was sort of like a snail without a shell. The pictures of them that I looked at don't look anything like this thing.

This is obviously alive and it moves. I haven't observed motion, but it's in a different place every time I see it. And it morphs into a different shape every day also. Last night it was long and skinny again with no extended parts. In this picture it looks like it has appendages, but the pointy parts on the sides show no digitation or differentiation from the main body other than just sticking out.

It looks sort of like a piece of white chewing gum that someone stretched the edges out on. It has been anywhere from 4" to about half and inch long. If it's filtering food, I don't know how -- I can't see mouth parts or any openings. Off the ends of the pointy edge parts it has long (6 to 8 inch) very fine extensions that look something like spider webs, but very sparse and smaller in diameter than a human hair.

I've had this tank set up for about 8 months now, and I was thinking I am about ready to add something fun, but not until I find out what this thing is.

I've looked online and in several books, but don't see anything like it. Plant?? but it moves. Animal?? no mouth parts, no anus (could be one pissed off creature -- like an alligator with two heads). Some strange alien creature that just wants to live at my house?

It's getting kind of creepy.

 

[judyb]

Oh, to answer your other questions

It's in a rather low flow area

I haven't noticed that anything sticks to the threads, but it could be catching something microscopic.

The threads are rather diffuse -- do not originate from a single point or plane -- and have an irregular dendritic structure.

I'll examine it again and see if I can come up with more descriptive details.

 

[Chucker]

Thanks. I figured it couldn't be too difficult to post an image, but I'd never done one before. Sorry for the quality of the photo. I couldn't get the camera to focus on it. When I tried to get closer, it kept focusing on something in the background.

If your camera has manual focus, use that instead. Another option with some cameras is to focus on another object at a known distance, and then hold the shutter button partway down to keep the camera in focus at that distance, and then take the picture of a different object.

 

[wade1]

I'm betting that it is a type of nudibranch. I have seen them be so nondescript that you couldn't readily identify one end over another (except when they moved). That kind was a predator of euphyllias, but its very possible it is a nudi, although I would have thought that it would have moved about the tank looking for food by now.

Since your at A&M, do you know of anyone with a dissecting scope? You could get a really close up look at it that way.

Wade

 

[judyb]

I have access to a dissecting scope, but I'd have to cut off a piece of it to use the scope -- I don't want to piss this thing off you know. I have a 10x hand lens that I'll try.

Wish I'd had the camera at home last night -- it was long and skinny again.

I looked at a couple nudibranch websites. All the pictures look like snails without shells to me -- even the ones with the weird tentacles that remind me of sea apples seem to have a definite head and tail.

This makes me think of a spider web, but not from an orb spider -- it's not that organized. Maybe more like a fungus, but do fungi live in saltwater?? I know fungi will expand and contract their hyphae with changes in moisture levels, but this is in the water so moisture changes should not be an issue.

I'll see if I can get a better picture. Thanks for your input.

 

[wade1]

Its possible, although I think it would be highly unusual that a fungus would be out in the lighted area of a tank (even ambient light). There are undoubtedly many many types of fungus in our tanks.

Keep an eye on it and let us know if something changes.

Wade

 

[judyb]

Well, it's gone.

For the last two days it's been moving down the glass -- first all strung out and then all bunched up again. When I got home last night, there was one long "string" still visible, and it appeared to be going into the substrate. Since the substrate is about the same color as "the thingy", I couldn't see the main "body."

My husband says no one will ever believe what we say about it.

I guess it was just some strange sandbed creature out for a stroll or on vacation -- if it was a protest march it should have carried a sign! Weirdest creature I've encountered.

Really wish I knew what it could be, but I will just assume that it is not harmful. It's probably been there ever since I set up the tank.

Thanks.
jb

 

[aquarist=broke]

strange white stuff

Butthead says, "huh, huh, huh, huh, huh"

Sorry to go off topic....I just couldn't resist....