Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Batman! What is that?

[Anonymous]

I clean the glass on my tank and what do I find?

A ball!

A ball full of balls!

Now I have many balls!



So, anyone have any ideas? Is this the earthly remains of a fish in spirit form? The only fish I have left is a clownfish.

Is it some new form of bubble algae?

Am I gonna be a dad?

8O

Oh the horrors!


Someone must know, this one has me stumped. It seems to be fastened to the bottom fairly well, its just blowing around in a small circle.

Any clues out there in reefland?

 

[trido]

Oh My!!! 8O I cant tell you what it is but it may be dangerous. Stay clear, it may explode.

 

[Anonymous]

How bout this morning?

Any ideas?

Its about as big around as a nickle or so and this morning I see that behind it about 3 inches there is a slightly smaller one that does not have the smaller balls inside of it.


Both seem to be fastened to the sand in some way.



Could this be the spawn of some sandbed creature?

 

[Anonymous]

Since it's situated on the bottom of the tank I would say a species of Ventricaria (Bubble Algae). The tiny green spheres inside are spores.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

Since it's situated on the bottom of the tank I would say a species of Ventricaria (Bubble Algae). The tiny green spheres inside are spores.

Regards,
David Mohr

Sounds bad

Time to pull it out...

 

[Anonymous]

I just pulled the back one out.

Its connected to something deep in the sand bed, I had a time getting it to come out, even squeezing it with my grabbers it kept slipping, and going back to a ball shape. When I pulled it out I could see a tube like section going down into the sand. I had to dig quite a hole.

In consistency after removing it it looks and feels like jelly or snot. Its perfectly clear though, and the stuff on the outside is sand stuck in its surface.

I am going to leave the other one in there until tonight.


Curiously my huge brittle star seems very interested in them and is keeping a tentacle on the remaining one. Maybe it thinks its tasty...

 

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of War of the Worlds. Maybe the invasion will be launched from your fish tank. 8O

Though from the "snot-like" consistency maybe the invaders are already coming down with a cold and won't get far....

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like the boys found a place to hide the broccoli instead of eating it.

 

[tazdevil]

Possibly an egg mass? Looks like a protective coating over it.

 

[Anonymous]

Look like an egg to me too. It will be interesting to watch. Do you have a microscope?

 

[Anonymous]

I was thinking egg nest too. I really don't know though. Really cool though!

 

[Chubosco]

That is my ex-wife's good eye! She will be so happy you found it. You had a party recently didn't you?

 

[Anonymous]

Its still there, same size and has a bit more sand on the outside.

 

[shavo]

hey i was gonna clean your tank, I really want to see what this becomes, science project 101 lets see what it is , leave it alone!!!!

 

[Dewman]

I agree, leave it alone to incubate... How is it going to take over the world if you yank it out of the sand.

Do starfish lay eggs???

Maybe remove it to it's own 5 gallon aquarium with heater and flow.

 

[Anonymous]

The truth?

There's nothing that leaving it along can hurt more than me leaving the tank completly alone for a couple months did...

 

[Anonymous]

Uhh,,,


I just thought of something.


Before I cleaned the tank both of those ball things would of mostly been in the shade, the front one would of almost completely been in the shade. I moved the rock that has a ton of a nice algae on it over because it was getting tangled with the anenome which is right next to these ball things.


So, it could of developed with little light, or it could of came after light came to that area

 

[acroman]

probably not from a brittle star as they are brooders. my guess is that is a mollusc egg mass...do you have any benthic snails or cucumbers?

 

[Anonymous]

not unless they grew from stuff in the rock...

 

[Anonymous]

Still there, here is a pic from tonight, badly taken because I was in a rush to catch the brittle star petting it...

IF you sit and watch the little ball of goo flop around and around you notice that where its attached there is sort of a purple hole in the sand that you can kind of almost see down....