ID NEEDED PLEASE

[Icedog]

Can anyone tell me what the creamy white spots are in the attached photo? The ones on the return outlet, electrical cord and overflow box?

About two months ago I had a spike in nitrates and phosphates. I tried extra water changes, but that didn't seem to bring down these parameters. So about three weeks ago I started dosing NoPox, along with iodine. (I added the iodine because my Triton and ATI tests both showed that I needed it.) Could the addition of either of these be causing these spots?

I just started noticing these spots this morning.

 

[Goaway]

If they don't move, and are shaped like a rams horn. Most likely micro feather dusters. Now if they move around, could be baby snails of some kind. But if they are soft and squishy, i don't know what they could be.

 

[Icedog]

If they don't move, and are shaped like a rams horn. Most likely micro feather dusters. Now if they move around, could be baby snails of some kind. But if they are soft and squishy, i don't know what they could be.

They don't appear to be moving. I was hoping they were copepods, but I guess not. It's kinda weird that they only seem to be growing around the water flow, but not in it.

I'm gonna do a water change this afternoon - will be able to get closer to them and maybe have more info then.

 

[JGT]

Hard to see but gonna say spirorbids.

 

[Icedog]

Did my water change and found that the spots would just sorta dissolve into dust when I touched them! I easily got them off of the glass and most of the plastic parts with my hand - not a lot of scraping necessary. Except for the circular plastic piece that attaches the return outlet to the glass - couldn't seem to get them off of that!

Could this be some sort of precipitate? Or could it still be some sort of animal?

 

[JGT]

Spiorbids come off easily.

 

[Icedog]

Spiorbids come off easily.

Sounds like that must be what I have - they're only on the back part of the aquarium.

Just from the brief research I've done thus far, there seems to be some controversy as to whether or not they're harmful for a reef tank - plusses for biodiversity and minuses for appearance. Any thoughts on this?

 

[JGT]

Won’t harm your tank but they can get to be an eyesore.

 

[Icedog]

Won’t harm your tank but they can get to be an eyesore.

Understood - will certainly keep an eye on this and doing more research.

I was wondering as to why the spirobids suddenly appeared. And I realized that I had done a deep clean of the sand in that area of the tank a week ago - really, really stirred up the sand there and then syphoned off whatever dirty water I could catch while doing a 10% water change. Could that have "released" the spirobids from the sand?

Thanks so much for your help with this matter!

 

[JGT]

Possibly, but they usually appear with newer tanks and then gradually diminish over time as the tank matures.

 

[Icedog]

Possibly, but they usually appear with newer tanks and then gradually diminish over time as the tank matures.

I appreciate your response.

My tank is about 2 1/2 years old. I'd gone thru the diatom stage a little over a year ago, and I just started getting coralline alga about 6 months ago - was told by my LFS that both of those events should have occurred much earlier than they did. So maybe my tank is just being slow to mature . . .

So, hopefully, these spirobids will eventually disappear on their own. As long as they're no danger to the critters in my tank, I can deal with them!

Thanks again for your input! It's wonderful to have this forum to be able to tap into the knowledge of experts like you!