Mystery needles on live rock

[ReeferE260]

I have what looks like tiny white pine needles on my live rock. They are loose and can be brushed off with a finger. I do not have an urchin in the tank and they don't seem to be harming anything. They just lay on the rock. The tank has been set up and running for 2 and a half months. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[king aiptasia]

are you sure an urchin didn't die?

 

[ReeferE260]

I set up the tank about 2.5 months ago and bought all the live rock from one place. I've never had an urchin in my tank since set up. Its weird, I know. They look like urchin needles but I've never had one.

 

[king aiptasia]

I set up the tank about 2.5 months ago and bought all the live rock from one place. I've never had an urchin in my tank since set up. Its weird, I know. They look like urchin needles but I've never had one.

do more keep showing up?

 

[ReeferE260]

No sir. They are only on one rock in my tank. They don't seem to be multiplying. I've looked over my other rock pretty thorough to see if I can find them anywhere else and I can't find them anywhere but on that one rock. My snail grazed over them today and seemed to have eaten some...or maybe he just moved them around??

 

[king aiptasia]

No sir. They are only on one rock in my tank. They don't seem to be multiplying. I've looked over my other rock pretty thorough to see if I can find them anywhere else and I can't find them anywhere but on that one rock. My snail grazed over them today and seemed to have eaten some...or maybe he just moved them around??

may have eaten if they were actually echinoderm spines, sometimes snails eat carbonate materials to help build the shells. I got a feeling most likely a brittle star or urchin was hiding in the rockwork and finally died and rotted to that

 

[ReeferE260]

That makes sense. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your response. This is my first saltwater tank so every little tick or off putting thing makes worry if I'm doing things right.

 

[king aiptasia]

That makes sense. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your response. This is my first saltwater tank so every little tick or off putting thing makes worry if I'm doing things right.

its good to keep an eye on things cause things can fall apart fast

 

[N.Sreefer]

It looks like a temperate species of coralline i got as a hitchiker on north atlantic rock did you put anything outta the northern atlantic in the tank?

 

[ReeferE260]

Not that I know of. The base rock could have came from there but my other rock came from Indonesia (takani sp?)