Pink Fuzz??!!??

[NanoMan16]

Please some help on this one? I know it’s a Cerith Snail...lol. It’s almost like some fine filter feeder or parasites... please name that fuzz...lol.

 

[andiesreef]

hydroids

 

[anemoneanatomy]

I'm not great at critter ID, so I'd defer to some of the experts here on this, but might it be Hydractinia synbiolongicarus, hermit crab hydoids?

 

[NanoMan16]

hydroids

What? The heck is that?...lol. Good? Bad? Time to throw the entire tank away?...lol

 

[andiesreef]

What? The heck is that?...lol. Good? Bad? Time to throw the entire tank away?...lol

can sting nearby corals and such i believe. i think they're also in the same family as jellyfish. i'm not too knowledgeable but i think scraping them all off or suffocating them with glue is the way to go in your case?

 

[anemoneanatomy]

As long as they stay only on shells and don't colonize your rock, I don't think they are inherently harmful to the snail. There's one paper that suggests they may make the shell more brittle, so if you have any creatures in the tank that like to nip at inverts the hydroids may make the shell more likely to crack.

There's no way to really be sure how potent your particular hydroids' stings are, so if your snail tends to scavenge in/near your corals, I'd want to get rid of the hydroids for sure.

 

[NanoMan16]

hydroids

What? The heck is that?...

As long as they stay only on shells and don't colonize your rock, I don't think they are inherently harmful to the snail. There's one paper that suggests they may make the shell more brittle, so if you have any creatures in the tank that like to nip at inverts the hydroids may make the shell more likely to crack.

There's no way to really be sure how potent your particular hydroids' stings are, so if your snail tends to scavenge in/near your corals, I'd want to get rid of the hydroids for sure.

Thanks for the help! Much appreciated!