Small grey purple shell on sandbed

[Shady07]

Hello all

Long time lurker. I'm having a problem with my sandbed. This small like shell has infested my entire sandbed. They are light and flap around with the cutren. I've look on countless forums for this pest and cannot find it anywhere. It maybe Dino's, but it is not the typical brown snot like appearance. My sand now clumps together when I try to remove it. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Im no algae expert but It looks like you might have some cyanobacteria.

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!! Hard to tell from the pic!

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r! Could be Calothrix.

What’s this???

Any ideas??? Blows off like Cyanobacteria but comes back.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Shady07]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I will try to post another pic.

 

[Shady07]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I will try to post another pic.

 

[Shady07]

Here is another picture of the shells, please look left of the starfish. These shells are not only on the rock, but on the sandbed as well

pH 8
Alk 8.5
Cal 445

 

[eschaton]

I believe they might be a type of foraminiferan.

An easy way to see if your system has an abundant foram population is to sample a bit of the sand bed. Remove a small amount of sediment from the surface of your sand bed using a turkey baster or some other implement. Put it into a clean clear glass bowl or dish, making sure it is covered with water. You don't need much sediment for this evaluation, just enough to make a layer one sand grain deep, and there should be plenty of open area on the bottom of the bowl. Then examine the sediments with a hand lens or magnifying glass, and look for clumps of sand grains that are attached to other sand grains by "mucous" masses. On close examination, many of these masses will be seen to have a large discoidal or spherical "grain" in them. This will likely be a foram.

 

[CasaReefer]

Not an expert but I have heard that the star fish is not so good hopefully someone else will comment on this.

 

[reef lover]

I think your right with foraminiferans!
And the stars have mixed reviews. Some are good some are bad.

 

[sfin52]

Welcome. Just keep an eye of them. They can reproduce quickly.

 

[Shady07]

Thank you so much. I have been searching all over the place. I have a lot of reading to do now. Thank you all for your help