White cloud from hole in live rock.

[SoggyNW]

This morning I saw a decent size cloud of white fluid forcefully expelled from a hole in my live rock. I have no idea what it could be. I've had the live rock for about 5 years. When I got the rock it was well cured and full of life.

A few years ago I had a crash and I took a break from the hobby. I kept the tank going by just topping off the water. I figured with nothing but rock in the tank and no feeding it would be fine without water changes. The die off though sent my nitrates off the charts and I near sterilized the tank.

Since then all I've seen alive on the rocks is coralline and brown algae. No worms, pods, nothin. Then this morning me and my dad were sitting chatting when we both happeneed to see this cloud squirter out and dissipate. It was defiantly something alivery but by the time I got my flashlight there was nothing to see in the hole. The hole is about the size of a nickle.

Any thoughts on what would do that? It has to be either a filter feeder or something that only comes out to scavange at night.

 

[W1ngz]

Call me a masochist but with literally nothing to lose or kill, finding this thing sounds like fun. Do you have any red LED strips you can set up over the tank at night to see what's moving around?
Could be a crab or a shrimp of some sort.

 

[KJ]

Sounds like a Bivalve is spawning.

 

[lagatbezan]

did it look like the video in my thread here around the 30s mark?
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...and-what-is-it-excreting.377667/#post-4669823

 

[Phil D.]

Ya, could be a bristleworm spawning.

 

[SoggyNW]

did it look like the video in my thread here around the 30s mark?
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...and-what-is-it-excreting.377667/#post-4669823

It looked similar to that. What I saw was all white, it had no pink color to it. And to my memory it all came as one big puff not a stream, but I could be wrong it might have just been fast enough to appear that way.

My concern now is that if it is that, I have a very large worm in my rock. I have spotted a few bristle worms in the sand so they are definitely an option. I guess it's time to dig out the red flashlight and see what I can find after the lights go out.

 

[SoggyNW]

I finally had the energy to do a midnight red light inspection and i think the culpret is a large peanut worm or 2. I can see a long proboscis probing around that part of the rocks. A peanut worm was the only thing I found that matched, any thoughts?