Critter ID ? ?

[BigAl07]

I know this is almost asking the Impossible but I am really needing some input into this.... We have 2 "Astria Snails" and 4 cerith snails in our tank.....

My wife noticed a tiny micro snail (conical shell but it's only a partial turn so it could possibly be either one right now) on the side glass of our tank. It's roughly the size of a regular #2 pencil lead dot and very much a mini-snail. What's strange is all over the other sides of the tank are "micro-critters" that honestly look almost like just larger than micro-scopic starfish. They are whittish/clear and apparently have multiple legs but are so small there is no way to get a pic of them. I guess all I can really do is wait and see if they survive and if they do what they become. Just on a side chance does anyone have any guesses? Again sorry for no pics but they are WAY to tiny to take a pic of and are barely visible with a naked eye. Heck if you don't get the light and angle perfect they AREN'T visible with the naked eye.

After closer inspection there are other baby snails on the back glass but about 1/2 to 1/3 the size on the one on the side glass. Is the whole tank gone all VIAGRA all of a sudden?

Ideas?

Suggestions?

Allen

[Dentoid]

Asterina stars?

[saltwaterfarm]

I know exactly what you are talking about with the tiny starfish looking things. I have them too and they are very, very little. Almost like a dot with hairs. I haven't noticed them to be a problem and have always just assumed they are a part of the "pod kingdom". My luck... I am totally off base and they will be the death of my reef. LOL. Asternia stars are chunkier and way bigger than these guys (even though they are pretty tiny) if we're talking about the same things.
Are the snail type thingies moving? Or stationary? If they don't move, they could be feather duster worms. I have those everywhere too... very common... no Viagra needed, LOL.

[aquaman3680]

ha allen, you probably got some of my nerite snail babies... i have 300-500 of them on the glass when i come in in the morning!

Matt

[saltwaterfarm]

LOL... it's all Matt's fault...

[sasquatch]

This is starting to look like a thread for Boomer, Little Blue Pills and the reef tank lol.

[aquaman3680]

oh nevermind... i nerites arent cones... should have read the whole thing! If they are cones then it is probably the ceriths... that would be my guess! But if you have any that are about 1/4" and are like regular snail shells with stripes on them you got some of my baby nerites!

Matt

[BigAl07]

Thanks for all the input so far. I need to add some more information to the cauldron here..... What I may not have noted is that I have 3 distincitve different new tiny critters in the tank. Of course the one snail that is obviously Asteria (I mean it's an identical micro version of the other ones), multitude of the clearish "star-like" things (which after reading saltwarefem's comment are probably something from my "Pod-pulation" as my fuge is THRIVING with life... But they could still well be starfish of some nature. And lastly I have a shole colony of very tiny very white snails along the back glass. They are much smaller than snail #1 and don't have the same type of shell. They all have a shell that's a simple spirally similar shell but due to their size and age it's barely one "revolution" of turn. Does this make sense at all?

One the subject of the snails, are they likely to live and mature? I am sure something would LOVE to be munching on them but what are the chances of them actually growing and maturing? Can you "over snail" a tank?

It's entirely possible I have had the "starfish" like critters in my tank all along but I have been very actively scraping my front and side glass daily until about 2 weeks ago. I noticed that I wasn't really cleaning it much because I have gotten beyond the worst of my algae bloom and the glass just stays relatively clean. Maybe they've been in there all along and I've been scraping them off into the water column (probably to be eaten or filtered out when running carbon/filtration). So maybe they are indeed podders and nothing to worry about I'll have to keep an eye out on everyone just to make sure.

Allen

[BigAl07]

Hello RabFueselal and VERY interesting FIRST post

Allen

[panmanmatt]

Hey Al,

Do those clear starfish looking things resemble any of these critters?

Image of a species of hydroid in a seahorse tank.
hydroid
Macro-image of a hydroid.

[BigAl07]

Hey Matt. No not really... the legs were thicker in relation to the body. They must have been micro-brittle stars because I have TONS of them in the tank now. The largest one is maybe the size of a grain of corn now but they are all over in and under the rock.

Thanks Matt

Allen

[panmanmatt]

Not a problem. Sounded similar by your description.

Micro-brittles are awesome critters, I have literally a couple hundred in my one tank alone.

[BigAl07]

It's wild to look back on things from months ago and see what I really have learned in the last year. Wow!

Allen