+KimP Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Got back last week after being gone a week and a half. Came home to something wrong in the tank. Since I've been paying attention closer than usual I can't say whether these are a new occurrence or I just didn't notice them before. They're just loose clumps of sand. When poked or pushed around they stay together but aren't dense at all. My only idea is they might be from the wrasses, I have a red-lined and a yellow wrasse. I do have one cucumber but he's always in the same area and much much too small to leave these big clumps. I'm not missing any fish either. Ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I'm baffled. I've never seen anything like that. Maybe Tim has an idea or seen it in a tank he maintains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Dinosaur eggs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnKoto Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I get much smaller clumps like this from the ooze on Nassarius snails. Crazy... Maybe they are an egg sac of some sort? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Not sure but my first guess would be algae is involved, and I wouldn't be surprised if the action of the wrasses isn't part of the explanation. Are they only occurring where there's direct light? And how often do they occur? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Not sure but my first guess would be algae is involved, and I wouldn't be surprised if the action of the wrasses isn't part of the explanation. Are they only occurring where there's direct light? And how often do they occur? I've only noticed 3 in the week since we've been back, all near the same size and in the light. I wouldn't say directly under a light, but definitely not shaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Is there any correlation to where you feed the fish? And I'm guessing if you push your grabbers/tongs down through the sand the sand form clumps in some areas and other areas flows freely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I have seen those before in my tank. Never figured them out either. Do you have cucumbers? While normally they would only make small piles of "cleaned" sand, they sometimes did make a huge patch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantaFan Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I've seen those in the wild before and always attributed them to the nearby giant sea cucumbers. Crazy stuff :-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Is there any correlation to where you feed the fish? And I'm guessing if you push your grabbers/tongs down through the sand the sand form clumps in some areas and other areas flows freely? Possibly although I wasn't the one feeding the fish while I was gone. Not sure where they did it. It could be where a clump of food settled and rotted. I poke around in the sand often, for various reasons, and it's not been clumpy at all, just regular loose sand. These clumps sit on top of the sand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 I do have one small cucumber, so maybe that's it? Weird! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Yeah, I've had sand show areas that are compacted or have something growing and it will stay "clumpy" if tongs are pushed through it. Haven't really given it much thought though and it's pretty infrequent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 Mystery solved. I noticed a conch making one of these sand clumps last night. I watched it on and off for a few hours. It didn't look like any sand was coming from it's mouth but it was pushing the sand around with it's mouth. More like the sand was coming out from underneath it's mouth. I still don't know exactly what it is, some sort of egg thing, pooped out clean sand, or what, but at least I know where it came from! I have 2 of these conch snails and they are always within a few inches of each other, and most of the time touching each other. So that's it! The other clumps fell apart after a week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I have two conchs in my tank and I have never seen them do this. I have had them for almost a year now, weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 (Sing to Jeery Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire") Goodness gracious great balls of sand! Soooo, seems like it's safe to say slime not algae is holding it together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I've got 3 conchs and I've never seen them either. Maybe I just haven't paid attention! Cool observation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 So I guess it's safe to say I can get more than one conch, I've always wondered lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Fighting conchs are only called that because of the high point on their shells that makes it look like armor. They don't actually fight each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 At it again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Do these clumps go away on their own or is the snail just in there makin a mess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 Well, both lol. They last for a week or more, then go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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