White webbing-like substance in tank

[BCTugboat]

Hey again guys and gals, I just moved a macroalgae and a piece of live branch rock in my tank and yhe water was suddenly full of this thick webbing material. I moved things so I could "plant" my new feather duster worm. I can't figure out how to upload a photo at the moment but if someone lets me know how I can do so. I have a 3.5 gallon Pico set up. I've heard it could be a type of "mat bacteria". But thats generally associated with die off on live rock. I didnt cure the rock. It came from a dedicated live rock tank at the LFS and was the first thing in the tank. Its been set up 3 or 4 weeks with just a brittle star I got by accident on my macroalgae. Any ideas of what this stringy material is, or if its harmful, are appreciated.

[Delphinus]

Google vermetid snail and see if the nets they cast look like what you're seeing.

Unfortunately reasonably common in our reef tanks, they are a bit of a nuisance as the webbing both looks annoying and also will irritate corals.

[BCTugboat]

This does look like the vermetid snail webbing. Sand sticks to it as well. Maybe he's in one of the tubes on my mew featherdusters cluster of tubes. It was a LOT, more than I'd expect from a snail but I dont have experience with them. I'll be trying to get a picture up

[BCTugboat]

Heres a photo, had to shrink the size online.

[DKoKoMan]

vermetid snails will produce a web like in your photo. I know a couple reefers who are struggling to get them under control.

[Frogger]

That is not vermetid snail

[Myka]

I vote for Vernetid Snails. They send out webs like that when the tank is disturbed.

[Frogger]

I have vermetid snails in my tanks there are thousands of them every inch of may tank is covered with them. Each of my snails have a half a dozen or more on them. They have never produced webbing that has extended more than a few inches from their shells and never anywhere near that dense. Also the webbing is only visible when it traps food. His rock appears to be free of their shells. I can't see any on his rocks. So unless this is a different variety that is hiding in the back and produces enormous amounts of webbing I vote that it is not vermetid.

[Myka]

Frogger, do you realize that there is an air stone in the tank which makes it look like there is about 10x the amount of white strings?

[tang daddy]

Tug boat just syphon out when you do a wc, then see if it comes back right away or not, it doesn’t look like vermetid snails to me either as the web is so big. But I could be wrong...

If you syphon out the web maybe you can see the next time where the source is and if you do kill it with superglue filling it’s hole or plain drill the sucker out.