Eating My LR?

[daniella3d]

I don't think anything is eating your rock. Probably a few spots on it or the whole rock is friable and just decompose naturaly. If you toutched it and it fell apart, it is probably that it was on it's way to dissolve.

Why is it dissolving? not sure. It could be too porous or maybe just calcium dissolving?

I never seen rock eaters, does that even exist? I think you just have bad rock that are dissolving.

If you dip your rocks it will kill the good live on it.

Here some possible explanation:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume.../live_rock.htm

Originally Posted by KeMo

Ok so first off the tank is a 29 gal running for 5-6 months. Rest of tank info at signature. So all the LR i got was from the same store. Bought same time.
After about 2-3 weeks or getting the tank running I noticed to holes in the side of my biggest and nicest piece . The holes looked like some one took a drill and made two holes side by side about the size of a dime. Their is about 2 mm in between the two holes. So I put my hand in to investigate and right when I touched the part in between it fell to dust. The hole area around it just started to fall apart and go deeper into the rock. It went in farther then i wanted to stick my finger . So I left it and thought maybe it was the sand that did not settle when i switched from crushed coral to LS.
Fastforward to know. I have since noticed more holes in my rock and it appears that it is moving or their are more then one. 4 rocks over more holes the same size . Also during normal weekly water change and tank up keep I picked up the rock that originally had the problem and when I did sand just started to poor out of the rock from the bottom out of a hole. I know its not the sand from the bed as this sand is like dust and always has a much darker tinge.
First off I know its not a mantis as the tank has been up 5-6 months and never once have herd any clicking sound. Its not a rock urchin as I since have added one and he just skims the top of the rock. Plus the holes are way to deep and it was their before him. I am getting two the point were I am dosing and want to add my corals but I am scared as If this thing eats rock like that it will prob make short work of them.
I have no idea what it is but i know its not that big as I always look into the tank when lights are out and never see anything out of the normal.
I cant afford to go out and just buy 40 more lbs of LR. Plus I dont trust that place for good LR any more (BigAls Young&Steels) . Their is live stock know in the tank and I dont want to recycle with new LR as their is no were to get rock that is 100& cycled that I know of other then waiting on a used tank. Also My rock has alot of iso,cope,and amphipods . I kinda dont wanna get rid of them but what do I do? any ideas or help at what this could be or what to do would be a great great help.I would re cure the rock piece by piece but how do I know its just not moving from them when I do that.
Thanks again Everyone.

[KeMo]

I understand what your saying but Like I said before and Ill say it again the holes are the same size. If the rock was falling apart it would not fall apart in dime size holes that are so perfect it looks like its drilled , come on now.
Im shure that their is something in it. 100%. Some of the holes are in spots were the rock was crusted hard as Sh-t .

[lastlight]

Maybe this rock was drilled at one point. Sand filled those spots and became solid/fused. Now for whatever reason it's just falling out? Dunno.

[daniella3d]

Then why did it dissolved in between the holes when you toutched it? If it was only a matter or the holes, only the holes would dissolve and the rest of the rock would be well...rock solid. The way I see it, if you toutch something and it fall apart, it is not solid to begin with.

It could be something inside the rock but not sure.

Originally Posted by KeMo

I understand what your saying but Like I said before and Ill say it again the holes are the same size. If the rock was falling apart it would not fall apart in dime size holes that are so perfect it looks like its drilled , come on now.
Im shure that their is something in it. 100%. Some of the holes are in spots were the rock was crusted hard as Sh-t .

[KeMo]

Ok look. Your not understanding. The holes in the rock . They were not Their when rock was bought. It was the sand in between the rocks the was dust and dust fell apart. So the to holes fell apart in the middle to make one big hole. So I stuck my finger in the hole and it just went deeper into the rock , with more dust (rock) Also when i pick up this rock in question dust pours out from holes in the bottom. Its not sand the colour of the dust stuff is alot darker. I am seeing other holes now around the tank. I know this because they are the same size and they always have abit of that dust buildup around the hole or just inside of it. I am gona soak them in soda see what happens.
But i am still going to bake them as after i get new rock their is no way i am risking it with this thing in my tank. If i had a cam i would post pic.
Oh who ever said maybe the rock was not hard or something.
Some of the holes are in parts of the rock were it was crusted hard with calc and everything . I know im not crazy and their is something in the rock. Im shure that the amount of time everyone stares at their tank they would notice new holes the size of a dime in their rock. Well I do To.

[muck]

Damn dude...weird stuff.

I sure as hell wouldn't be sticking my fingers into odd holes in my live rock. Last thing I would need would be a mantis smash or some other very unpleasant surprise.

[KeMo]

yea i gota scared too and stopped. Thought about what could happen after the fact.
Anyway im pritty shure i found the thing doing it. Its made a new hole sometime today and its head or some part of its just inside the hole.
It looks clear and has some kinda white horns and the body came out abit and looked like a white worm.
Getting the 4seps out after i post this. IF I can get him ill post a pic. Scary looken S.O.B

[hillegom]

I can hardly wait to see this rock eating apparition. Well, it won't be if you catch it!

[daniella3d]

Ok I got you. This is really wierd. What type of rock is it?

I suggest you go with totoka rock if you can. It's very porous and has a lot of surface for the bacterias to colonize so you need less of it for the same result.

There is no way something big could hide in the totoka liverock because there is usualy no room for it to hide, unlike a big dense rock.

Looking forward to the result of your diping. Really wierd story.

Originally Posted by KeMo

Ok look. Your not understanding. The holes in the rock . They were not Their when rock was bought. It was the sand in between the rocks the was dust and dust fell apart. So the to holes fell apart in the middle to make one big hole. So I stuck my finger in the hole and it just went deeper into the rock , with more dust (rock) Also when i pick up this rock in question dust pours out from holes in the bottom. Its not sand the colour of the dust stuff is alot darker. I am seeing other holes now around the tank. I know this because they are the same size and they always have abit of that dust buildup around the hole or just inside of it. I am gona soak them in soda see what happens.
But i am still going to bake them as after i get new rock their is no way i am risking it with this thing in my tank. If i had a cam i would post pic.
Oh who ever said maybe the rock was not hard or something.
Some of the holes are in parts of the rock were it was crusted hard with calc and everything . I know im not crazy and their is something in the rock. Im shure that the amount of time everyone stares at their tank they would notice new holes the size of a dime in their rock. Well I do To.

[reeferious]

to ease up your anxiety about soaking rocks in club soda just make sure soda is room temperature and that you're not soaking rocks overnite, 5 minute soaking at a time will cause most undesirables to crawl out of rocks with minimal harms to most creepy crawlies inside rocks. replace rocks into tank and repeat soaking process next day or two should enable you to find out what's drilling those holes in your rocks. i've done this procedure a few times to flush out a few mantis shrimps, some 12 to 18 inches long worms and even a few stubborn hairy crabs and yes these are still full of life living in my refugium.