Earlier in the day I was doing some cutting away of Xenia overgrowth, fresh water dipping some small rocks to rid of planaria( some of the rocks also had sponges on them) Took my son to practice and returned about 2 1/2hrs later. Water had been clear was now so cloudly I could not see any objects down 3/4 the leangth of the 7ft tank. after determining none of the power heads were stirring things up, I noticed all of the Astea snails were at or above the surface of the water. Close observation of a couple - notice white mucous secreation from some and little white dots coming from a couple of others so I'm presuming this to be a mass spawning??
Now the questions!
Is it normal to have a mass spawning? Or is it a stress induced event? Is there a risk to the tank. this is a 170 gallon SPS dominated tank with an 8 inch deep sand bed thats been set up for a little over a year, NO skimmer, NO sump and NO other form of mechanical filtration it does have two 3/4 spent polyfilters near one of the powerheads. The Pom Pom Xenia are colored up nicely and pulsing, SPSs are polyped out and my Monastrea (which only extends it's tenacles at low light to full darkness) is fully extended with all of the lights on. It appears to be in normal feeding mode. Do I have a good source of coral food or a ticking time bomb or an indicator of something else wrong? This tank has thousand of small baby cerith snails that have hatched out in the tank but they don't cloud the water when they spawn. Is there a chance the astrea's will survive their larval stages??????/ Please answere any of the other questions I may not have thought to ask!!!
Now the questions!
Is it normal to have a mass spawning? Or is it a stress induced event? Is there a risk to the tank. this is a 170 gallon SPS dominated tank with an 8 inch deep sand bed thats been set up for a little over a year, NO skimmer, NO sump and NO other form of mechanical filtration it does have two 3/4 spent polyfilters near one of the powerheads. The Pom Pom Xenia are colored up nicely and pulsing, SPSs are polyped out and my Monastrea (which only extends it's tenacles at low light to full darkness) is fully extended with all of the lights on. It appears to be in normal feeding mode. Do I have a good source of coral food or a ticking time bomb or an indicator of something else wrong? This tank has thousand of small baby cerith snails that have hatched out in the tank but they don't cloud the water when they spawn. Is there a chance the astrea's will survive their larval stages??????/ Please answere any of the other questions I may not have thought to ask!!!
