What is this?

[craigdon]

Anyone have any idea what this is? It looks like white stringy thread. It's stuck to my algae scrapper and the front of my glass in the corner.

[smh254]

Snail eggs

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Roca135790]

When I scrape them off my tank glass my watchman will sometimes eat them.

[craigdon]

Snail eggs

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[craigdon]

Do they usually survive? How long until they hatch?

[smh254]

I've never seen them hatch n my tank.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Roca135790]

When they hatch they are in a planktonic stage called a veliger that floats in the water column. From what I've read most snails in our tanks take at least a couple weeks to go from veligers to juveniles with a shell and then much longer, I think 2 years for nassarius snails, to reach adulthood. Don't quote me on that time frame for all snails haha

 

It can boil down to sheer luck in a reef tank to get to the juvenile stage. From flow to filtration to inhabitants makes all the difference. Breeding probably requires a separate dedicated tank for consistent success.

[Origami]

I've had snails breed and survive in my tanks (in the past). They weren't ceriths, though. (You appear to have cerith eggs from the picture.) They did take a while to get to a decent size, though. I first started noticing them when there were egg capsules on the glass. Using a small handheld microscope, I was able to see a tiny snail in the capsule. Later, I could see small snails in the sand (a bit larger than the sand grains, actually). 

[craigdon]

Thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye on them and see what happens.