Something weird I found under a rock, need help identifying

55 posts • Page 1 of 6

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

Something weird I found under a rock, need help identifying

by Sumthing_Fishy

Hi. Can someone tell me what this might be. I found this under a rock in my aquarium. It is brown with swirls like a seashell and is paper thin. The rock is gray. Could this be some sort of seashell or could it be the rock breaking down in little slices? Here is a link to the pic. http://sumthingfishy.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php

Thank you all.


gumbii
 
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am

by gumbii

i would love to say it's a freshwater clam... but those pics are blurry and don't really show any detail... try to get a side pic... if you have a digital camera, put it on macro mode... it's a little flower icon...


anyways...


try to get a picture of it's side, or where it's opening is... if it is a clam leave it alone... i don't think there are that many freshwater parasites and pest like say a reef...

good luck...


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

by Sumthing_Fishy

I cannot seem to get a picture of the side. It looks sort of like a clam, but it is very thin and was laying flat on the bottom surface of the rock. It is so thin, you can see through it when holding it up in the air. Where would a clam come from? I have only community fish and just moved them to my 125 gallon. This 30 gallon tank I was taking down when I found it was infested with little black snails. They were hiding out in the gravel until I took the fish out, and they all crawled up the sides of the glass all over the aquarium. I bet there is a few million of the snails.

I have seen a few of the other big rocks with little slices in it, but hasn't separated yet. This thing does have a little area on it that protrudes up on the side like the opening of a clam, but where is the other side of the shell? It was just a big, flat, gray rock with this thing attached to the bottom of it and I slid it off. I'll try to get another pic of it tomorrow when the lighting is better. Thanks again.


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

by Sumthing_Fishy

I just found this once you told me you thought it was a freshwater clam. This site shows a picture that looks just like it. http://asymptotia.com/wp-images/2006/09 ... _clam.jpeg

Now, I wonder where did it come from?


Zambize4899
 
Posts: 499
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:35 am

by Zambize4899

I don't know what kind of substrate you have, but could it be something that was introduced with the substrate? Sometimes I find odd little rocks or whatever in mine. It could still be some kind of previously living thing even, just brought in with the substrate. Or perhaps it was introduced with the rock itself, since it was under it.

Z


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

by Sumthing_Fishy

I just have store-bought aquarium natural colored gravel and a bag of white gravel from Wal-mart. The big rocks I collected from the desert in Arizona, and from the mountains in Utah, Montano and so on. Maybe back when the desert used to have water before it dried up, this creature or cell hibernated on or in the rock and came back to life after he got in the aquarium.


darkruby
 
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:00 am

by darkruby

Wow! You collected the rocks yourself?
Awsome! I would have to say that it is a remenant of a clam.


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

by Sumthing_Fishy

My better half is a truck driver and I went on a few trips with him to California and Washington state from the Buffalo, NY area where we are and wherever we stopped, I would see some neat rocks and would put them in a bag and take back with me. I put them all in a bucket and hand-washed them without soap just to remove dust, dirt, etc. and then placed them in the tank. They have been in the tank for about a year now until I am in the process of clearing it of the black snails that have took over it. Everything is out of the tank except for the gravel at the bottom. No telling what else is going to be lerking under there for me. None of the other rocks had a shell underneath it, but one. When I get the tank cleaned out and setup again to house all these platies, guppies, and mollies, I'll put the shell back and see what forms out of it.


gumbii
 
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am

by gumbii

i doubt it's a clam from prehistoric times... what could of happened is that a clam egg might of been attached to either a snail shell or a fish somehow...

clams do come from eggs... maybe a fish was harboring it... either way throw it back into the tank... freshwater clams are very benificial in tanks... you might get it to grow, thrive and reproduce in you habitat...


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

by Sumthing_Fishy

Yep, there are a lot of snails in here, mainly black, but some look grayish-brown with marble stripes on them and some even lay eggs on a snail's shell. Somehow from the plant from Wal-mart that the snails came out of the little plastic pot had something attached to it because the rest of the stuff is store-bought, tree trunks, gravel, plastic plants now except the dry, dusty, rocks collected from the desert and mountain. Well thank you all, I was just taking a break from hand picking the gravel and rinsing to get rid of the snails, and it is a mess! Worse than a flea-infested dog. Them snails had been hiding under the gravel reproducing all this time and every now and then will see one on the glass, but as soon as I took the fish out and put in the new 125 gallon tank, they came out of hiding and claimed the tank, can't even see the glass, its all black with snails, YUCK! I wish I would've found this site before putting that plant in, then I would've inspected it. Thanks again all.

Something weird I found under a rock, need help identifying

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