# small red balls?



## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

i recently found some tiny snails in my tank ( like 3-4) and think there will be an invasion of them at some point in the future.

today i found some small red dots and took some macro pics of it to see what it could be and it looks like they are scattered all over the are that they appear. its probably the wettest spot and theres some molding going on at the moment in that region.

so my mind went into panic mode "oh s*** there comes the snail invasion" 

but after calming down and inspecting the pictures i don't think ive seen a snail scattering eggs all over the place but lay all of them in one spot, so i suspect this to be some kind of fungi?
maybe someone here knows more about these things or maybe about snail eggs


















whats your thought?


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## GandalfTheGrey (Nov 18, 2015)

I'm not sure about terrestrial snails, but in fish keeping, snail eggs look like masses of clear jelly with small black dots scattered in them. Hope that helps


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## KFilger (Sep 30, 2015)

Looks like a slime mold, hard to tell

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

i tried to get some better pictures but these things are so small that its really hard to do so with only a smartphone camera and lenses


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## GandalfTheGrey (Nov 18, 2015)

Could you get some pictures of the snails? I did a quick google search and found that channeled apple snails laid red eggs that looked somewhat similar to the pictures you posted.


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## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

GandalfTheGrey said:


> Could you get some pictures of the snails? I did a quick google search and found that channeled apple snails laid red eggs that looked somewhat similar to the pictures you posted.


heres is one, the size of this snail was maybe 1.5 - 2mm


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## GandalfTheGrey (Nov 18, 2015)

KFilger said:


> Looks like a slime mold, hard to tell
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


 It could be, but aren't the balls on slime mold on top of small stalks?


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## GandalfTheGrey (Nov 18, 2015)

kromar said:


> heres is one, the size of this snail was maybe 1.5 - 2mm


Those are definitely not apple snails, apple snails are at least an inch or two long. Have you introduced anything new to the tank recently? The fungi/snails may have hitchhiked on anything new introduced.


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## brendan0923 (Sep 15, 2014)

I have those exact same snails in my imitator tank, though they haven't seemed to really cause an issue. I do not have those red balls however. Could they be seeds of some sort?


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## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

GandalfTheGrey said:


> It could be, but aren't the balls on slime mold on top of small stalks?


well there is some molding going on in that region but since im quite new to this im not so experienced to tell if thats slime mold. the molding seemed to have started when i got a new plant there.
i did not notice any stalks but they are so small its really hard to tell.



GandalfTheGrey said:


> Those are definitely not apple snails, apple snails are at least an inch or two long. Have you introduced anything new to the tank recently? The fungi/snails may have hitchhiked on anything new introduced.


yes i got some plants and moss, so thats most likely how the snails/fungi got in:/ but i do not have any frogs yet because i wanted to see how the ecosystem behaves so thats a good thing i guess.



brendan0923 said:


> I have those exact same snails in my imitator tank, though they haven't seemed to really cause an issue. I do not have those red balls however. Could they be seeds of some sort?


its kinda good to hear that you have the same (similar) snails and no problems with them and no red stuff^^
well i have no clue what it is thats why im asking


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

not snails. Most terrestrial snail lay clutches that appear similar to this one Reproduction 

Probably not fungi or a slime mold. (Slime molds are not fungi). 

Have you tried moving one or more and then using your camera to inspect it closely? 

some comments 

Ed


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

Could be a myxobacteria, commonly called slim bacteria, and sometimes confused with slim mold. Thing is, myxobacteria are motile. Take several photos, an hour apart, and of the same group of 'red balls'. Later, compare the photos for relative positions. Did they move? If not, they could still be myxobacteria that have aggregated into a spore due to lack of food.

Edit: other than removing the ones I could without stressing the frogs, i'm not sure I would worry about it. I would definately keep an eye on it and assess if it seems to be decreasing or increasing. I suspect it will correct itself and either die off due to lack of an appropriate foodsource or, return the the microscopic version it previously was that you couldn't see. ;-)


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## Holdway (Jan 26, 2015)

My Vittatus terrarium has those same snails. I've been trying to get them all out for I have found them eating my frogs eggs. I found a clutch of 13 eggs and decided to leave them until the next morning. Only thing I found was the clear jelly and 9 of those snails still eating and 6 more was on the underside of the coco hut.


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## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

Ed said:


> not snails. Most terrestrial snail lay clutches that appear similar to this one Reproduction
> 
> Probably not fungi or a slime mold. (Slime molds are not fungi).
> 
> ...


I did, the last pics are from that, but its so tiny i cant get bigger pics. Its maybe the size of a springtail head or smaller




aspidites73 said:


> Could be a myxobacteria, commonly called slim bacteria, and sometimes confused with slim mold. Thing is, myxobacteria are motile. Take several photos, an hour apart, and of the same group of 'red balls'. Later, compare the photos for relative positions. Did they move? If not, they could still be myxobacteria that have aggregated into a spore due to lack of food.


This is interresting, i will see if i can see them move 
If anyone wants to know more about these colonies heres a good explanation:
microbiology.ucdavis.edu/singer/learn.html

Interesting is that they form when there is nutrient shortage


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

kromar said:


> Interesting is that they form when there is nutrient shortage


The aggregation and subsequent spore formation is their adaptive way to outlast food shortages.


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

They look like the fruiting bodies of a slime mold to me. If you google "slime mold fruiting body" and look at just the images you might find one that matches up.


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## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

so far i have not seen signs of snail invasion and the isolated red balls have not spawned any snails but disappeared after some days. i noticed they appear on some rotting leave from time to time so i think its safe to say that this is some kind of fruiting mold and not snail eggs.

thanks everybody for the nice hints and information that lead to this conclusion.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

kromar said:


> so far i have not seen signs of snail invasion and the isolated red balls have not spawned any snails but disappeared after some days. i noticed they appear on some rotting leave from time to time so i think its safe to say that this is some kind of fruiting mold and not snail eggs.
> 
> thanks everybody for the nice hints and information that lead to this conclusion.


I would agree with the fruiting mold but I think you can rule out slime molds as the spheres would have been raised up on stalks.

some comments

Ed


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## chefboyardee (May 31, 2013)

dont want to revive this thread unnecessarily, but do you use repashy cal+ for your FF dusting? Sometimes i over-dust, or spill a small portion into the tank, and something in the mix is bright red and expands w/ water, and disappears after a few days. It only seems to show up where I drop the FF in, so I dont think its a fungus/slime

just an idea


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## kromar (Jun 6, 2015)

chefboyardee said:


> dont want to revive this thread unnecessarily, but do you use repashy cal+ for your FF dusting? Sometimes i over-dust, or spill a small portion into the tank, and something in the mix is bright red and expands w/ water, and disappears after a few days. It only seems to show up where I drop the FF in, so I dont think its a fungus/slime
> 
> just an idea



Since i dont have frogs and i dont dust i can clearly say this is not the same. Also it looks like the things in your tank are about 10times the size. 
Nice moss btw


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