Weird hard oval white things everywhere

Hello All!

Today I was looking at my Rabbit Snail, then suddenly thought - hey, when did he get SPOTS??? After that, I started seeing them everywhere. On pebbles, plants, trumpet snails - basically anything while a small indentation in it. Upon physical inspection, they're hard and crunch, and don't move.

Here's what is in the tank: small Nerite snails, trumpet snails, Various Corydoras, 4 male Threadfin Rainbows, an ornery ancistrus, and tons of Endlers.

Anybody know what these are?

 

Nope, no movement at all. I tried again with the camera to get close pics - that's as good as it gets. They're pretty much just oval white lice-looking blobs anyway, there's not really more detail. There's only the one rabbit snail in the tank, and he's been there a while. (I took him out of the tank to try to take close-ups, & he kept peeking out at me.) Maybe little Nerite Eggs?

 

Checking into HBIC's limpet comment, I would have to agree that they are teeny limpets. I found this on the internets:

"The limpet is a gastropod, a soft-bodied invertebrate (an animal without a backbone) that is protected by a very hard, flattened conical shell. This mollusk is found in cooler waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Limpets cling tightly to a rock (using the muscular foot). During the day, limpets move around by rippling the muscles of the foot in a wave-like fashion, looking for food. They return to the same place on their rock each night. No one knows exactly how they find their way back to the same spot each time."

Cool, but it looks like my tank has cooties (thx BobV). I also read that Assassin snails may take care of them. I already have two in other tanks, if I can find them. Thank you everybody for helping me figure this out, especially HBIC. Time to dig up my Cootie Catchers!

 

Hi James0816,

That's the right shape, but they look all white to my eye. If you stuck about 6 grains of salt together, you'd have their size. I haven't seen one moving yet, and they're all still in their crevices. Babies?

 

OR - they're nerite snails eggs!

"The white egg capsules look like sesame seeds and are commonly seen on the glass or live rock in aquariums with nerites. They often generate "what is that?" remarks from observers. Just say they're sesame seeds and watch how the subject gets changed. Though these egg capsules are laid prolifically, I have so far not seen an example where new nerites appeared. Apparently the larval period and requirement for planktonic food limits the successful recruitment of nerite larvae. There may also be a special requirement that the egg capsules be exposed with the change of the tides, or rainfall and salinity change may be necessary for some species."

 

Confirmation! Excellent, THANK YOU Dawn.

In your tank, does this happen continuously, or do they "cut it out" after awhile? And will shrimp munch at them? From online descriptions, breeding nerites sounds challenging; but they're super little snails, so cute and spiky. They must be happy little guys, and that's all I can ask.