What ARE these eggs in my cycling aquarium?!

[catphish]

These appeared in my aquarium overnight, the tank is cycling and the plants and sponge filter are from my established tank so I was prepared for hitchhiker rams horns and MTS or Assassin Snails. The substrate, this rock and my driftwood was brand new from the store and I scrubbed and disinfected them and soaked them before I put them in my tank.

I googled egg ID first and they look like nerite snail eggs but I have never owned a nerite snail? How would that even be possible? Any idea of what else they could be?

 

[catphish]

The moss was new from the store but it was the invitro grown cup

 

[catphish]

Sorry to keep replying to my own thread but I am wracking my brain, the tank was used but it had been sitting dry in a basement since 2015 and the filter media was new and the filter disinfected thoroughly.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Will you please circle the “eggs”?

Do the eggs look smooth, or fuzzy? Do they come off easily?

 

[Essjay]

They do look just like nerite eggs. If you don't have nerite snails and they weren't there when you scrubbed the wood, I have no idea

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

They look exactly like nerite snail eggs to me too. Did the store have them on a shelf or in a tank? Can you share more photos of the wood piece itself please? In the photo it does look a bit aged, like it has been used in a tank before. Possible the store either used it in their own tanks before, or it was used and returned? They're not easy to remove once dried, I chipped some off of a piece of driftwood I'd had in a tank with nerites recently, and needed to chip them off with a razor blade, so I can see them not coming off despite scrubbing/boiling, if you just didn't see them.

 

[catphish]

Will you please circle the “eggs”?

Do the eggs look smooth, or fuzzy? Do they come off easily?

Not fuzzy and I have not tried to remove them yet

 

[HoldenOn]

They kinda look like assassin snail eggs?

 

[catphish]

They look exactly like nerite snail eggs to me too. Did the store have them on a shelf or in a tank? Can you share more photos of the wood piece itself please? In the photo it does look a bit aged, like it has been used in a tank before. Possible the store either used it in their own tanks before, or it was used and returned? They're not easy to remove once dried, I chipped some off of a piece of driftwood I'd had in a tank with nerites recently, and needed to chip them off with a razor blade, so I can see them not coming off despite scrubbing/boiling, if you just didn't see them.

So this is actually a rock, I bought it because it helps anchor my wood and looks very similar colour pallet to the driftwood but both items were on the shelf in a bin with many other rocks and wood, they were labelled with supplier tags. The rock was labelled as "sunken jade" but nothing comes up online with that is really looks more like petrified wood or a non-porous dragon stone if that's even possible.

I really don't think they were there when I put it in because I tied Spiky moss with thread to the rocks and wood and the thread actually crosses through the eggs and the stone was wet while I worked on it so I feel like I would have noticed something that different in pattern and colour at that point?

This is a fuller view of the scape - rock at the bottom of the driftwood.

 

[catphish]

They kinda look like assassin snail eggs?

I started with two assassins years ago to keep my MTS population in check and now I am purposefully trying to breed MTS and ramshorn to feed the 20+ I am trying to sell so I can say with most certainty they aren't assassin eggs haha!

 

[CrazyBettaLady]

Well, to chip in, I know from experience they are, in fact, NOT mystery snail eggs, lol. Via Google they look like Nerite eggs, but I've heard it's hard to "accidentally" breed nerites, unlike mystery snails.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

So this is actually a rock, I bought it because it helps anchor my wood and looks very similar colour pallet to the driftwood but both items were on the shelf in a bin with many other rocks and wood, they were labelled with supplier tags. The rock was labelled as "sunken jade" but nothing comes up online with that is really looks more like petrified wood or a non-porous dragon stone if that's even possible.

I really don't think they were there when I put it in because I tied Spiky moss with thread to the rocks and wood and the thread actually crosses through the eggs and the stone was wet while I worked on it so I feel like I would have noticed something that different in pattern and colour at that point?

This is a fuller view of the scape - rock at the bottom of the driftwood.

Wow, this is really weird then! I have no idea... are you sure you don't have a nerite in there somewhere?? LOL

I hope you find out what they are and share with us, because it's weird for sure! It's a cool rock, it really looks like wood in that first pic!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Well, to chip in, I know from experience they are, in fact, NOT mystery snail eggs, lol. Via Google they look like Nerite eggs, but I've heard it's hard to "accidentally" breed nerites, unlike mystery snails.

You can't breed nerites accidentally for sure, they need brackish water for eggs to hatch, and it's not easy to breed them even if you really try and want to, since they need precise conditions and it means moving them from fresh, to brackish, back to fresh etc. But they certainly don't hesitate to lay eggs everywhere, that look just like these! When I had nerites, they absolutely covered my driftwood in eggs like these, hated it.

 

[HoldenOn]

You can't breed nerites accidentally for sure, they need brackish water for eggs to hatch, and it's not easy to breed them even if you really try and want to, since they need precise conditions and it means moving them from fresh, to brackish, back to fresh etc. But they certainly don't hesitate to lay eggs everywhere, that look just like these! When I had nerites, they absolutely covered my driftwood in eggs like these, hated it.

Yea she ended up eating the snail

 

[catphish]

Wow, this is really weird then! I have no idea... are you sure you don't have a nerite in there somewhere?? LOL

I hope you find out what they are and share with us, because it's weird for sure! It's a cool rock, it really looks like wood in that first pic!

Yeah,
I think I am going to let them ride for curiosity sake, I just wanted to see if anyone would chime in with the advice of burning down my house to rid myself of some awful onslaught of sea spiders or something along those lines, but so far the coast seems clear so I will update if/when they hatch!