calerpa

[markie mark]

dont know where to put this in the forum so posting here since I have a big sps reef...I noticed last night before I went to bed that some of my grape calerpa was turning clear...then everything was fine this morning when all the lights came on at 10am about 15 minutes ago I walked passed my tank and it looked like a mud puddle...went to look in the sump and all the grape calerpa is clear..anybody else ever had this happen and what could have caused it? ive got a grassy type of calerpa thats fine and some chaeto thats fine aswell...did the calerpa release a bunch of stuff into my tank? if so why? no more nutrients to live on? any help would be great...thanks....

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Your caulerpa sporulated and released a bunch of gametes into your water. Although they are not toxic, they can rob oxygen and causes hypoxia in your tank. If I were you, I'd do a partial water change. Dying spores will add stored nutrients back into the water as well.

 

[markie mark]

Thanks Tomoko..I figured you would know what the deal was...Any idea what could have caused this to happen?

 

[markie mark]

and as far as gametes,I hope that dosent mean this stuff is gonna take over my display does it?Or reproduce?

 

[SteezySPS]

replace with chaeto and call it a day.

 

[markie mark]

thanks steezysps, ive got a big clump in there,dont know why it wasnt affected...oh well,tank looks good this morning......

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I don't think you will have any issue with caulerpa growing in your tank.

I recall that some bits and pieces of caulerpa going sexual periodically in my fuge in the past. I kept Caulerpa racemosa in my fuge for 120 (4 years without any incident) since C. racemosa is the only macroalgae that survives a ULN condition. Chaeto will disintegrate in such a condition.

The only time that the entire batch of Caulerpa went sexual in my tank is when the salinity fluctuated in the small tank that I had it in. I understand that Caulerpa will go sexual typically when the nutrient balance is not to their liking or another water parameter such as salinity or alkalinity in the tank is not stable.

 

[markie mark]

Ok Tomoko..thanks a milli....dont know what happened but all water specs are the same as always and no ill effects on the tank but I almost pooped a golden egg when I saw my tank looking like a mud puddle.....

 

[SteezySPS]

Good to hear markie mark. I had it growing in my first reef tank and they attach themselves to rocks and are super hard to get rid of. After reading all the cons, I pulled it off the rocks tearing them and the next thing I knew, the whole tank looked like pea soup and all my corals turned brown or died. Noob mistake. For this reason, Chaeto is ideal for an ever-evolving reef tank