Is this chaeto safe to use?

[Karen00]

Hello fellow saltines,

When I setup my tank close to four months ago I got a goby/pistol shrimp pair from a fellow reefer. He packed the baggie with chaeto (I'm assuming to give the shrimp something to cling to). I wasn't quite sure what to do with the chaeto so I put it in a clear food container with a couple holes in the lid and forgot about it. Fast forward to now and I found the container. I thought for sure it would be dead with four months of no light, no water change, no water flow, barely any oxygen exchange and barely any water left in the container but lo & behold it looks fine. I'm kind of shocked. Anyway, this is my first time with chaeto and would like confirmation it's OK. It still feels like a bristley sponge (as opposed to a mushy goop). The only thing I noticed is that there are some strands that have gone white. I'm setting up a culture tank for pods and would like to use this ball. Does it look healthy?

 

[G Santana]

That stuff is pretty tough. As long as it's still firm and not disintegrating I'd use it, keep an eye on it to insure it doesn't fall apart in your fuge.
If it were me, I'd use it.
Good luck.

 

[Karen00]

That stuff is pretty tough. As long as it's still firm and not disintegrating I'd use it, keep an eye on it to insure it doesn't fall apart in your fuge.
If it were me, I'd use it.
Good luck.

Thanks for this! It's going into a separate tank that I want to culture pods in so if things had gone horribly wrong with this ball it's only a 2.5g I would have to restart but I would prefer not to have to restart the tank so getting confirmation from you folks is reassuring. :-)