Tank trouble

[Anonymous]

Tonight I came home to an unhappy tank. The water is cloudy...almost a green tint to it. I checked the sump and some of the caulerpa has turned white (was is this called...going sexual?). My tang is swimming eratically, as well. The tang is darting around the tank, often swimming perpendicular to its usual swimming motion. The tang did, however, stop to eat tonight, which I consider a good sign.

Any ideas on what happened here? I did a water change last night with RO/DI water...everyone seemed healthy and happy after it was done. Tonight the fish (except for the tang), inverts and corals all seem do be doing well...which I suspect wouldn't be the case if i had a major problem.

Any ideas/suggestions very much appreciated!

Chris

 

[fishfanatic2]

If the caulerpa in your sump was white and the water green, you probably had a caulerpa crash, where they reproduce sexually and release all this stuff into the water, clouding it. I don't think it's harmful, but it is annoying. Crashes are pretty much unavoidable, but small separated populations of caulerpa seem to help reduce the frequency of them. Most of time, caulerpa reproduce by cuttings/division.

Hope this helps!

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear you are having problems Chris. Try running some carbon to clear the water. Better yet, do a WC as soon as you get the chance.

Any chance that something in your tank spawned?

Louey

 

[Len]

Chris,

Ya, it sounds like your Caulerpa went sexual. I generally trim my macroalgae back on a frequent basis because I find this reduces the chance of sexual reproduction (for whatever reason).

A few things I'd do is run carbon, use polyfilter pads, and do a series of 3 or 4 25% water changes over the next 2 weeks.

 

[Anonymous]

Just curious, but was it the "feather" caulerpa, don't remeber the latin for it. That is the only one I have ever had that went sexual. All of my other macros never experienced this.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone...I very much appreciate it!


SKBok,

Actually, it was a grape-variety caulerpa. It's been behaving for so long that it kind of took me off guard when it turned on me.

Chris

 

[redawg]

when caulerpa goes sexual it releases alot of toxins in the water.. least from what i've read and heard.

listen to len.

 

[Micah00]

The newest issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist is all about algae. There is an article about macroalgae with the majority of it being about caulerpa. It says when it starts to feel crowded it will release all of it sexuality into the water and leave a white empty shell which will give your water a green tint from the spawning. On a side note it talks about it being illegal to sell or own in Califonia with fines up to 10,000 dollars. I didn't know that. Snakeheads are illegal here.