HALIMEDA DIE OFF, CLOUDY WATER

[Squared]

I just looked into my tank, and to my surprise, about half of my halimeda seems to have died. There are only small green dots on the white skelton. And yesterday it was just fine! Here are some pics:

 

 

 

I will test my water and post results after my water change.

 

PLEASE HELP

[ReeferJohn]

maybe some other algae outcompeted it?

[Squared]

well...there has been some hair algea and brown slime on it for some time now...

 

I am trying right now to bring my mag. to 1600 to kill hair algea, but could it also be afecting my halimeda? my cheato does not seem to be doing so well either...

[Squared]

Hey thanks for that web address. So could the green spots be spores that the plant had to die to give off?

[Squared]

bump

[Squared]

This morning I woke up to BROWN CLOUDY WATER. No fish, coral, or shrimp seems to be affected, but my tank is no longer clear. I want connect this to the halimeda die off, but I am not sure what caused it. Please help my get rid of the clouldy water.

 

And I am doing an a 8g water change instead of the normal 5g on a 29g tank.

 

Help.

[MikeTR]

Here's an article that shows what happened to a 180 when it went sexual. Which is what yours looks like it did. Just do some water changes and add fresh carbon, and actually I just did like 15g on a BC29.. with no problems. Do another 8 or so the day after tomorrow. The cloudiness is likely an algal bloom from the release of nutrients.

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-t...se-82187-2.html

[Squared]

Thanks. But the other half of my halimeda is still green, so should I throw it out before it goes asexual like the other half?

[Aquanist]

I had halimeda in my 8 gallon nano and it went sexual. Luckily I noticed it early and remover it to a bucket. Never again halimeda for me. Nitrates skyrocketed in the holding bucket as it released the spores. Would have killed my tank no questions asked.

 

Hope you got yours removed in time. If not do some largeish water changes and add more carbon.

[Squared]

Is there any chance cheato can do the same thing?

[Aquanist]

Nope. And that's the exact reason I have chaeto only.

[MikeTR]

chaeto doesn't do that.. better to be safe than sorry on this.. I'd take it all out as i've read it can all go once it starts..

[Lawnman]

I don't know about the sexual part of stuff.But I can tell you I had cheato in my biocube 1 time and it all turned white.I noticed my water was cloudy so I started looking and seen the white chaeto. I removed the chaeto and tested the tank.My nitrates usually were 10 and they were pushing 30. I added fresh carbon and did a 10 gallon water change. So what I am saying is if the chaeto is looking a little white removed that to. I would do exactly what Mike said along with removing the chaeto if it isn't looking good.

 

chaeto doesn't do that.. better to be safe than sorry on this.. I'd take it all out as i've read it can all go once it starts..

LOL ok I agree with Mike now 100%

[Squared]

I think I will keep my last bunch of halimeda, but trim it and take better care of it. I like the way halimeda looks, and if it does go asexual again I now know how it will look and I can get right to water changes...

 

...but removing the algea would mean more room for coralz...

[Lawnman]

If you want to keep what you have do it but just make sure to check it morning and night. If you think there is a problem there probally is so remove it sooner.

[Squared]

Ok. Thanks for the replies. I will do another large water change in 2 days and I added some fresh carbon.

[Markushka]

This morning I woke up to BROWN CLOUDY WATER. No fish, coral, or shrimp seems to be affected, but my tank is no longer clear. I want connect this to the halimeda die off, but I am not sure what caused it. Please help my get rid of the clouldy water.

 

And I am doing an a 8g water change instead of the normal 5g on a 29g tank.

 

Help.

 

 

your halimeda went sexual. The cloudiness is the spores of the halimeda, it goes away after a bit. You should have taken it out when you saw it go white like that. I've had this happen in my tank before. It doesn't mean Halimeda is evil, it's just how it reproduces. Any macro algae can technically do this, I've had Caulerpas do it too. Cheato can too, but doesn't do it as often.

[johnmaloney]

yep chaeto can go sexual just like any other macro algae. check your alk/calcium/mag, that is usually the cause of halimeda going sexual on you. Usually low alk, that does it before calcium believe it or not...