Any ideas?

[blackhemi35003]

I woke up this morning and found my large bulb grape calarpa algae had turn almost white overnight. I thought maybe it had bleached or something but I noticed on the main stocks that there were needlelike pieces coming out of them. I didn't put much thought into it so I went away at getting ready for work. But when I came back into my room to get keys I saw that all those little needles were creating a very green mashed pea liquid out of the end of them. I caught it at the first and it got very thick and coudy up the tank. But about 5 mins. later it had stopped but alittle still going. I upped the protein skimmer uptake. And my dad is going to keep an eye on the tank to make sure nothin starts to go south. I didn't have time to change water but I can get him to do it if need be. I did get a short video and pics of this happening. I will try to get them on as soon as possible to help with ID the action.

This is what it looked like the night before.

 

[eddybabyhd]

its going asexual, you need to remove it ASAP, pull all of it that you have out. You also need to get carbon on the system and change some water. The plant is going to release its biomass from the needles you were reffering to. It will make your nitrates go through the roof, depending on your bio load.

 

[JimmyS]

What Eddy said.

 

[blackhemi35003]

Thanks guys Mom is working on it as we speak. 10 gallons out and 15 gallons in. with 3 large bags of carbon. Also alage coming out.

 

[djc1026]

Agree with the above, however, it is not necessarily catastrophic, but you do need to at least get fresh carbon and some polyfilter changed/rinsed daily along with an initial 10-20% water change. Then monitor your nitrates and watch for environmental cues. I caught mine before it released it's toxins and then promptly removed all of it. The problem with green grape caulerpa is that it needs to be pruned regularly or it will do this, among other reasons, IME.

Dave

 

[blackhemi35003]

Thanks DJ thats what it looks like. Mom said its not as cloudy as before(the water change). But she just did the water change and working on the carbon and I just happen to have 2 polyfilters. Y ea I haven't been pruning that type of alage.

 

[djc1026]

No problem, you should be fine if you're taking action now and since you seem to have caught it quickly.

Dave

 

[Prater]

Mine did this a few weeks ago. I was pruning it and then all of a sudden it released. I pulled every bit of it out and put a carbon filter on and did a water change. I caught mine before all was released so I only had a very small amount of toxin in the tank. It did not help my hair algea problem, it was dying out but came back to life after the incident.

 

[blackhemi35003]

Now does the other kind grape do this also. I haven't noticed it to do this and I have messed with it for a few years.

This kind in the front.

 

[djc1026]

I haven't seen that specific type before, it's probably still a type of grape caulerpa. I don't know. People say red grape caulerpa isn't as prone to going sexual as the green variety. Most sources say the best prevention for grape caulerpa going sexual is hefty pruning at least every two weeks.

Dave

 

[blackhemi35003]

Yea this other grape grows pretty quick alot faster than the other. So I am having to prune it every other day. Maybe grows about half an inch every 2 days. I have had really good luck with it for a few years.

 

[blackhemi35003]

Thought I would update you guys on the tank. Got home and the tank was alittle dirty(from pulling out the alage with sand hooked to it). I tested the water:

Salinity--1.023
pH--8.4
Ammonia--0ppm
Nitrate--0ppm
Nitrite--0ppm

Here are some pics and a short video of what happened:

 

[pwhitby]

Those are great pics....they really are.

Thanks for posting.

Caulerpa is a real gamble. Its great at nutrient expost but also releases lots of others nasties while its growing. These toxins are what allows it to kill corals and grow over them. Leathers seem particularly vulnerable to caulerpa.

I recently removed every last trace of caulerpa from my system and just run chaetomorpha....the chances of damge by the caulerpa going sexual are just to real and clear.

Unless you heavily prune it will happen.

the red grape I have not heard of going sexual, but it grows way too slow to be good for nutrient export.

Paul.

 

[djc1026]

Those are pretty awesome pictures of the event.

Dave

 

[OUBrook]

Hey Paul, have you heard of the green grape going sexual? Also, does anyone know the cons of Red Leaf Algae?

 

[djc1026]

We are talking about green grape, that's the pics above. Mine turned white and I yanked it before it let out the nasties as shown above. Blackhemi seems to have two species of green grape, I am only familiar with the larger grape variety.

Don't know about "Red Leaf Algae," you may want to search the net and see if it's some sort of Kelp.

Dave

 

[blackhemi35003]

Paul are you familiar with the other grape algae that I have?

 

[TimV]

Here is a good site for identification of Caulerpa species.

Caulerpa species key

Note, most of the species in our tanks are banned in certain areas of the country, especially California. The only one passed around in our group that isn't is Caulerpa serrulata (April used to give this out a lot).

Those two species are both Caulerpa racemosa. The one going sexual is your standard C. racemosa. The smaller bubble one is probably Caulerpa racemosa var. microphysa which on that site is listed as its own species.

Personally, I'd take this as a warning of what C. racemosa can do. The microphysa variant might not go sexual, but the standard variant inevitably goes at some point.

T

 

[blackhemi35003]

Thanks Tim.

 

[OUBrook]

Yeah, my green grape looks a little different. But just to be safe, I think I'll get rid of it unless someone is close to certain that it does not go sexual